Not many people ever get to the place Jesus did, a place of such total surrender to the purposes of God that they are able to live independent of the changing opinions of others about them and follow God’s leading, from beyond concern for their personal welfare and dignity all the way to death. Not many ever get to that place, but those who do change the world.

This is Palm Sunday! It is the Sunday before Easter! On the Christian calendar, Palm Sunday commemorates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, just before his crucifixion. As he entered the city, the people spread palm branches out before him, a first-century version of laying out the red carpet before a distinguished political or military leader. For us, this is a day when we can just do history, where we can reflect on what that day must have meant to Jesus.

We could spend a great deal of time reflecting on how Jesus must have felt knowing that the very same people who were laying palms before him that day would, in just a matter of hours, be calling for his crucifixion. More especially, we could spend a great deal of time reflecting on how Jesus must have felt knowing that one of the twelve he had trusted with his own life would soon walk away from him and, in his betrayal, cause his arrest and crucifixion. It is one thing when you are riding high in the polls one day and getting crucified the next. It’s another thing altogether when that happens because someone you were counting on the most stabs you in the back.

We could spend a lot of time reflecting on the significance of all those things and that would be time well spent. Yet, if, at the end of the day, all we have done is reflect on the historical meaning of this day to the Christian faith, we’ve missed the point of the history. The Bible is not just a book that tells us what God did in history, but about the history being written today by what God is still doing. A history still being written through people like you and me, in this very place. We have come here this morning, the Sunday before we celebrate Easter, to watch how Jesus handled himself in the middle of all the changing tides of human approval and personal emotion and to ask ourselves what that means for each of us, and how we might live and die.

It is worth noting that Jesus was riding high in the polls, even if on a donkey’s back, because the vast majority thought he had come to establish a new political world order. What they didn’t know and even his disciples were yet to fully understand, not to mention some present-day disciples who also do not seem to understand, was that Jesus had no intention of conquering the world through political or military domination but, instead, of transforming it through spiritual renewal from within.

In the gospel text we have read this morning, the palm-waving crowds have faded into the growing darkness and Jesus is alone with his twelve disciples at what is now known as the last supper. This is what he says to those gathered near him: “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom.”/

“Kingdom” is not a word familiar to us. It conjures up images of kings and princes and damsels in distress in some European place far away in time and space. The kingdom Jesus’ Father had conferred on him and he was now conferring on his disciples was not a kingdom built of castles and moats and drawbridges and knights on powerful horses jousting for position and prominence. This new kingdom he was bringing was not about power that dominates and destroys but about a power that transforms from within.

The kingdom which Jesus conferred on those who followed him then and now is a kingdom that confronts the powers that destroy the creation of God with love and hope and forgiveness. That’s more than just history, past-tense. The Palm Sunday question for all of us is about how that kingdom history is being written now and how we can get in on the holy action. It so happens, we’ve been given a wonderful opportunity, just this week. I couldn’t have scripted this better had I tried!

Tuesday night, there was an incident in the news that captured our attention, a story we might have otherwise completely overlooked as just another weird story in the news. The reason it does, or should, get our attention is because a man from the Well was arrested in Wise County early Tuesday morning for driving around naked in a van. It so happens that the van had our church’s name on it because it was our van, being used by the Well.

The Well Community is one of four partnering churches that worship under this same roof every week. It was started about five years ago by one of our former staff members, a young man who grew up here, Joel Pulis. The Well’s primary ministry focus is to those who suffer from mental illness. Many of you have volunteered in one way or another with the Well over the last five years, and you have begun to discover what many of us have. Whenever you minister to someone in need, more often than not, that ministry ricochets off of them and back into our own lives to change us more than it changes them. That’s the kingdom Jesus was talking about! A kingdom of spiritual renewal that transforms anyone who gets close to it in any way.

Now, there are two ways of looking at this story. I hear tell that some have said, “How embarrassing! What can we do to protect the dignity of our church’s name from being besmirched like this again?” There is another question those conferred with the kingdom might consider asking about the naked man driving our church’s van, “What would Jesus do?” Or, better yet, “What is Jesus doing?”

As you might imagine, aside from his concern for this poor man, Joel was deeply concerned about this incident and its impact on our partnership. He emailed me over the weekend and attached a letter to you, the Cliff Temple Church family. I thought about trying to read excerpts from it. Upon further reflection, I realized that the letter speaks for itself so beautifully that you should hear the whole thing. This is what Joel has written to you.

In recent weeks, The Well Community has been received some great press (i.e., People magazine, Oak Cliff Tribune), most recently being featured in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s newsletter. However, a regrettable incident occurred this past week that caught the attention of our local press. Therefore, I hope this account will provide answers to any questions you might have and to call you to prayer during this difficult time. This past Tuesday, John (his actual name), an employee of The Well, departed from Cliff Temple to have the church van washed and detailed. Per our understanding, while he was at a local carwash some minor damage occurred to the van. As a result, John panicked and fled, with the results being provided as sensational “news” to be read by all. Currently, he is still in the Wise County jail being held for improper use of a motor vehicle. John has served for the past six months with distinction, transporting hundreds of our Community Members in The Well’s day-to-day ministries. He is the only son of an upstanding north Dallas family who attend a prominent church in our city. Needless to say, they are crushed by the occurrence. Please understand, John suffers from a mental illness, a disorder of the brain not unlike other physical aliments (e.g., diabetes, cancer, heart disease). He treats this illness with success through a variety of means, including medication. However, we believe that a recent change in prescriptions led to this manic episode. The “carwash incident” led to a break from reality; obviously, he was not thinking rationally in all that occurred. Therefore, the staff of The Well and Cliff Temple are working diligently with each other to redeem this situation. We thank God that no one was injured through this incident. In addition, we are assessing related policies and working to see that Cliff Temple’s van is fully restored. Through this incident we are reminded that faithfulness to God’s call involves risk. As The Well continues to work in life-transforming ministry among the mentally ill we see that things can get messy. However, it is amazing that in over five years of ministry this is the first incident of this magnitude. To that end, we ask you to please be in prayer for all involved: John, his family, The Well Community, and Cliff Temple. We are thankful to Cliff Temple for your partnership in ministry (Joel Pulis, Community Pastor and Executive Director, The Well Community, Letter to the Cliff Temple Congregation, March 31, 2007).

This incident recalls to mind a story recorded in Luke’s gospel, chapter 8, verses 26-37. Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man. This man was so tormented that he couldn’t even be restrained with chains. He was what we would call a homeless man, living in the local cemetery, running around naked because, in his torment, he’d torn off all of his clothes. Then, he met Jesus! Do you know the first question Jesus asked the man? “What is your name?” Joel was among the very first to teach me that we should never call people by their most profound illness, e.g., schizophrenic, bipolar, manic-depressive, and so forth, but, of all things, by their name! Would any of us want to be known by our greatest torment, or would we prefer the dignity of our personal name? By the way, what is your name? Jesus is asking that, first.

The gospel goes on to record that Jesus healed the man. When the local folks heard about it, listen to what the gospel records. “And the people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind . . . and they became frightened."

Someone once asked Katharine Hepburn how she had survived some of the most life-challenging experiences, including a bout with cancer. “It’s the fear that gets you,” she said. Some years ago, Joel decided to walk toward the social fears related to those suffering from various forms of mental illness and has invited us to walk with him. Now, people who once stood at our doors begging, many times smelling bad, poorly dressed and acting out in unseemly ways have come inside, are fully clothed, more in their right minds than ever. They have also begun to minister to others in ways that put what I have considered ministry for many years to shame.

So, is this event, with our church’s name on it, an embarrassment? By the way, haven’t you ever had a bad day? I must confess there have been days around here when . . . well, let’s say, the church van ride looked rather appealing to me! But, is this an embarrassment, or is it the greatest opportunity we’ve had in a long time to demonstrate what the kingdom of God looks like in action?

t is in this kingdom, as Jesus said, "the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves?" In this kingdom, the gospel tells us, Eternal God has come down off of his throne, thrown open the gates, let down the drawbridge and invited us into his own home! In this kingdom, can you believe this? Eternal God serves his own creation, even unto death!

In this kingdom, Jesus asks us to consider,"When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?"” Jesus has left that question hanging now for twenty centuries, for each new generation of Jesus-following kingdom seekers to answer for themselves. In this kingdom, concern for personal dignity and welfare and prominence takes a backseat to service. We should never, ever, be ashamed for our church’s name to be attached to anything to which Eternal God is not ashamed to attach his name and stake the value of his kingdom! Indeed, this tormented man who drove around naked in a van with our church’s name on it has not embarrassed us, he has honored us, and Jesus through him! Thanks be to Holy God!

So, where does the kingdom journey begin? With a willingness to walk toward our call in Christ, no matter what the cost of the walk. No matter where you’ve been, no matter how long it’s taken to get where you are now, the journey begins with your choice to start today and walk toward, perhaps, the things that you might fear the most. As we walk together, we will get to discover what God is up to, even in the midst of what we fear the most and see how his kingdom hope, mercy and forgiveness are transforming the world!

It was such a joy to baptize Kacy and Dana Jones this morning. The journey toward this baptism has been one of the most refreshing faith conversations I’ve had in a quite a while. It’s too detailed a story to reflect now. But, Kacy and Dana and I have been having this conversation for some time. This past week, in the middle of the week, in the middle of one day, my cell phone rang. Kacy was calling. After very little small talk, Kacy simply said, “I want to be baptized.” At thirty, he is taking a step that someone else crucial to our faith story also took about the time he was thirty! “I want to be baptized,” he said, so simply, so plainly, so courageously.

I was honored beyond words that he would invite me to be a part of this journey with him and Dana that I had to write him an email and express that to him. He wrote back with these simple words, “I look forward to sharing my journey of getting to know Jesus even better with you.”

Kacy may not have known it at the time, but in those simple words, he was describing the kingdom of God! The kingdom of God is a faith journey with Jesus! It is a journey of humble servanthood. It is a journey into the lives of others where, every now and then, things get messy! It is a journey we start one day, knowing that what we need for the rest of our days we will have when we need it and not before! The kingdom is a faith journey with Jesus!

Would you take that journey with Kacy, Dana, me and all of the rest of us who stumble our way along? It might mean taking a step toward what you fear the most. But, you simply will not believe what you will find on the other side of that one simple step, when you discover what God is up to in his kingdom and how much he wants you to be a part of it!

Would you take that step, even today?