WHERE IS YOUR FIRE? Sermon for August 19, 2007

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3, Lk: 12:49-56

How can the Jesus we know as the Christ child destined to bring peace on earth and good tidings to all be the same Jesus that in our gospel lesson today says he will bring fire and division to believers? We are more use to bumper stickers and hymns that say Jesus Loves Us. We focus on God being a nice God, a God of unconditional love. Jesus gives us many examples about this loving God. So what in the world is Jesus talking about in this Luke scripture? If you are familiar with the Bible you will remember that as early as his infancy, conflict was predicted for Jesus. When the old man Simeon blessed the infant Jesus, he told Mary that Jesus was destined to be in the midst of conflict and opposition, so much so that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul. (Lk 2:34-35)

This reminds me of a story I heard about a Baptist pastor fresh out of seminary was assigned to a small church in the hills of Kentucky. In his first sermon, he condemned gambling, especially betting on the horses. The sermon was not well received. "You see, Reverend," a parishioner explained, "this whole area is known for its fine horses. Lots of our members make their living breeding race horses."The next Sunday the pastor spoke on the evils of smoking, and again, his sermon was not well received - for many of his members also grew tobacco. The third week the pastor preached on the evils of drinking, only to discover after that a major distillery was one of the town's largest employers.Chastised for his choice of sermon topics, the frustrated pastor exclaimed, "Well, then, what can I preach about?" A kindly, older woman spoke up and said, "Pastor, preach against those godless Chinese communists. Why, there isn't a Chinese communist within 4,000 miles of here!"

There are some sermons people do not want to hear because they contradict their dearly held values or their comfortable life styles. Jesus earned a reputation for preaching these kinds of sermons - sermons that were challenging and demanding, radical and divisive. In our Gospel lesson for today we have just such a sermon.[1]

We have been reading Luke ever since Christmas and we are finally at the end of the 12th chapter. Let’s look at the context for today’s Luke passage. This reading comes in the middle of a larger section that describes the dangers of greed, warns about watchfulness, readiness, and faithfulness. Last week our Hebrew scripture also emphasized faith, which I suggested might also be thought of as trust in God. Walter Brueggemann describes faith as "the willingness to trust our lives and our future to God even when God does not appear to be as reliable as other, more immediate supports. Faith is readiness to risk life on the promises of God without holding back." [2] Our Hebrew scripture is written to a group of early Christians when faith was very risky and dangerous, telling them that they had choices, a race to run with perseverance. The author strongly suggests that they “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” (12:1b)

Back to Luke:by this point in Luke, Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem and his crucifixion. As he journeys on, Jesus becomes a source of much conflict and opposition as he begins to claim great power and authority. Jesus has been set on fire; it reminds me of Moses experiencing the burning bush. If you remember, Moses was not led on to peace and easy living, but into great conflict with Pharaoh as well as with his own people. Jesus has claimed his identity as the son of God. Such knowledge has turned him on and led him to teach his followers about the kingdom in the short time he has left. So he emphatically denies that following him will bring peace. He warns his followers of the cost of discipleship. He uses the important kinship, intergenerational ties to illustrate the division that will take place. Is this good news? Depends on what the world was like.

The earthly world that Jesus was part of was deeply marred and scarred, unjust, with life-destroying power. It was a world that evidenced much suffering: poverty, slavery, exploitation, violence, cruel and inhumane punishments, ostracism of those that were different, no rights for women. Patriarchy was the social form; especially rich, white, male Roman’s had great power over the rest of the population. Throughout the gospels Jesus refers to God’s kingdom turning the present way of being and doing upside down. This kingdom can not be brought about without confrontation in this kind of society. So when Jesus talks about fire and division, he’s saying that his followers will be constantly challenged if they follow his teachings and that they must put the kingdom ahead of their loyalty to family ties. Why? Because for Jesus, God’s kingdom is more important than even one’s family. Family obligations are subordinate to God’s kingdom.

We know from Jesus’ teachings and behavior that he had a stomach that churned for the vulnerable and became exceedingly angry at those who made a mockery of the temple by their dishonest dealings. He felt so angry that he upturned the tables and whipped out at the money changers. This was an anger of advocacy and caring, directed against those that made life worse for the neglected, the forgotten and all those not in power.

Lisa Fithian is a grassroots activist in the global peace-oriented movement for social justice. She has been arrested 30 times for intentionally creating crises—situations that force the powers that be such as the transnational corporations, the media, security forces, to cease doing business as usual and look at the inequities that they may be perpetuating and then hopefully to change those policies. Fithian explained: “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?,’ I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.”[3] I wonder if this is the kind of thing Jesus is talking about when he says he comes to bring fire to the earth. “Was he not saying, as Lisa Fithian says, I have come to bring crisis because business as usual means injustice and death?”[4]

Jesus is talking about a fire that would inflame people to care and to serve and to bless others. This fire can lead people through the darkness and culminate in the coming of God’s kingdom. Is this kind of fire burning in you? What turns it on and how do you express it? How does your family feel about this fire? Or do they even know it is burning? Have you ever had trouble with anyone in your family because of your faith and how you carry it out? When you make a decision to commit yourself to Jesus, you must be prepared for opposition from those that do not agree with you, those that think you are wasting your life, going in the wrong direction. If Jesus’ fire takes hold of us, it can make us dangerous and divisive, a person that can not be bought off or intimidated. I’m thinking of the Quaker Tom Fox, one of the team of Christian Peace Makers, who was kidnapped and eventually killed by the opposition in Iraq. Here was a man who completely believed in living as Jesus lived which included being a pacifist and treating all, even one’s enemies with respect and kindness. In his blog the day before he was killed he responded to the question of why he was in Iraq:

"If I understand the message of God, his response to that question is that we are to take part in the creation of the Peaceable Realm of God. As I survey the landscape here in Iraq, dehumanization seems to be the operative means of relating to each other. We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exists within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls."

Tom had told his family and friends that if he was captured or killed they should not take revenge on those responsible. As Bob Burnett, a Quaker writer and activist said,” We feel that it's better to honor our personal integrity, our relationship with the divine, than to play it safe.”[5]

My sisters and brothers, I pray that I could have this combination of fire and peace within to fully react in love to all with whom I come in contact. The command of love that Jesus emphasized stokes division with others and within our own hearts. It’s not easy to follow Jesus. Tom Fox paid the ultimate price by giving his life. Neither the world nor the church will benefit from a lukewarm faith, so I call on all of you to honor and give thanks for that transforming fire that is available to your from our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you hear Jesus calling to you, calling you outside the comfort walls into the life of the real world? Will you answer the call? Where is your fire?

[1] Frank Rothfuss, “Jesus’ Focus on the Family” found in e-Sermons.com.
[2] Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann
[3] From article for the Christian Century by Theresa Berger.
[4] Ibid.
[5] www.commondreams.org

Rich Towards God, Sermon for August 5, 2007

Scripture: Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-11

The title of this sermon is “Rich Towards God”; I considered “What have you stored in your barn?” as well as Abundance of Soul. No matter what I name it, it really is about money, greed, and your life—the life you live today and your life eternal. It is probably the topic that I have the most difficulty with in my personal life, the area of my life where I feel I am the most sinful. As I write this sermon, I have a visceral reaction in my stomach. I even feel close to tears. Part of me is saying it is just too hard to be a disciple of Jesus-- to say nothing about being a minister that is charged with teaching and preaching to other Christians.

Let’s look at the gospel lesson: Luke describes an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a crowd of followers. He is interrupted by a young man who yells out, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me a fair share of the inheritance of our father.” The Jewish law provided at that time that the elder son would receive 2/3rds of the father’s wealth and the younger son 1/3. Jesus quickly let’s the young man know that he is not the inheritance police and then he goes on to tell the story that most Bible’s title, “The Rich Fool”

Let me give you an updated modern version of what I believe Jesus was saying: There was once a man who had a great run of good fortune and prosperity—maybe he did well in the stock market, in this case probably the commodities market. In fact he had made so much money he had to find more banks for his deposits as he didn’t want to risk having over the $100,000 that is federally insured per depositor in any one bank. Now I want to point out that this was not an evil man. He was not unlike most of us who are well off and want to enjoy life. No way do I see Jesus indicating that God doesn’t like folks who work hard and are successful. In this congregation and in my own family there are a range of households, some living month to month, others having a net worth of a half a million or so. This story tempts us to think that Jesus is down on material things and wealthy people. What I think Jesus is doing is cautioning us of the seductiveness of wealth and consumerism. If we spend a large amount of time on acquiring money and other material things and then worrying about keeping them safe or preventing them from losing value, it consumes a tremendous amount of our time that could be used in better ways to bring about the Kingdom.

I’d like to illustrate with a true story I saw on the internet about hummingbirds. There was a family that put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became very popular with the local hummingbirds. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. “The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He was now the only hummingbird who used it. He would feed and then sit in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approached his feeder. Guard duty occupied his every waking hour. He was an effective guard. The only timeanother bird got to use the feeder was when the self-appointed owner was momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.”[1] You see by choosing to be the owner and guard of the feeder, the hummingbird forfeited his freedom. He was no longer free to come and go as he wished. He was tied to the work of guarding his STUFF. He was possessed by his possession.

In the same way our wealth and possessions can keep us away from serving God or enjoying our family, or relaxing. With what are our barns, our attics, our closets filled? After God has called this man a fool, the last sentence in our NRSV translation says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ Listen to the translation by Eugene Peterson in the Message, "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God" What ways might we be rich towards God? One commentary answers in this way, "This is the wealth we acquire when, trusting the future to God, we use what is given us unselfishly…The way to real life is to give our lives away."[2] The rich man in Jesus’ story disregards God’s role in his life. One of the real dangers/seductions about wealth is the illusion it gives us of being in control of our lives. When someone close to us has a tragedy, we are aware for a moment that life is not predictable and that the true value in our life has to be other than the material. The rich fool had the following follies according to Culpepper: 1 Preoccupation with possessions, 2 Self-sufficiency, no need for other people—he was alone; 3 Hollowness of hedonism—eat, drink, and be merry; 5 Greed—not sharing his abundance and good fortune with others.[3]

In the letter to the Colossians, there is a very similar theme. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth..” and “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The essence of this passage is that as we are now raised with Christ, (through our baptism) “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This again is about the top values in our life.

Some of my great difficulty with this topic is how do you determine how much is enough and how much is too much when you come to saving. Being a good New Englander, I very much was influenced by saving up for a rainy day as well as my experience of seeing the pain of my parents’ poverty which came from their not earning much money nor making wise financial decisions. Consequently, I became a saver not a spender.

The other question is how much do you give away? How much do you share with your children, your church, your larger community that is in need? Then what happens when you and your partner have different philosophies about spending and saving and giving away? The Hebrew Bible has many verses that tell us to give 10% to God. Before or after taxes? Salary or total income? And so on-- the questions could take up many sermons. If any one has a clue to how to answer these questions, I’d love to have conversation with you.

The man Jesus told the story about evidently had no conflict about his wealth and possessions. He felt easy and secure about the future; however, God calls him a fool. God knew that all the man’s labors for his own gain could not be taken with him when he dies. God only required his soul. Jesus tells us that if we lay up treasure for ourselves and are not rich towards God, we too will be a fool. We need to be careful about hoping that our successes, our prosperity, our bank accounts will fill our souls. And really, the only thing that God requires in return for God’s gift of life and love, is that we go and do likewise, that we allow others to live by living more simply ourselves and sharing our blessings. As Gandhi said, we have enough for our need but not for our greed! How do we live more simply so that others may simply live?

So I come to the end of writing this sermon four hours later and still have so many questions. My stomach is less tight and I no longer feel tearful. There are some things I do know. God does not disapprove of wealth and prosperity; Jesus is cautioning us not to let greed and wealth be a block to following the path required of us. I don’t know all the specifics, yet I do know that to be rich towards God means putting God first, giving God attention in our prayers and other practices, loving God and loving all God’s children and always remembering what we do to the least of these we do to God.

Let us pray, Gracious, gracious God, please help us figure this whole thing out and do what you want us to do so that we can be rich towards you. Thank you for your guidance, the teachings of Jesus, your love. Amen

[1] David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, at e-Sermons.com
[2] Richard Bauckman, The Lectionary Commentary, ed. by Roger van Harn.
[3] In New Interpreter’s Bible on Luke.

The Mystery of Prayer, Sermon for July 29, 2007

Scripture: Luke 11:1-13

Today’s Gospel in Luke includes a less familiar version of the Lord’s prayer than the one in Mathew. The Matthew version is probably the original and is more polished, having seven petitions instead of just four that are in Luke. The missing words in Luke compared to Matthew are “Our …who art in heaven…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…but deliver us from evil.” I want to share with you yet another version found in the Messenger by Eugene Petersen: “Father, /Reveal who you are. /Set the world right./Keep us alive with three square meals./ Keep us forgiven by you and forgiving others./ Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

I’ve certainly had my share of questions about prayer as I would guess all of you have had. There is a Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown is kneeling beside his bed for prayer. Suddenly he stops and says to Lucy, "I think I’ve made a new theological discovery, a real breakthrough. If you hold your hands upside down, you get the opposite of what you pray for." Prayer is not magic. Or as another preacher[1] said, “Prayer must be more than an emergency magical lamp rubbed in a crisis.”

I would guess that many folks give up on prayer because they do not understand it. Much of what passes for prayer is superstitious, irrational and self-centered. Pray-ers ask for something very important such as don’t let their infant die. The infant dies, and they figure, why bother to pray. It doesn’t do any good.

This sermon is going to focus on what I believe about prayer. First of all, I believe that prayer is a way to have intimacy with God. When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, it was not because they were unfamiliar with prayer. They were faithful Jews who had grown up praying. Our gospel reading starts with Jesus finishing praying while the disciples observed. I imagine that they observed in Jesus’ praying and in his talking to them and others, a real intimacy with God that they were not familiar with. Remember Jesus called God “Abba”, a word most closely translated into our English as “Daddy”. Jesus goes on to give an example of how God’s listening and answering prayer is like the love of a parent who would give only good things to his/her child. This is the kind of intimacy that we can trust; we can talk to God and knows that God is listening. We don’t have to leave anything out. We can express all our concerns, our fears, our angers, our grief, our doubts and know that God hears. So prayer, first of all for me, is intimacy with God, getting to know God and be known by God, a God who loves us unconditionally.

I believe that prayer is not a way to escape from the world, but is a way to help us live more fully in the world in a manner that Jesus taught us. For me prayer and action go together. Doing good deeds without praying, getting connected and nourished by the Source of all will soon lead to burn out. Action without praying can be dangerous as we may begin to think we are in charge; that it all depends on us instead of that higher power that is in and around us, or as Paul quoted in Acts says, “God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being.” On the other hand if we pray and do not engage in action to transform/heal/bring peace and justice for all, we are like a clanging cymbal, signifying nothing.

I believe that prayer is heard by God. Sometimes it’s hard to see the answer to prayer in the moment. Looking back on my life, I felt a strong guidance from God directing me to ordained ministry. During that long dark night of the soul I’ve often referred to, it did not seem like God was answering my prayers. I couldn’t find a church or a minister that seemed to fit my needs; I was lonely and my marriage was shaky. Yet I believe now that was a period of learning to trust God and gaining confidence in my ability to be a minister. Other times I have felt an answer to prayer in the present as when I was praying for my mother on the other side of the country and a vision came to me very strongly that I was to move from CA to Maine to be with her in her final years. I fought the decision as I didn’t want to go; however, the more I prayed and discussed the decision with family the more I felt God was calling me there. So, yes I believe that God listens to our prayers. Lots of times I’m upset when I feel God is not answering my prayers. But I wonder if maybe it’s just that I don’t like the answer. Maybe one of things that happens in prayer is that we become what we pray for. For example, if we pray for peace, we become more of a peace pilgrim, doing those things that will create peace near and far. Another example would be as we pray for healing and other healthy things for ourselves or others, our heart becomes more filled with compassion.

Those of you that have been listening to me preach for a while know that I very much like the ideas of Marcus Borg, who believes in a panentheistic God, not an interventionist God that is out there somewhere and comes when we call. Rather than God being a person-like being out there, he believes in God as the encompassing spirit in whom everything that is, is. This God is not out there, but right here all around us. Another way Borg describes this God is not only “right here”, but also “more than right here”.[2] He sees God as a presence beneath and within our everyday lives. In this light, Borg doesn’t believe that God intervenes as in answering prayer. How could God intervene for some and not for others? This belief really messed up my intercessory prayers for a while.

Borg, in spite of this belief, continues to daily pray intercessory and petitionary prayers. He says this kind of praying feels like a natural form of caring; he also recognizes that there is some evidence for the efficacy of prayers in healing. The biggest reason he continues his praying is for the intimacy that praying gives him with God. He says that ideally the whole of verbal prayer is about intimacy. How and if prayer works in other ways, Borg admits to just not knowing.
Joan Chittester has similar views to Borg’s concept of God. She talks about how the old definition of prayer as “the raising of our hearts and minds to God misrepresents God as some distant judge outside ourselves.” She says that “science, with its new perception that matter and spirit are of a piece, sometimes particles, sometimes energy, assures us that God is not out there on a cloud somewhere, imperious and suspecting. God is the very energy that animates us. God is the spirit that leads us and drives us on. God is the voice within us calling us to life. God is the reality trying to come to fullness within us, both individually and together. It is to that cosmic God, that personal, inner, enkindling God, that we pray.”[3]

The last part of our gospel has those well known and often quoted words, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Vv. 9-10) Some of you may be familiar with The Secret, a film and a book written on the premise that we bring to ourselves whatever we think about or ask for. I recently read the book, and they quote this ask/search/knock passage of Jesus as being an example of what they are holding up. I have a lot of questions about this theory; however, I know in my own life if I have filled my mind with worry and anxiety, often what I worry about comes true. An example is a couple of years ago when I went to CA I rented a brand new, shiny white vehicle. I was so worried that someone would hit up against it and I would be held responsible. Not only did two bruises appear on the car, but I ended up having an accident with my being at fault. This illustration certainly illustrates their law of attraction or thinking makes it so. As I looked more carefully at this part of our scripture, I realize that Jesus does not say that we will receive whatever requested; instead he says how much more does God give good gifts to his children. I think it’s dangerous when we take this as a blank check on which we can write anything our hearts desire. Jesus does say in the next chapter of Luke, “Do not be anxious, seek first God’s kingdom and these things such as clothing and shelter shall be yours as well.” Another way of looking at this is that God also asks, seeks, and knocks. Prayer is effective not because of us but because God’s nature is like a Parent who loves his own and wants to give good gifts. Another way of looking at prayer is that when we bring our concerns for ourselves or others to God’s love in faith, that is prayer.

My last point about prayer is that I believe prayer is a mystery. Prayer often surprises us. We think we have it all figured out and then something new and different emerges. Prayer is a conversation with the living God during which we may clarify and sometimes change our hopes and plans. It’s hard to listen in prayer. Most of us are so use to talking, it’s hard to be in a prayerful silence. I believe that Jesus taught us by the Lord’s prayer that it is very important for us to ask that we help God bring about God’s kingdom. Bishop William Willimon made the observation that most churches have a time of Joys and Concerns before prayer time in worship. He says that most of the concerns are about various people going through health problems. He refers to it as “Sick Call”. He points out that none of this is in the Lord’s prayer. As followers of Jesus, he suggests we talk to God about what Jesus talks about when he prays: the coming of God’s kingdom, for daily bread, and for forgiveness. As Christians, we are in life long training about how to pray as Jesus taught us. It’s not as simple as it seems. Yet the Holy Spirit is with us just as Jesus promised. Paul also assures us that when we have trouble praying, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with “sighs too deep for words. Yes, prayer is a mystery; we do not know how it works, but I feel confidant that the “Still Speaking God” knows what we are praying for and even answers us, although in ways that are not easily understood or made sense of. Thanks be to God! My prayer is that we continue to encourage each other to be a people of prayer and faith. Amen and amen.
[1] eSermons for July 29, 2007
[2] The Heart of Christianity, p. 66
[3] “Contemplation in the Midst of Chaos”, on 30 Good Minutes online.

GO AND DO LIKEWISE Sermon for July 15, 2007

Scripture: Deut. 30:11-14, Luke 10:25-37

Most of you here probably are familiar with the Good Samaritan story. Let me quickly do a little background for you. Our story starts out with a lawyer asking Jesus a question. Now in those days lawyers did not have the greatest reputation. They were rich and popular, but it should not have been surprising to anyone standing there that day when a lawyer swaggered up to Jesus with a question—actually, two questions, trying to catch Jesus and trip him up. Actually the lawyer’s first question was most legitimate, especially for someone who had all his material needs met and was now focusing on the spiritual. As he wondered about his life, he wanted to be assured that he would not die so he asks Jesus what did he have to do to have eternal life. Jesus answer was pretty straightforward and clear: Love God and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Yet this lawyer, as lawyers tend to do, wanted more of the details, “Just so I know Jesus, who indeed is my neighbor?” And then Jesus answered with the familiar parable.
Now a little geographical background: this road from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, near Jericho, descends more than 3600 feet in a little less than 20 miles. Not only was this road very steep, it was also very treacherous. The terrain was such that there were lots of crevices and caves for bandits to hide in. This was a very dangerous road. Our victim has evidently encountered some of these robbers who have beaten him and left him half dead. Jesus tells us about three men who come upon this suffering man: the first two, a priest and a Levite passed by on the other side. Although this seems very uncaring to us, these men were not bad people. There are several excuses that the commentaries give for this behavior. You have probably heard some of them: the body on the roadside could have been a plant by robbers to lure other travelers into stopping, at which they too could have been robbed and even killed. One of the excuses most often given is that touching a corpse would have defiled the priest and the Levite and disqualified them from performing their duties in the Temple. (One of my references points out that the priest and Levite were traveling from Jerusalem where the Temple was—so much for that excuse.)

The parable continues with a Samaritan man coming and bandaging the victim, carrying him on his donkey to the inn and even paying for the innkeeper to care for him; in other words the Samaritan showed great compassion. The Samaritans, remember Quick review of Jewish history: Samaritans were outcasts and had been for over 400 years by the time Jesus was telling this story. No Jew in his right mind would associate with a Samaritan on any level if it could be avoided. Samaritans were regarded as unclean, descendants of mixed marriages that followed from the Assyrian settlement of people from various regions in the fallen northern kingdom. While Samaritans saw themselves as Jews, no racially pure Jew would ever consider a Samaritan on equal footing.

We all have our Samaritans: those people that we don’t want anything to do with, those folks that we ignore, neglect, avoid because of where they live, the color of their skin, their beliefs, their class, their ethnicity. Growing up in my family it was Jews and African Americans. For many today it is an Arab, a Muslim, an illegal immigrant, a Mexican, people with AIDS, criminals, drug users. We all have our own lists.

Do you have any idea how many people are hurting, are lonely, feel unloved and worthless? When a tragedy happens such as at Virginia Tech, we sometimes get a glimpse of the many “neighbors” to whom we are not showing compassion. Jesus answers the lawyer with directions to love God and neighbor. At the end of the story it is obvious to the lawyer that the neighbor is the one who shows mercy and compassion. Then Jesus says to him, “Go and do likewise.”

There’s an excellent article in the July issue of The Progressive Christian about the Virginia Tech incident written by Hak Joon Lee and entitled “When Community Disappears.” He points out that in every school massacre in our country the prominent thing is that the killers were not only loners, but they were suffering from excessive feelings of isolation. They were often either neglected or bullied. The author concludes that the only way to prevent such tragedies is for us to reach out, care selflessly for others—in terms of the Good Samaritan: show mercy and compassion. To quote Lee, “At the very least, when we fail to pay close attention to others we also fail to identify those who may pose a danger to themselves and to others….Some form of social caring or attention is indispensable for living with each other in safety.” He goes on to say that “From a Christian perspective, hyper-individualism and indifference are unbiblical….Reaching out is at the center of Christian theology. God’s very nature is to reach out in overflowing love, just as God’s goal in history is the creation of community.” Just as in the Good Samaritan “reaching out is to cross artificial lines and categories—the lines between God and humanity, between nationalities, between Jews and Gentiles, and between genders…”

Martin Luther King, Jr talked about going further than making the world a neighborhood but that it is necessary to make it a brotherhood (and I would add sisterhood). King says that if we do not live together as family “we will all perish together as fools.” Building community is the only effective and lasting option to stop tragedies like Virginia Tech as well as to prevent the wounds that cause the violence of the life around us. Manufacturing more guns, building more gated communities, practicing residential segregation, isolating our selves from those that are different will only lead to more tragedy. If we don’t reach out to strangers and build a beloved community for all, we are not following Jesus’ command to go and do likewise.

Barbara Johnson has written a poem that complements The Good Samaritan to a certain degree:

A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!

The important difference in this poem from the parable in Luke is that Jesus does not say that he is the only one to show compassion, the only one to lift the man out of the pit." He says, "You go. You do it. You are called by God to live out your love by loving your neighbor as yourself."
As people of faith, deep down we already know the answer to “Who is my neighbor?” Just as our Hebrew Scripture lesson for today says that the answer is not too hard for us. “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The incarnation was God’s way of coming to us, reaching out to human beings to build a community. Pentecost was another time that God reached out to us through the Holy Spirit as well as his showing us the need to reach out to others, no matter what their language or background. For us here at Deering Community Church, reaching out will require commitment and the willingness to be vulnerable. Evangelism, which is another word for reaching out, is not just about sharing church doctrines and theology, it is about embodying the love and compassion that Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel lesson. Whether individuals, churches, or nations, we are not meant to live alone. We are made to share our lives with each other. May God give us the strength, the courage, and the faith to do so. Amen!!

Simple Acts/Amazing Results Sermon July 8, 2007

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

The story of Naaman, so nicely acted out for us, has all kinds of interesting things: power, arrogance, simplicity, anger, wisdom from unexpected sources. Did you realize that Naaman was an enemy of the Israelites? He was the commander of the Army of the King of Aram (which is ancient Syria) yet it was the King of Israel that he was sent to see about his healing. I don’t know why he was not sent directly to the prophet Elisha whose name he was given by the captured Israelite slave girl as the one that could bring about the healing of his skin disease. So he finally is referred to Elisha, and the prophet refuses to see him. Remember as Commander of the Army, Naaman felt pretty proud of himself. In spite of his skin disease, he had a sense of authority and confidence. How could the prophet Elisha refuse to see such an important man? Not only did Elisha not have a face to face meeting, he told Naaman to do a very simple thing: go wash in the muddy River Jordan seven times. What kind of a cure is that! This River was not any more than a muddy creek along much of its course, not like the grand rivers in Aram that Naaman was familiar with. Naaman expected the prophet to come pray over him and wave his hand over the spotted skin till it was healed—something with a dramatic flair. This simple solution that was proposed made Naaman angry. It was his servants, the little people, the people not given a name or title as with the slave girl, that convinced him to bathe in the river. They used a bit of reason, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was ‘Wash, and be clean’? So as we know, in the end, Naaman, who represented the "enemy," left praising the name of Israel's God.

Naaman’s healing is a countercultural vision of the pathway to healing and wholeness. Today whether it’s traditional cures or alternative cures, we seek clearly-articulated techniques that guarantee healing. In this story it is asserted that healing doesn’t have to be complicated. Instead the story shows that healing can occur anywhere, by any practice, through any mediator, and at any pace. To sum up this healing story, an unlikely person seeks healing, the powerful Naaman. Naaman finds a path to healing from an unexpected source, a Hebrew slave girl, who testifies to the power of her God. Naaman encounters an unexpected healer, Elisha, a Hebrew, who points the general to an unexpected healing modality, a dip in the nearby and rather undistinguished Jordan River.

This story tells me that healing does not have to be dramatic. God seeks healing in every circumstance and virtually any encounter can be a source of personal transformation. and healing . When you and I say “yes” to Christ’s question, “do you want to be healed?” many possibilities open up for us. In fact, I believe that usually what we need to be whole, to be transformed is right within us or in front of us.

One of my favorite authors, Mark Nepo, tells the story about his looking across the lake and seeing the most exotic place, especially as the early morning light beamed down. After watching the other side for several days, he just had to cross the lake to see it up close. When he got to the other side that mysterious, exotic otherness was gone. He started laughing at himself as he looked over to the other side, his home side, and saw the early morning light causing the water to sparkle and look as exotic as the far side had from the home view. He writes “so often we imagine that There is more full of gold than Here…We see the light everywhere but where we are, and chase after what we think we lack, only to find, humbly, it was with us all along.”[1]
This story of simplified healing leads me now to our Gospel lesson where Jesus sends out 70 disciples, two by two to help him spread the message of peace and love. He instructs them to take no purse, no bag, no sandals. This reminds me of the story my husband, Neill, tells about when he first came to this country to live and all he had was carried in two bicycle panniers—large bags that strap on to a bicycle. For those of you that helped us move in to either of our houses in Deering or Hillsboro, you know how much stuff we now have! I’m also reminded of St. Francis of Assisi, who when asked by the Pope why he insisted upon having no property at all of his own, and why he insisted that his disciples too must own nothing. Francis replied that "if we had any possessions, we should need weapons and laws to defend them." I often hear people talking about wanting to get rid of stuff and live more simply but how hard it is to do. Jesus goes on to tell his followers that they are to share their peace and convey that the Kingdom of God is near. They went about healing and exorcising demons. When they returned they had much joy that they were so successful: “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us.” Jesus replied that although they have authority over the power of the enemies and all the evil spirits, they must not rejoice because of this. In other words, they must not be blown up and superior acting, but act humbly. The thing that Jesus says that they need to rejoice about is that their names are written in heaven.

So what does this all have to do with us? I really don’t expect you to get rid of all your belongings and get on the road barefoot without your wallets and purses yet Christ's message of peace and wholeness still needs to be heard today. We don’t go around talking about evil spirits; however, there are all kinds of things that rob people of joy and peace and life itself: injustice, oppression, hatreds, greed, intolerance and prejudice. We live in a world filled with terrible violence, violence that affects us in our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, as well as in all the nations of the world. Who’s going to share the Good News if not us?
Christ calls us to go out with a message of peace, a proclamation that the kingdom of God is near. When we are faithful in obeying that call, the power of the gods of this world--the powers of greed and selfishness, of hatred and injustice, of evil in all its many forms--begin to crumble.
We must be careful not to be fool our selves that that these forces are only to be found out in the world. As I’ve said many times before, the first step towards true and lasting peace and wholeness must be a journey inward. Within each one of us are attitudes and behaviors that are not in line with Christ's call to peace. We must humbly and honestly confront those attitudes within us if we are to be effective in reaching out to others with Christ’s message of reconciliation and love.

This reminds me of a story I first heard from Gandhi’s grandson, Arun. (I’ve told it to you before.) There was a little boy from the Cherokee tribe, who came home from school one day very upset and angry because the school bully had hit him. He talked to his grandfather about how upset he was and what he could do. The grandfather responded, “Right now a fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, resentment, pride, and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too.” The child thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied: “The one I feed.” Which wolf will you feed?

Remember that Jesus told his disciples not to rejoice at being successful but to rejoice in being faithful and obedient. In good times and in bad, in times of joy and in times of challenge, we are called to seek the pathway of peace, to speak truth to power, and in so doing to invite others to catch glimpses of the coming kingdom of God. I pray that we will be faithful in sharing the message of God’s love for all people, made known in Jesus our Christ. This message is a simple one--peace, love, healing and wholeness, forgiveness, reconciliation and grace. God works through the unexpected, the little ones, the muddy river. I pray that you will be ready for God’s surprises and realize the amazing consequences of listening to the little ones, to living simply so that others may simply live. Amen!








[1] The Book Of Awakening, p.221.