Green Bean Casserole
(Fourth in the Church Casserole Supper Series)
Philippians 2.1-5
Dr. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Grant unto us now, Almighty God, the ability to go beyond our limits, so that we might experience you more fully, in this time and into our future. May this time of preaching and hearing the Word Proclaimed infect our lives, and so alter our ways of seeing the world, and of being in it, so that we might live in your grace and love, and spread your mercy and care to the whole world. In the name of Jesus the Son we pray, Amen.

This Lent I have been preaching sermons that have revolved around the theme of The Casserole Supper. We’ve explored the sweetness of Strawberry Shortcake, your pastor’s painful admission about his dislike for deviled eggs, and the abundance of the plentiful bucket of fried chicken. Today we’ll talk about Green Bean Casserole, but really it could be any casserole, or even the punch bowl. It could be anything where different things come together, each losing itself, so that something wonderful is produced.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Philippians. Listen to God’s word for you today. Philippians 2.1-5.

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

One of the things that stuck out at me when recently reading this passage is the idea of working together. “Be of the same mind,” does not mean “agree about everything.” Paul didn’t agree about everything with anyone. Certainly not Peter. Certainly not James. Not even Silas. Heck, if you read enough of the letters attributed to Paul, there are plenty of places where he doesn’t even seem to agree with himself. But he considered Peter, James, Silas, and any other person who is in Christ to be brothers and sisters, co-workers for the sake of the gospel.

One thing for certain, Paul writes about community here. “…in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

Community is difficult. And the kind of community that one can find only at the church is sorely needed in our society today. Most people think of community as the people who think just like me, or act just like me, or look just like me. We all want, and need, a close knit group of people upon whom we can rely. We all need to know that there are people who will defend us, who will stick up for us and our ideas and our ideals, and have our back no matter what. And good community does that. But good community doesn’t stop there. Authentic community challenges you also. Authentic community pushes you. While authentic community helps you find your comfort zone when you have either lost your way, or have been taken out of your comfort area by outside forces, authentic community also takes you out of your comfort zone when you have built solid camp there, and have found ways to rest for long periods of time.

That is the hard work of community, and the great joy of it. This is where many people stop, and why I think people subconsciously decide not to come to church. People want to be comforted. We want to be supported. But don’t talk to us about challenged. We don’t want that. “We’ll take the community, with extra support, but hold the challenge please,” as if we were placing a special pizza order. Unfortunately, asking for community without the challenge is like asking for a pizza with extra cheese, sauce and pepperoni, but please hold the crust.

What you get when the whole picture of community is engaged is worth the price you pay. You and I each become more than we are. We become better people, who have grown in wisdom and insight, who have grown in beauty and truth, who have grown in ways we couldn’t if we were performing our lives solo.

I love casseroles. My mom grew up in Minnesota, and as such, she was raised on casseroles. That being the case, I was raised on casseroles. We didn’t have a lot of baked chicken or sautéed vegetables; unless they were then put into a dish with some sour cream and some condensed soup until bubbly around the edges, and served over rice.

Want to know what I love about casseroles? How everything in them gives up so much of its own identity so that the whole can become better, can become more than the sum of its parts. While you can taste the sour cream, and the cream of mushroom soup, and the green beans, and those crispy onion thingys, none of them taste like they did on their own. Now, together, they each become better as individual entities and simultaneously create something that is better than mathematically possible.

Maybe a better analogy is music. A lone violin is wonderful. But that same violinist will play better when she or he plays with a group, the different notes from the trumpets and the bassoons and the timpani all combining and making the violinist play his or her best, even better than she or he can play. So, the individual plays better, becomes better. And the contribution when added to the whole creates a piece of beauty that is more than just some woodwinds, some strings and some percussion instruments playing.

So too are our lives. Living in a community that will support and also challenge makes a person better as an individual. And their individual contributions to the whole make the whole better than it should be.

Philippians 2.1-5. Amen.