By Rev Jamie Green Klopotoski
Based on 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
January 16, 2022
First Congregational Church, Rockport, MA
Tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, though his actual birthday was yesterday. Had he not been assassinated for his radical preaching of love for all people, he would have just turned 93 years old. Instead, he died at the age of 39, just one year older than I am. In addition to leading the civil rights movement with bus boycotts, marches, and nonviolent protests, he was an ordained minister and co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. His activism led him all across the country and he found himself guest preaching at churches nationwide, including at the New Covenant Baptist Church of Chicago in 1967, where he preached one of my absolute favorite sermons, titled “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life”. In it, he describes how the best life is a three dimensional life, the three dimensions being the length -- loving yourself, the breadth -- loving others, and the height -- loving God. This metaphor was his way of describing what Jesus called the greatest commandments: Love the lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength (the breadth of life), and love your neighbor (the width of life) as your self (the length of life).
The movement that Dr. King led, his speeches and sermons and unparalleled dedication to equal rights have always spoken to me, but especially this sermon, and especially this part in it where he discusses the length of life, loving your self. He said that self love requires self acceptance and a part of accepting yourself is discovering what you are called to do and then doing it. Here is an excerpt from the sermon:
‘We must discover what we are called to do. And once we discover it, we should set out to do it with all of the strength and all of the power that we have in our systems. And after we’ve discovered what God has called us to do, after we’ve discovered our life’s work, we should set out to do that work so well that no one could do it any better. Now this does not mean that everybody will do the so-called big, recognized things of life. Very few people will rise to the heights of genius in the arts and sciences, very few collectively will rise to certain professions. Most of us will have to be content to work in the fields and in factories and on the streets. But we must see the dignity of all labor.
When I was in Montgomery Alabama I went to a shoe shop quite often. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes, and it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he could bring music out of it. And I said to myself, “This fellow has a PH.D. in shoe shining.”’
King continues, ‘What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lives a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”’
Even though King spoke these words 55 years ago, it sounds like he is speaking directly to me today. I’m going to get personal for a moment…The past few years have been rough for me. It started before the pandemic, but the pandemic certainly didn't help. The last time I was with you all, preaching a sermon at this very pulpit, was back in 2016, when I was in the midst of launching a brewery church I called Agape Brewing Community.
For years I felt called to open this nonprofit brewery with the mission to brew beer, to build community, and to change the world. The idea was that we would make and sell beer, lead community-oriented events, and donate all of our profits to local charities. Long story short, due to problems with permitting, the brewery had to close before it even opened. (By the way, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because just two months later, the world shut down because of the pandemic and I would have had to close any way. I count my blessings every day that at least I was able to close the facility without too much of a financial hit!) But it was still devastating to lose the brewery, because I didn’t just lose the brewery, I lost the dream, I lost my calling, I lost myself. Something inside me broke from that experience and I’ve been working hard since then to fix it. I continue to struggle to hear that still small voice inside of me, to figure out what my calling in life is, to discern what my reason for being is.
But King’s words give me hope. No matter what it is that I am called to, no matter what I find myself doing in life, the true calling is to be the best of whatever it is I end up doing, in whatever circumstances I find myself in. It doesn’t matter if I’m a journalist, or a youth minister, or the owner of a nonprofit brewery, all of which I once felt called to be; it matters that I do my best with whatever gifts have been given to me. As Paul told the Corinthians in our scripture lesson this morning, we may have all been given different gifts, but they all come from the one and the same Spirit, so all of our gifts, no matter what they are, all of our gifts are important and valued, even if that means we have a gift for shoe shining or washing dishes or formatting excel spreadsheets.
Since the closing of the brewery, I’ve spent a lot of time discerning what my gifts are, what my reason for being is, what it is that I have been put on this planet Earth to do, and it’s remarkable that my journey of discernment has led me full circle back to you here this morning, by way of how I now feel called to use my gifts of music and preaching. Here’s a quick story:
Last summer, I was invited by a friend to join a volunteer Big Band that performs weekly at a senior center in Peabody. Since I didn’t have a job, I had Thursday mornings available, so I said yes. During our first gathering, one of the trumpet players introduced himself to me as the conductor of the Rockport Legion Band and asked me to join that band since he really needed saxophone players. I said yes to that as well. During one of our concerts in Rockport, I played a solo and Bob introduced me to the audience as an ordained minister. One of the French Horn players just happened to hear that and just happened to be looking for guest preachers for her church, so after the concert she approached me about preaching there, and I said yes. A few weeks later, I was approached by the deacon of another local church who was looking for guest preachers, and I said yes to that opportunity as well. And then last month, I performed in the Rockport Legion Band holiday concert right here at this church; I ran into Rev. Derek, we discussed my recent experiences guest preaching, and he invited me to be here this morning. Because I said yes to using my gifts, because I had faith that God wasn’t done with me yet, because I didn’t give up, because I tried to do the best I could.
I actually find myself thankful for all these twists and turns that my journey in life has taken me on, because while the journey has been rough with many bumps along the way, it’s also been a journey full of moments of surprise and delight and encouragement and love. And throughout it all, no matter what doubts still linger, no matter how confused I am about what it is I’m supposed to be doing in this life, I have learned that the details of what I am doing are way less important than the details of how I am doing it—three dimensionally, with love of God, neighbor, and self as the ultimate goal in whatever I do -- striving to do the best with what I have been given. And I hope, in honor and memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, that you all will join me and strive to be the best that YOU can be, no matter where you find yourself in life. Whatever your various and differing gifts may be, use them the best that you can. May we all live three dimensional lives, loving God, loving all of our neighbors, and loving all of ourselves. Amen.
