God's Shalom, Sermon for July 2, 2006
God’s Shalom
Scripture: 2 Sam 1:1; 17-27, Psalm 130, 2 Cor 8:7-15
Last week the children gave us a real treat, acting out the story of the small boy, David, killing the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. That story was from the 17th chapter of the first book of Samuel. King Saul as well as the rest of Israel was so thrilled and excited about what David did. Saul even makes David part of his own household. Saul’s son Jonathan and David become the very best of friends. As time goes by Saul begins to get jealous of David because David had so much charisma that he became well loved and admired by all the people. Saul plans to kill David and plans all sorts of things to get him. Finally, both Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. This brings us up to today’s reading. We find David grieving both men’s death, deep sadness for the loss of his beloved Jonathan and also a respectful sadness that the ruler of the nation had been slain. In his song of grief, David mourns the tragedy of war itself; the closing verse says “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished.”
Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace with justice for humanity and all of God’s creation. It’s also used as a greeting and a farewell. To live in God’s shalom means to work for peace even in the midst of uncertainty. It means to do whatever we can in small ways as well as large ways to bring peace and well being to all. Robert Roth writes in Sojourner magazine about “The Ways of Shalom” and points to our Psalm 130 as an example of how Shalom begins, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.” It’s David’s mournful song as he laments over the “beloved and lovely” Saul and Jonathan. It is also Paul in our Epistle reading as he tries to teach the Corinthians about giving and generosity. Shalom starts out with a cry of help to our God, to our community, to each other.
A few days before the holiday to commemorate the beginning of our nation I ask you to be sensitive and mindful of the paradox of our country’s beginnings. Before I go further let me say clearly that I love the principles of our country; I love the freedoms that we have as well as being concerned when these freedoms are taken away from any of our citizens. Just as I feel good about myself and my loved ones, I sometimes feel ashamed and aggrieved at certain of our actions or inactions. I also, especially in the last few years, often feel ashamed of my country. Our forefathers supposedly founded the USA on the desire for liberty and justice “for all”. The Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal; unfortunately this was not just a simple use of male meaning everyone. At the very same time, women were not able to vote or participate in government, and slaves were counted as 3/5’s of a white man in the constitution. No wonder Frederick Douglass—a great orator--born to a slave and an unknown white man in 1818 and ran away to freedom in 1838 when asked to speak at an Independence Day celebration in 1852 said these impassioned words:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
This is the opposite of God’s shalom. Sometimes it’s easy to think that all of these oppressions of the past are over. Civil rights legislation and suffrage for women have all taken place. Segregation is banned, most every citizen over age 18 can now vote. So what’s the problem? The answers to this question could easily take a few hours, but relax I’m only going to raise up a couple of possibilities: access and attitude. Although theoretically in America anyone can go up the ladder, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the have-nots to compete with the haves. The opportunity for a college education if you are poor is much more limited than when I went to college; the attitude of the government and of the middle and upper classes are much more negative towards those people on the margins whether they are there because of race or class or mental illness or being an immigrant. I wonder if any of you have tried to pay rent and buy groceries on minimum wage to say nothing about welfare aid. Then when it comes to attitude I include prejudice. My bi-racial son called as I was writing this sermon and I shared some of it with him. He said that he had just returned home from the Laundromat where he and a Latina woman had been folding their clothes. A white woman and her little dog came in and started asking them questions, assuming they were the help. Finally she got it, that they were not the help and commented that they looked like professionals. Now is that prejudice or not? It reminded me of how my children’s father always dressed very fashionably, usually in suit and tie just to avoid being a victim of that kind of attitude as he had been many times before. Well, I promised not to go on too long so I’d better stop on this issue.
In our Epistle reading Paul was trying to inspire the Corinthians to finish taking up the collection for the poor of Jerusalem. After being part of three budget/pledge campaigns here at Deering I know how hard it can be to motivate folks to give more money. A couple of weeks a go I promised that I would get back into the joke groove again and I have one that relates to this subject.
There was a man who offered a $1000 to anyone who could squeeze the last drop out of lemon. Well, everyone would come up and try it. No one could get another drop out of the lemon. One day a thin, balding, little man came in wearing wire rim glasses. "I can squeeze your lemon." Everyone started laughing. . He grabbed a lemon, and without even cutting a hole in it --one, two, three big drops of lemon juice plunged into the glass. The silence turned to hysterical cheers. "How in the world did you do that?" "Nothing to it," he said. "I do it every day. I am the treasurer at Deering Community Church.”
Now Paul had a couple of other ways to motivate. First he compared the community to the Macedonian Christians, who were very poor but gave very generously. He then compared the love of those that give with the love of Jesus. He reminded them of God’s grace that is given to us all and allows us to do more than we ever think we can do. Paul very much emphasizes generosity and giving from what one has so that there will be an equality, a fairness amongst all Christians. This, my brothers and sisters, is definitely a part of God’s Shalom, caring for and sharing with others. This makes me think of our partner church in Zimbabwe. Balance Chimbangwa spoke plainly about how much of a crisis they are in. Our Ukama partnership has forbidden partner churches to give monetary gifts directly to our partners. The World Service group from this church have petitioned the state Ukama board to change these rules. When the rules were made ten years a go, the condition was not anywhere as bad as it is now. There were good reasons for the decisions as often times when one partner gives money there can be a feeling of superiority as in the old days of missionary activity and attitudes. Our World Service Committee want a disaster fund set up so that we can give to the churches in need. We are willing to wait awhile to see what happens, but we have told Ukama that we reserved the right to go directly to our partner church if something was not done to correct the present inequity. It makes no sense for us to have as much abundance as we have and not help those who do not have.
We do not have to go to Africa to see the inequality among people. Right here in our country on a cold winter day a clerk in a shoe store reports this story: “One day I noticed a little barefoot boy standing by the hot air register outside the bakery shop next door trying to keep warm. I wasn't sure if I should invite the boy into the store or just what to do with him, when a middle-aged lady came by and began to talk with him. About five minutes later, she brought him into the store and bought him new shoes and a pair of heavy woolen socks. I then overheard the boy ask the lady a question. ‘Are you God's wife?’ he asked. Her reply was, ‘No son, I'm just one of God’s children.’ To which he said, ‘Well, I knew you must be some kin to him.’ He quickly thanked her and ran out the door.”[1]
God’s Shalom is providing both the band aid and working to change the system that makes the band aid necessary. God’s Shalom is standing up for what you believe is right, what you’ve been taught in church or Sunday School or have reasoned out by yourself. It’s being creative with how we give and how we spend. At one point back in the really good stock market days, I decided to give 10% of each month’s profit. That didn’t last long as my profits dwindled. When I talk about giving and being generous, please don’t forget about gifts other than your money. Some examples of generosity of the Spirit: offering a kind word or a hug when a person is in need of some TLC; offering forgiveness when others would be thinking about revenge; taking someone to the ER when all really want to do is have a nap, fixing someone’s door that’s broken, cooking a meal, offering to baby sit. All of these and so many more are examples of generosity—of God’s shalom.
The big issues of war and peace I’m going to save for another day other than to remind you of the Peace Declaration. As we go forward to Holy Communion, may God bless us with an increase of awareness and an increase of commitment to care and share for others as part of God’s Shalom.
[1] Disclosing New Worlds online at http://wolabcd.wordpress.com/
Scripture: 2 Sam 1:1; 17-27, Psalm 130, 2 Cor 8:7-15
Last week the children gave us a real treat, acting out the story of the small boy, David, killing the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. That story was from the 17th chapter of the first book of Samuel. King Saul as well as the rest of Israel was so thrilled and excited about what David did. Saul even makes David part of his own household. Saul’s son Jonathan and David become the very best of friends. As time goes by Saul begins to get jealous of David because David had so much charisma that he became well loved and admired by all the people. Saul plans to kill David and plans all sorts of things to get him. Finally, both Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. This brings us up to today’s reading. We find David grieving both men’s death, deep sadness for the loss of his beloved Jonathan and also a respectful sadness that the ruler of the nation had been slain. In his song of grief, David mourns the tragedy of war itself; the closing verse says “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished.”
Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace with justice for humanity and all of God’s creation. It’s also used as a greeting and a farewell. To live in God’s shalom means to work for peace even in the midst of uncertainty. It means to do whatever we can in small ways as well as large ways to bring peace and well being to all. Robert Roth writes in Sojourner magazine about “The Ways of Shalom” and points to our Psalm 130 as an example of how Shalom begins, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.” It’s David’s mournful song as he laments over the “beloved and lovely” Saul and Jonathan. It is also Paul in our Epistle reading as he tries to teach the Corinthians about giving and generosity. Shalom starts out with a cry of help to our God, to our community, to each other.
A few days before the holiday to commemorate the beginning of our nation I ask you to be sensitive and mindful of the paradox of our country’s beginnings. Before I go further let me say clearly that I love the principles of our country; I love the freedoms that we have as well as being concerned when these freedoms are taken away from any of our citizens. Just as I feel good about myself and my loved ones, I sometimes feel ashamed and aggrieved at certain of our actions or inactions. I also, especially in the last few years, often feel ashamed of my country. Our forefathers supposedly founded the USA on the desire for liberty and justice “for all”. The Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal; unfortunately this was not just a simple use of male meaning everyone. At the very same time, women were not able to vote or participate in government, and slaves were counted as 3/5’s of a white man in the constitution. No wonder Frederick Douglass—a great orator--born to a slave and an unknown white man in 1818 and ran away to freedom in 1838 when asked to speak at an Independence Day celebration in 1852 said these impassioned words:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
This is the opposite of God’s shalom. Sometimes it’s easy to think that all of these oppressions of the past are over. Civil rights legislation and suffrage for women have all taken place. Segregation is banned, most every citizen over age 18 can now vote. So what’s the problem? The answers to this question could easily take a few hours, but relax I’m only going to raise up a couple of possibilities: access and attitude. Although theoretically in America anyone can go up the ladder, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the have-nots to compete with the haves. The opportunity for a college education if you are poor is much more limited than when I went to college; the attitude of the government and of the middle and upper classes are much more negative towards those people on the margins whether they are there because of race or class or mental illness or being an immigrant. I wonder if any of you have tried to pay rent and buy groceries on minimum wage to say nothing about welfare aid. Then when it comes to attitude I include prejudice. My bi-racial son called as I was writing this sermon and I shared some of it with him. He said that he had just returned home from the Laundromat where he and a Latina woman had been folding their clothes. A white woman and her little dog came in and started asking them questions, assuming they were the help. Finally she got it, that they were not the help and commented that they looked like professionals. Now is that prejudice or not? It reminded me of how my children’s father always dressed very fashionably, usually in suit and tie just to avoid being a victim of that kind of attitude as he had been many times before. Well, I promised not to go on too long so I’d better stop on this issue.
In our Epistle reading Paul was trying to inspire the Corinthians to finish taking up the collection for the poor of Jerusalem. After being part of three budget/pledge campaigns here at Deering I know how hard it can be to motivate folks to give more money. A couple of weeks a go I promised that I would get back into the joke groove again and I have one that relates to this subject.
There was a man who offered a $1000 to anyone who could squeeze the last drop out of lemon. Well, everyone would come up and try it. No one could get another drop out of the lemon. One day a thin, balding, little man came in wearing wire rim glasses. "I can squeeze your lemon." Everyone started laughing. . He grabbed a lemon, and without even cutting a hole in it --one, two, three big drops of lemon juice plunged into the glass. The silence turned to hysterical cheers. "How in the world did you do that?" "Nothing to it," he said. "I do it every day. I am the treasurer at Deering Community Church.”
Now Paul had a couple of other ways to motivate. First he compared the community to the Macedonian Christians, who were very poor but gave very generously. He then compared the love of those that give with the love of Jesus. He reminded them of God’s grace that is given to us all and allows us to do more than we ever think we can do. Paul very much emphasizes generosity and giving from what one has so that there will be an equality, a fairness amongst all Christians. This, my brothers and sisters, is definitely a part of God’s Shalom, caring for and sharing with others. This makes me think of our partner church in Zimbabwe. Balance Chimbangwa spoke plainly about how much of a crisis they are in. Our Ukama partnership has forbidden partner churches to give monetary gifts directly to our partners. The World Service group from this church have petitioned the state Ukama board to change these rules. When the rules were made ten years a go, the condition was not anywhere as bad as it is now. There were good reasons for the decisions as often times when one partner gives money there can be a feeling of superiority as in the old days of missionary activity and attitudes. Our World Service Committee want a disaster fund set up so that we can give to the churches in need. We are willing to wait awhile to see what happens, but we have told Ukama that we reserved the right to go directly to our partner church if something was not done to correct the present inequity. It makes no sense for us to have as much abundance as we have and not help those who do not have.
We do not have to go to Africa to see the inequality among people. Right here in our country on a cold winter day a clerk in a shoe store reports this story: “One day I noticed a little barefoot boy standing by the hot air register outside the bakery shop next door trying to keep warm. I wasn't sure if I should invite the boy into the store or just what to do with him, when a middle-aged lady came by and began to talk with him. About five minutes later, she brought him into the store and bought him new shoes and a pair of heavy woolen socks. I then overheard the boy ask the lady a question. ‘Are you God's wife?’ he asked. Her reply was, ‘No son, I'm just one of God’s children.’ To which he said, ‘Well, I knew you must be some kin to him.’ He quickly thanked her and ran out the door.”[1]
God’s Shalom is providing both the band aid and working to change the system that makes the band aid necessary. God’s Shalom is standing up for what you believe is right, what you’ve been taught in church or Sunday School or have reasoned out by yourself. It’s being creative with how we give and how we spend. At one point back in the really good stock market days, I decided to give 10% of each month’s profit. That didn’t last long as my profits dwindled. When I talk about giving and being generous, please don’t forget about gifts other than your money. Some examples of generosity of the Spirit: offering a kind word or a hug when a person is in need of some TLC; offering forgiveness when others would be thinking about revenge; taking someone to the ER when all really want to do is have a nap, fixing someone’s door that’s broken, cooking a meal, offering to baby sit. All of these and so many more are examples of generosity—of God’s shalom.
The big issues of war and peace I’m going to save for another day other than to remind you of the Peace Declaration. As we go forward to Holy Communion, may God bless us with an increase of awareness and an increase of commitment to care and share for others as part of God’s Shalom.
[1] Disclosing New Worlds online at http://wolabcd.wordpress.com/
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:02 PM
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