LIFE AND DEATH SERMON FOR 9-10-06
Scripture: Proverbs 22: 1-2; James 2:1-10, 14-17; Mark 7:24-30
Today I want to talk to you about life and death. We have just experienced one of the most life giving acts possible in our church, the baptism of Grace Harper. In baptism we are given new life in Jesus. I personally do not believe in original sin and can’t imagine that little Grace had any sins that had to be removed; however, if you are baptized as an adult, there are undoubtedly many, many things you would be happy to have removed. To be cleansed with the water of baptism of all that old stuff would be pretty life affirming. The other emphasis of our worship today is remembering 9/11/2001. It’s probably one of those times, like the assassination of President Kennedy if you are old enough, that you can remember where you were and what you were doing when the planes hit the Twin Towers. That act of destruction led not only to almost 3000 lives lost but the death goes on in many ways, physically and emotionally. One of the latest findings is that probably 70% of the courageous folks that rushed in to help after the attack are sick or dying from lung problems due to the inhaling of the toxic fumes as the fires burned and smoldered. For most of us all this death and destruction is impossible to understand. I want to share with you both a poem by Nikki Giovanni and a quote from a fictional character in The Book of Help, written after 9/11. The poem is entitled Desperate Acts: It’s not easy to understand/Why angry men commit/Desperate acts. It’s not easy to understand/How some dreams become/Nightmares. Those who wish/And those who need/Often feel alone. It’s easy to strike back/ But it’s hard to understand.
And here are the words of Joan Baur, put in the mouth of a fictional character, "I am a New Yorker. I smelled the smoke, saw the ash from the towers, felt the fear settle over my shoulder, had the nightmares, lit the candles, went to the funerals. I wish to God that none of it had ever happened and I thank God that I was here when it did. I've been changed forever-that much I know. And because of that, I want to teach. I want to teach because I want to learn and understand. I believe we have a choice in this world, we, the children of war. We can learn from the hate, we can learn how to stop it, or we can learn to hate even more."
My desire for you this morning is to be able to understand how hate can lead to death instead of new life, and how the teachings of our faith can help us do what is necessary to make sure that such tragedies never happen again. Most of you know that I like to try to connect the recommended scriptures for each Sunday to the message I preach. Today’s reading from both Proverbs and James focus on the poor and the importance of Christians to care for the poor, showing no partiality to the rich, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to not send those in need away with the wish for peace and fullness and neglect to take action to assure that justice is done. (Although I’m focusing on us today who are mostly identified with Christianity, let me assure you that all the major religions, including Islam have very similar teachings on loving and caring for those in need.)
Proverbs, known as a wisdom text, tells us it’s better to have a good name than riches and that both rich and poor have in common that the Lord made them; in other words that we are brothers and sisters in the name of God, the Holy One. This is from the Hebrew or Jewish scriptures and points for me that we are all one, no matter where we live, what language we speak, what faith we practice. God made us all. James talks about the importance of not showing partiality to the rich, inviting the well dressed person with expensive jewelry to sit in the best seats and the person with dirty, shabby clothes in the worst seat—or maybe no seat at all but standing up or sitting on the floor. Probably the letter of James is best known for his emphasis that faith alone does not satisfy God or bring about justice. Action or, as James says, works is necessary. Faith without works is dead. He makes this comparison later in the chapter, v. 26, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” Let me give a couple of examples here: if a congregation says that they want to help the homeless and even if they pray regularly for the homeless unless they get involved with things such as making phone calls to check on apartments, giving temporary shelter in their homes, or helping financially with the security deposit they really haven’t lived up to what James is talking about. It’s easy to say, “I wish you the best and I’ll be praying for you.”, but James says that is not enough. Another example is our desire to have peace. Praying is certainly one way to help; making donations to groups like Peace Action that works endlessly for peace is another. Signing the Declaration of Peace and marching on September 30th in Concord to demonstrate your sincerity is another way. Working and voting for candidates that will promote non-violent resolutions to conflict is another.
Our gospel reading today is one that is surprising to many listeners as Jesus doesn’t seem very loving, nor does he appear to be treating all people equally. I want to remind you again that our Holy Scripture is culture bound and sometimes even Jesus gets caught in the culture trap. Most of us don’t know our geography well enough to realize that Tyre that is referred to in Mark was in pagan territory in the New Testament times. This place is the same place that last month was being bombed in Lebanon by the Israeli army in an effort to root out the terrorist group, Hezbollah. Jesus and his disciples were going into this territory themselves to seek respite from the religious persecution they were receiving from the Pharisees in Israel. Yet this seems to have no impact as they confront this Syrophoenician woman who was pleading for help for her sick daughter. However, this mother persisted; she spoke up to Jesus when he insulted her people by calling them dogs. Jesus listened to her and was impressed. Some people refer to this as the example where a woman got Jesus to change his mind. In the end Jesus healed the daughter, thus signifying that the Gentiles, the Syrophoenician people from this pagan land were also worthy to be healed. In the earlier part of this chapter Jesus had declared all food clean, saying, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile…it is what comes out of a person that defiles.” It is from within the human heart that evil intentions come and that is what defiles a person. I agree with scholars that this incident of healing the woman’s daughter meant that Jesus recognized that no one should be excluded. The heart of Jesus had been touched by the persistent mother whose mother-love is at the very heart of God’s own love. Something deep inside Jesus remembered and realized this, causing him to declare all people acceptable, invited and included at the table.
I find it most ironic that in our world today where there are so many of God’s children that are not receiving even the crumbs from the table that the churches are arguing about who’s included in God’s loving embrace? Let’s get back to James and so many other places in our Bible that emphasize God’s preferential option for the poor and the importance of us caring for the poor. How can we continue to let people starve, both here and in the developing countries? Thirty years or so ago when I was a beginning social worker, our government did much more to make sure that our poor had food, shelter, and medical care. With the cutbacks over the last few decades it is more important than ever that we as individuals and churches follow our Judaic/Christian teachings to care for “the widow and the orphan”, the catch phrase in Biblical times for the poor.
How does all this relate to hatred, to terrorism? The institutions of faith and government seem to fail to see that the challenge of world hunger and the whole complex picture of failing to provide basic health care, safety, education and the like to our brothers and sisters throughout the world is what often lies behind terrorism. Hatred develops when it’s obvious that justice is not being done, that the haves keep getting richer while the have-nots keep getting poorer and more desperate. When hope is gone, why are we surprised at suicide bombings? When 18000 people a year die in the United States because of the lack of medical care[1] compared to under 3000 that died in the 9/11 disaster, why is it so hard to understand the anger that leads to terrorism? Obviously, I am no expert on terrorism. Yet my years of experience as a social worker, a therapist, and a minister have revealed to me many insights into what leads to life and what leads to death. If we were serious about really changing things we would have to look at the band-aid approach to charity that we so often use versus changing the system so that there could be more justice for all. We need to reexamine the root causes and the reorder our values and priorities. We would need to place greater importance on our role as bringers of life or death in the human order by the decisions we make[2] and the actions that follow them. Our role in patterns that have created the suffering of world poverty and hunger needs to be looked at; and our nation and our churches need to ask forgiveness for the harm we have done. As a church we need to recognize the destiny that we share with all humanity as well as the earth itself. As a community of faith we are part of the interrelationship with all of creation. It’s hard not to judge others that do us harm; however, as Mother Theresa has said, “If you judge people, you have less time to love them.” It’s impossible to both judge and understand at the same time. I believe that listening, observing behavior, trying to understand, and making every effort to love those people who seem different from us are the beginning ingredients in defeating terrorism. Then as James points out, action must follow. I believe that as long as anyone is suffering, the whole world suffers. I believe that terrorism is part of this complex web that includes all. I also believe that each of us can make choices that will lead us and the world closer to death as well as choices that will lead us to more abundance and fulfillment. To illustrate this point, I would like to give you a closing story. A little boy had been unfairly treated by his schoolmate. He came home very angry and told his grandfather about what had happened and how he felt. The grandfather said, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way." "But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
The Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I feed."
Today we can all choose which wolf to feed. For myself I wish to strengthen my practice of nonviolence, of peace, and love. As part of my daily devotions I want to always remember to be grateful that I always have a choice. Which wolf will you choose to feed? Amen
[1] Newsweek, 9-1-06 issue
[2] Bruce Birch, online sermon
Today I want to talk to you about life and death. We have just experienced one of the most life giving acts possible in our church, the baptism of Grace Harper. In baptism we are given new life in Jesus. I personally do not believe in original sin and can’t imagine that little Grace had any sins that had to be removed; however, if you are baptized as an adult, there are undoubtedly many, many things you would be happy to have removed. To be cleansed with the water of baptism of all that old stuff would be pretty life affirming. The other emphasis of our worship today is remembering 9/11/2001. It’s probably one of those times, like the assassination of President Kennedy if you are old enough, that you can remember where you were and what you were doing when the planes hit the Twin Towers. That act of destruction led not only to almost 3000 lives lost but the death goes on in many ways, physically and emotionally. One of the latest findings is that probably 70% of the courageous folks that rushed in to help after the attack are sick or dying from lung problems due to the inhaling of the toxic fumes as the fires burned and smoldered. For most of us all this death and destruction is impossible to understand. I want to share with you both a poem by Nikki Giovanni and a quote from a fictional character in The Book of Help, written after 9/11. The poem is entitled Desperate Acts: It’s not easy to understand/Why angry men commit/Desperate acts. It’s not easy to understand/How some dreams become/Nightmares. Those who wish/And those who need/Often feel alone. It’s easy to strike back/ But it’s hard to understand.
And here are the words of Joan Baur, put in the mouth of a fictional character, "I am a New Yorker. I smelled the smoke, saw the ash from the towers, felt the fear settle over my shoulder, had the nightmares, lit the candles, went to the funerals. I wish to God that none of it had ever happened and I thank God that I was here when it did. I've been changed forever-that much I know. And because of that, I want to teach. I want to teach because I want to learn and understand. I believe we have a choice in this world, we, the children of war. We can learn from the hate, we can learn how to stop it, or we can learn to hate even more."
My desire for you this morning is to be able to understand how hate can lead to death instead of new life, and how the teachings of our faith can help us do what is necessary to make sure that such tragedies never happen again. Most of you know that I like to try to connect the recommended scriptures for each Sunday to the message I preach. Today’s reading from both Proverbs and James focus on the poor and the importance of Christians to care for the poor, showing no partiality to the rich, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to not send those in need away with the wish for peace and fullness and neglect to take action to assure that justice is done. (Although I’m focusing on us today who are mostly identified with Christianity, let me assure you that all the major religions, including Islam have very similar teachings on loving and caring for those in need.)
Proverbs, known as a wisdom text, tells us it’s better to have a good name than riches and that both rich and poor have in common that the Lord made them; in other words that we are brothers and sisters in the name of God, the Holy One. This is from the Hebrew or Jewish scriptures and points for me that we are all one, no matter where we live, what language we speak, what faith we practice. God made us all. James talks about the importance of not showing partiality to the rich, inviting the well dressed person with expensive jewelry to sit in the best seats and the person with dirty, shabby clothes in the worst seat—or maybe no seat at all but standing up or sitting on the floor. Probably the letter of James is best known for his emphasis that faith alone does not satisfy God or bring about justice. Action or, as James says, works is necessary. Faith without works is dead. He makes this comparison later in the chapter, v. 26, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” Let me give a couple of examples here: if a congregation says that they want to help the homeless and even if they pray regularly for the homeless unless they get involved with things such as making phone calls to check on apartments, giving temporary shelter in their homes, or helping financially with the security deposit they really haven’t lived up to what James is talking about. It’s easy to say, “I wish you the best and I’ll be praying for you.”, but James says that is not enough. Another example is our desire to have peace. Praying is certainly one way to help; making donations to groups like Peace Action that works endlessly for peace is another. Signing the Declaration of Peace and marching on September 30th in Concord to demonstrate your sincerity is another way. Working and voting for candidates that will promote non-violent resolutions to conflict is another.
Our gospel reading today is one that is surprising to many listeners as Jesus doesn’t seem very loving, nor does he appear to be treating all people equally. I want to remind you again that our Holy Scripture is culture bound and sometimes even Jesus gets caught in the culture trap. Most of us don’t know our geography well enough to realize that Tyre that is referred to in Mark was in pagan territory in the New Testament times. This place is the same place that last month was being bombed in Lebanon by the Israeli army in an effort to root out the terrorist group, Hezbollah. Jesus and his disciples were going into this territory themselves to seek respite from the religious persecution they were receiving from the Pharisees in Israel. Yet this seems to have no impact as they confront this Syrophoenician woman who was pleading for help for her sick daughter. However, this mother persisted; she spoke up to Jesus when he insulted her people by calling them dogs. Jesus listened to her and was impressed. Some people refer to this as the example where a woman got Jesus to change his mind. In the end Jesus healed the daughter, thus signifying that the Gentiles, the Syrophoenician people from this pagan land were also worthy to be healed. In the earlier part of this chapter Jesus had declared all food clean, saying, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile…it is what comes out of a person that defiles.” It is from within the human heart that evil intentions come and that is what defiles a person. I agree with scholars that this incident of healing the woman’s daughter meant that Jesus recognized that no one should be excluded. The heart of Jesus had been touched by the persistent mother whose mother-love is at the very heart of God’s own love. Something deep inside Jesus remembered and realized this, causing him to declare all people acceptable, invited and included at the table.
I find it most ironic that in our world today where there are so many of God’s children that are not receiving even the crumbs from the table that the churches are arguing about who’s included in God’s loving embrace? Let’s get back to James and so many other places in our Bible that emphasize God’s preferential option for the poor and the importance of us caring for the poor. How can we continue to let people starve, both here and in the developing countries? Thirty years or so ago when I was a beginning social worker, our government did much more to make sure that our poor had food, shelter, and medical care. With the cutbacks over the last few decades it is more important than ever that we as individuals and churches follow our Judaic/Christian teachings to care for “the widow and the orphan”, the catch phrase in Biblical times for the poor.
How does all this relate to hatred, to terrorism? The institutions of faith and government seem to fail to see that the challenge of world hunger and the whole complex picture of failing to provide basic health care, safety, education and the like to our brothers and sisters throughout the world is what often lies behind terrorism. Hatred develops when it’s obvious that justice is not being done, that the haves keep getting richer while the have-nots keep getting poorer and more desperate. When hope is gone, why are we surprised at suicide bombings? When 18000 people a year die in the United States because of the lack of medical care[1] compared to under 3000 that died in the 9/11 disaster, why is it so hard to understand the anger that leads to terrorism? Obviously, I am no expert on terrorism. Yet my years of experience as a social worker, a therapist, and a minister have revealed to me many insights into what leads to life and what leads to death. If we were serious about really changing things we would have to look at the band-aid approach to charity that we so often use versus changing the system so that there could be more justice for all. We need to reexamine the root causes and the reorder our values and priorities. We would need to place greater importance on our role as bringers of life or death in the human order by the decisions we make[2] and the actions that follow them. Our role in patterns that have created the suffering of world poverty and hunger needs to be looked at; and our nation and our churches need to ask forgiveness for the harm we have done. As a church we need to recognize the destiny that we share with all humanity as well as the earth itself. As a community of faith we are part of the interrelationship with all of creation. It’s hard not to judge others that do us harm; however, as Mother Theresa has said, “If you judge people, you have less time to love them.” It’s impossible to both judge and understand at the same time. I believe that listening, observing behavior, trying to understand, and making every effort to love those people who seem different from us are the beginning ingredients in defeating terrorism. Then as James points out, action must follow. I believe that as long as anyone is suffering, the whole world suffers. I believe that terrorism is part of this complex web that includes all. I also believe that each of us can make choices that will lead us and the world closer to death as well as choices that will lead us to more abundance and fulfillment. To illustrate this point, I would like to give you a closing story. A little boy had been unfairly treated by his schoolmate. He came home very angry and told his grandfather about what had happened and how he felt. The grandfather said, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way." "But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
The Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I feed."
Today we can all choose which wolf to feed. For myself I wish to strengthen my practice of nonviolence, of peace, and love. As part of my daily devotions I want to always remember to be grateful that I always have a choice. Which wolf will you choose to feed? Amen
[1] Newsweek, 9-1-06 issue
[2] Bruce Birch, online sermon
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 8:42 AM
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