Showing posts with label judging others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judging others. Show all posts
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Good Seed
July 23, 2023
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Good Seeds
8th Sunday after Pentecost
Year A
Prelude
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: As we harvest our growing abundance in this time of mid-summer, may we relish in the fruit of our labor,
Many: As we harvest the fruitful seeds of nature and God’s Garden, let us share in the bounty with our neighbors.
One: While we channel resources – water, light, fertile ground to the produce we desire in our gardens,
Many: May we also recognize that the weed, the rabbit, the caterpillar also has needs for sustenance.
One: We have enough, and an attitude of plentifulness increases through sharing.
Many: For what our land grows with our tending, is only ours for a moment in time, filling a short term and immediate need.
All: May we share the harvest by tithing back to nature, feeding the hungry among us, storing for the future without hoarding, and setting enough seed aside for the next season of planting. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Dr. Sherry Warren)
Invocation
God of many names, mother of all creation, father of all that is, womb of life, and wellspring of all that we can ever know, we invite your presence here as we seek to embody your loving spirit and create your presence among us. We are in need and we turn to you to be with us as we practice creating the kin-dom of heaven here on earth. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Dr. Sherry Warren)
Song Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah
Children’s Sermon
Have some very small pots of dandelions or other native weed ready to be given to each child.
Today our Bible message is about God as the gardener. Jesus told this story to his friends to help them to understand how the love of God workd. He told them that the farmer lavishly scattered seeds in the field. There were weeds already in the field and the good plants and the weeds grew up together. When it came time for the harvest, God separated the weeds from the good plants. At first some people would say that God should have thinned out the plants earlier and gotten all the weeds out, casting them into the fire. But that didn’t happen. Weeds and seeds grew up together. Then came the time of harvest. Each plant was harvested with the others, weeds and good plants alike. God will decide what to do about the weeds.
God is loves us all very much and wants the best things for us. We have a lot to learn. Life isn’t always just good things; sometimes we encounter difficult times. We can learn about courage, perseverance, hope, and forgiveness in these times. I’m going to ask each one of you to take a special plant home with you. Take good care of it. Give it just the right amount of sunlight so that it will grow. Make sure to water it, but not too much. Take time to get to know your little plant. Think about the ways in which that plant is very special. Talk with your parents about planting your little weed in a place of its own where you can care for it. Thank you for coming up here today. Good luck with your plants. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley)
Prayer for Transformation and New Life
God of creation and plenty, it can be easy for us to forget the abundant nature of your love. We forget that there are ample riches from this earth if we manage your resources you and we share generously among all your beloved children. We forget that we are all created in your divine beauty, perfect specimens of your holy vision for a people who can love without bounds, share without tallying, and celebrate among the great diversity you created to thrive together. Guide us to give of that abundance, to receive with grace and gratitude, and to turn our hearts from the perception of scarcity. We confess that we fall short; and we ask that you show us the path again to your fruitful garden where all things grow and flourish. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Dr. Sherry Warren)
Words of Grace
Let us know that God has always provided us with growth and abundance and will continue to guide us in the care of bounteous fields that spring forth with plant and animal, both weed and seed. We are all worthy of this enduring joy and sustenance as beloved children of God. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Dr. Sherry Warren)
Passing of the Peace
Scripture Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Sermon Good Seeds
Some of you can relate to one unknown homemaker who wrote: I don’t do windows because . . . I love birds and don’t want one to run into a clean window and get hurt. I don’t wax floors because . . . I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt then I’ll feel terrible (plus they may sue me.)I don’t disturb cobwebs because . . . I want every creature to have a home of their own. I don’t Spring Clean because . . . I love all the seasons and don’t want the others to get jealous. I don’t put things away because . . . my husband will never be able to find them again. I don’t do gourmet meals when I entertain because . . . I don’t want my guests to stress out over what to make when they invite me over for dinner. I don’t iron because . . . I choose to believe them when they say “Permanent Press.” And finally: I don’t pull weeds in the garden because . . . I don’t want to get in God’s way, He is an excellent designer!
So, what is a weed anyway. I have heard many different definitions over the years. The dictionary defines a weed as any plant that is growing in the wrong place. Of course we can add other criteria, such as a plant that is invasive. A plant that you do no want. And you definitely don’t intentionally plant weeds.
And yet interestingly when Jesus refers to weeds and planting goods seeds for the harvest. Jesus says that the weeds are intentionally planted by the devil. He says that just as you plant wheat in neatly controlled rows – the devil did the same thing. Wheat is broadcast – you just throw it out on the ground.
So perhaps Jesus wasn’t a farmer, so he wasn’t clear about technique. Or perhaps he wasn’t talking about plants at all. Perhaps he was talking about the weeds that grow inside of the church.
In chapter 13- Jesus is talking to the disciples about the kingdom of heaven. They have never seen heaven, but they live in a world where seeds, plants and harvest are common. So Jesus is just explaining heaven in terms that they have heard.
I just learned that all weeds are volunteers, but not all volunteers are weeds. Volunteers could be people or plant.
So Jesus may be saying that in the church some of us are sincere and here for the right reasons and some of us are not. Some of us are good seed planted here by God and some of us are bad seed planted by God.
But Jesus gets it wrong again when he says that you harvest weeds in the same way that you harvest good plants. Usually you pluck up the weeds long before you pluck up the harvest. Yet Jesus says to hold off on the weeds and pull up the weeds and the harvest at the same time. He says to burn the weeds. Once again it is only the human weeds that get thrown into the fires of hell so that they can burn.
The question or question of the day is – which one of us here are weeds and which ones are good seed? And who is it that is responsible for the harvest?
In Matthew, Jesus takes the time to explain the players in the story. The landowner who does the planting is Jesus. The enemy is the devil. The harvesters are the angels. You and me are just the seed. Some of us good seed and some of us bad.
A Glorious Mess
Hear now a recasting of the parable (courtesy of the wonderfully innovative work of Barbara Brown Taylor):
One afternoon in the middle of the growing season, a bunch of farm hands decided to surprise their boss and weed his favorite wheat field. No sooner had they begun to work, however, than they began to argue ... about which of the wheat-looking things were weeds. Did the Queen Anne's lace, for example, pose a real threat to the wheat, or could it stay for decoration? And the blackberries? After all, they were weeds. But they would be ripe in a week or two. And the honeysuckle ... it seemed a shame to pull up anything that smelled so sweet.
About the time they had gotten around to debating the purple asters, the boss showed up and ordered them out of his field. Dejected, they did as they were told. Back at the barn, he took their machetes away from them, poured them some lemonade, and made them sit down where they could watch the way the light moved across the field. At first, all they could see were the weeds and what a messy field it was ... and what a discredit to their profession. But as the summer wore on, they marveled at the profusion of growth. Tall wheat surrounded by tall goldenrod, accented by a mixture of ragweed and brown-eyed Susans. Even the poison ivy flourished beside the Cherokee roses. It was a mess. But a glorious mess. And when it had all bloomed and ripened, the reapers came.
Carefully ... gently ... expertly ... they gathered the wheat and made the rest into bricks for the oven where the bread was baked. And the fire the weeds made was excellent. And the flour the wheat made was excellent. And when the owner called them together ... farm hands, reapers, along with all the neighbors ... and broke bread with them (bread that was the final distillation of that messy, gorgeous, mixed up field), they all agreed that it was like no bread they had ever tasted before. And that it was very, very good.
Let those who have ears ... and half a brain ... hear and consider.
Barbara Brown Taylor, www.Sermons.com
_______________________
Jesus lesson for us today is not about the good seed and the bad. It is about our favorite hobby in the church – judging. As Christians we are obsessed with the thought that we are the good seed. And if we are the good seed, anything that does not look like us, that we don’t agree with, that we don’t understand, or doesn’t fit into our picture must be bad seed. Jesus is reminding us that we are just seed – we don’t have the power to judge. That is not our place in the story.
A Word of Caution to Champion Weed-Pullers
I'll never forget the day I became a champion weed-puller. It was a little embarrassing. About thirty summers ago I was a young boy of eight or nine, living with my family on a farm in rural Wisconsin, not far from Milwaukee. My older brothers used to spend a good deal of June and July helping the neighboring truck farmers weed their gardens. I don't know how they do it today, but then it was a matter of doing everything by hand. You got down near the ground and pulled the weeds one by one. The pay was about a dime for a row of radishes a hundred feet long.
One day I thought I would get in on this money making venture, so I too presented myself to the neighboring truck farmer, who agreed to pay me a dime for each row of radishes I would weed. He quickly inquired whether I knew what a radish plant looked like. I quickly replied that I did, not wanting to be turned down for the job. So I went to work, and about an hour later, I stood before the farmer, expecting a shiny silver dime. But sure enough, I had picked all the tender young radish shoots and left the ignoble weeds standing there gloriously in the sunshine. Clearly it would have been better for this farmer and his radishes if I had never pulled his so-called "weeds" at all. A champion weed-puller indeed!
Richard Patt, Challenge of Christ's Harvest
As Christians we like to think that we have some special power to judge others, and we forget that in the bigger story – we are just seeds. We don’t even know how to determine if we ae even considered a good seed. We ae just seeds.
A Line Through Every Heart
I have colleagues who continually want to cull the field, making decisions on the basis of belief ... behavior ... even baptism. As many of you know, my wife is into genealogy. She's traced portions of her family back over 500 years. Just a few months ago, we learned that she had a relative who was burned at the stake in Switzerland. Why? Because he had the wrong understanding of baptism, that's why. They weeded him out. Then they burned him up.
As for me, I don't always know whether I am weed or wheat. Wasn't it Alexander Solzhenitsyn who said: "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." Which, I suppose, includes my heart. For all I know, I may even be the weed in somebody else's garden. Perhaps in your garden.
Collected Sermons, William A. Ritter, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
Sometimes we are the weed, and sometime we are the wheat.
A Limerick for the Wheat and the Weeds
I enjoyed the book by Archibald Hunter, Parable Then and Now. In his comments on today's parable, he had one limerick that I really enjoyed: "There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly becomes any of us, to talk about the rest of us."
Edward F. Markquart, www.Sermons.com
The kingdom of heaven is like a field, but the kingdom of heaven is in God’s realm. And Fields only grow on earth. How to determine between the weed and the harvest is an earthly question. Weeds are only a negative thing in our own minds. In heaven every volunteer has a unique purpose and place.
We have all heard the term, judge not and be not judged. That comes in Matthew 7. But in practical terms what does it mean not the judge others. How can you possible go through life without judging. We have to be able to identify the bad seed, the dangerous seed, those who are fake and phony.
Better to Have Weeds than Nothing at All
I asked the people at my last church to imagine what would happen if we adopted a policy of weed-pulling, if we drew a circle around the little town of Wingate, North Carolina, and made a vow that no evil would cross that line, that no weeds would grow within that border. I said, "You know, you and I could spend the rest of our lives protecting that boundary, standing shoulder to shoulder with pitchforks and clubs, making sure that we kept drugs and alcohol and pornography and gambling safely on the other side. I think it would take all of our energy and most of our time. But what if we did it? What if we succeeded? What would we have? We would have a town characterized by the absence of evil, which is not the same as a town characterized by the presence of good. And maybe this is what Jesus was talking about all along, that it's better to have a wheat field with weeds in it than a field with nothing in it at all.
When a church in Wingate, North Carolina, began a ministry to the children of a nearby trailer park, they had to decide what kind of ministry it would be. They could have chosen to root out all the sources of evil in that place-to chase down the drug dealers and the deadbeat dads, to confiscate handguns and arrest child abusers. Instead, they chose to put up a basketball goal, to tell stories from the Bible, to put their arms around little children, and sing songs about Jesus. And two years after they started that ministry, two years of going out there Saturday after Saturday to do those things, the pastor got a note in his box at church with five words on it: "Adrian wants to be baptized." Adrian. The terror of the trailer park. That little girl who had made their work most difficult during the previous two years. Who would have guessed?
Instead of pulling weeds in the field where she lived, they just tried hard to be wheat, and somehow Adrian saw that and fell in love with it and wanted it for herself. After she was baptized, there was a little more wheat in the field. And because she was there, soon, there was even more.
James Somerville, A World Full of Weeds
God has a dream for us , Jesus told his friends, God wants us to live in a way that makes everybody happy – It is called God’s shalom – God’s Peace. It is called the kingdom of God. Let us love everyone and let God sort it out when we get to heaven.
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Song This is My Father’s World
Morning Prayer
Summer is just about halfway over. Some of us have been able to travel, to spend special time with family and friends; but for others there is a sameness about this season. It brings pressures to work to provide for our families; it reminds us of the many people who are ill and who are unable to enjoy some of the special delights that this season is supposed to bring. This morning we take a few minutes to name our dear ones and situations of pain and loss as we ask for prayers from this congregation. Some people will remain unnamed because of the anguish we feel about their difficulties. But you are with them, every step of the way, even when they don’t feel like you care. You are there with them, offering them peace and hope. Let us turn our hearts to you as we silently offer these special people to your care. [Silent Prayer]. Lord, you have heard the cries of our hearts. You see our tears and feel our pain. Be with us all. Give us healing for our broken spirits and bodies, for we ask these things in the name of Jesus, the Master Healer. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley)
Stewardship Moment
Moment for Stewardship (inspired by Romans 8)
One of the legal realities of adoption in the United States is that the person being adopted becomes an equal heir with others born to or adopted bythat family. The law sees a legal adoption as the mechanism by which the adoptee is seen in the same relationship as a child born into that family.
So when Paul uses language of adoption, it’s to assure Gentiles they have the same status before God as Jews. We are ALL children of God. That makes each of us an “heir”, and joint heirs with Jesus.
Of course, not all families are the kind of family we might want to claim.
But God’s family takes us away from fear, slavery, and living as debtors to the flesh. In God’s family, we no longer live in futility, but we’re set free, by adoption, to redemption and salvation. These big words mean we can live our lives buoyed up by HOPE.
Claiming this as our truth leads us to a natural inclination to want to offer our thanks to God. That may come in a variety of ways, but it certainly includes an eagerness to share what we’ve been given with the Giver. We can give our time, our energy/talent, and our finances as offerings to the God who has created us and claimed us in Christ Jesus.
So this Sunday, and EVERY Sunday, is a day to offer our gifts. With joyful hearts, filled with gratitude that we’ve been adopted into God’s family, let us share our gifts.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Gracious God, you’ve named us, claimed us, and call us “my beloved daughters and sons”. With thanksgiving, we return to you these symbols of our live.
Help us breathe in the assurance of our adoption, which will inspire us to offer all we are and all we have to your service. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving)
Announcements
Closing Prayer for Facebook
God’s people, you are called to go forth and appreciate the weeds among us, as we have each been in the wrong place at times.
Go from this place during this harvest time and taste the ripeness of a plump tomato, the sweetness of fresh steamed corn, the crisp coolness of cucumbers.
Please go in the knowledge that there is enough for all, be it God’s earthly blessings that are so delicious and nourishing or God’s love that connects us.
Share in these gifts and know that we are all enough. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Dr. Sherry Warren)
Community Time – Joys and Concerns
Benediction
Get ready to go into God’s world. Bring messages of hope to all. As we have been blessed, may we bring blessings to all in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley)
Additional Illustrations
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Day the World Changed
“The day the world changed”
September 11, 2011
Year A
Exodus 14:19-31
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
13th Sunday after Pentecost
The importance of September 11th
Today is September 11th. We all know that ten years ago a plane destroyed the twin towers, and drove into the pentagon. We all know that was a pretty traumatic day for our nation. September 11, 2011 is also a day of trepidation as we have been told that the threat for today is just as real. We live in fear that it could happen again. And we don’t know what to do about it.
There are those days when we remember and will never forget
When we think about that day – most of us can remember where we were, what we were doing. I was on the train from Aurora to Chicago, I had a special meeting to attend downtown Chicago. A cell phone above me rang, and the lady above me was told that a plane had just driven into the twin towers. By the time we got to the meeting, everyone was so worried that we watched television as we met. We watched in horror. We told that the building had to be evacuated, and I caught the train back home. There have been several events in my life where a particular day will be etched in my mind forever. I was not yet three years old – but I remember the day Robert Kennedy was killed. I wasn’t born, but many have recounted the day MLK was killed or John Kennedy was killed
Those were moments when life as we know it changed forever, and we realized that there was no way that we could return.
Every year we are asked where we were on 9/11. Someone yesterday asked do you remember what you were doing on 9/10 – and I don’t. I didn’t need to. But when our lives change – things stick with us.
The Isrealites 9/11
Exodus tells of that day for the Israelites when life as they knew it would change. God had found favor on their condition. God sent them out. They crossed the red sea as Moses parted the sea for them. They all passed through. The angel passed before them and behind them and the spirit of God was with them. Scripture says that the Egyptians came after them, and the water passed over and they were destroyed. Once they made it over, they looked back and all they could see were dead Egyptians.
Midrash story
There is another midrash story which says that says that after the event, the angels noticed that God was sitting on the side crying. The angels asked why god was crying since god’s children have been saved. God said that he was mourning the loss of his children. The Israelites were his children, but so were the Egyptians. And now they lay dead.
Life changing moments usually a day of life and death
Death is usually a part of those life changing moments. In this story it was the death of the Egyptians, on 911 it was the 2000 or more people who perished that day, or it could be the death of an important or inspirational person. That day could also include the death of the past, the death of a dream, the death or all that you have been working for, the death of innocence, the death of normalcy in life.
Whatever that day may be – that day is a day when we look back and see death, and we look ahead and see a life that we don’t understand. It is a say when we see what has been taken away from us, but we don’t see what we have been given. We see that the life that we embraced doesn’t work anymore. But we don’t know what to do to go on. Until god comes along and tells us that there is no way to go back, we can only go forward. The question is not why life changes, but how it changes. What are we supposed to do now in order to go forward?
The motto for 911 is - we will never forget. Never forgot the moment that changed our lives. Never forget the people, who we lost,
This is a moment for our nation to questions the values that hold us together as a community, to look at who are our enemies, who are our friends. Who can we trust and who can’t we trust, who do we blame for all of our pain.
10 years later there still a lot of pain, a lot of woundedness, a lot of consequences, a lot of unaswered questions.
In teaching a class on forgiveness, there was a story of three mothers who lost sons who were fireman. 10 years later they are still in pain, because the bodies of their sons were never found. Until their sons are buried and laid to rest, there is no closure, no chance to heal and to move on. They cannot forget. But if you can’t forget, how can you ever forgive? If you can’t let go, how do you get to move on. Only God can answer that.
Christian community is an example for the world
“There will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among world religions. There will be no peace among the world religions without peace among the Christian churches. The community of the Church is an integral part of the world community” Hans Küng.
We are called to be an example to the rest of the world of what is possible when you forgive and vow to live in community. We will have our differences, but how we solve them is to be an example for others.
Just as God cares just as much as the Egyptians as he cares for the Israelites. He cares for the world, and how we treat one another. What we do to one another. Christian community is chosen to be an example for the world. Not because we are better than others, but because we have been appointed for a special purpose – to do the work of Jesus. Jesus was a peacemaker, a way maker.
We did not focus on the gospel, but peter asks Jesus about the magic number of forgiveness. How many times should forgive a person, seven times? Seventy seven times, and more if it requires it. We are a forgiven people, so we need to be forgiving people.
Forgiveness and nonjudgment
Along with unforgiveness, comes judgment. We label that person, and no matter what they do, we attach that label to them. If they crossed us, they will cross us again. If we are a follower of God and we have been wronged, then that person must not be a friend of God. The gospel of a story of grace and mercy, not a story of judgment and criticism.
The two million dollar mistake
John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man’s enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn’t have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller’s office. As he approached Rockefeller’s desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. “I guess you’ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,” he said abruptly. “Yes,” the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. “Well, I’ve been sitting here listing all of our friend’s good qualities, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?”
We are asked to do the same that God does for us
God does the same for us everyday. God takes into account or value, not or sin. God expects us to do the same for others.
Romans says that we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
God is the judge of my actions, not you. And everything that I do is to please God, not to please you. We all have to stand before God, so it is not our job to judge their character. It is or job to learn to live in community.
When we live in a world of us and them – it is real easy to point to finger at them. Romans says that we are all different, we understand or faith differently. What may be okay with you may not be okay with me. And yet we are not only Christian, we are a part of the same church. How do we manage our differences, how do we disagree without losing community? By learning to forgive, and not to pass judgment. If we master that, we can change the world.
We all stuck on Egypt
The truth is we all, faithful or not – we are all stuck in Egypt, looking for freedom. We are all holding onto something. There is something holding us back to being the person God wants us to be. There is something that we need to be delivered from.
We all live in a 9/11 world – where we have wounds that need to heal, unfinished monuments that we promised to build, things that we will never forget, and will drive our actions and opinions.
Live in 9/12 not 9/11
And the day has come and it will come again, when God will intervene in our lives, in a way that we can’t deny. When whatever happened yesterday is wiped away. And all there is for us to do is to take account of or lives and move on. 9/11 affects us all in some way. But let’s not stay stuck on what we were doing on 9/11. The real question for followers of Christ is what did we do on 9/12. If I remember correctly, that is the day that we got up and needed to pray. We needed to come together in community, we needed to volunteer to help make a difference, we needed to make plans for how to support others, and how to understand those who we have ignored, how to stand together in community. We can remember 9/11 – but we need to live for 9/12 and beyond. I want us to say a litany – a community prayer for God’s healing and hopes in our lives and in the lives of others.
Litany
Leader: When memories of terror reawaken the past, and experiences of death, loss, and grief, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When anger and inflamed passion tempt us to respond with violence and seek revenge, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we are enticed to give in to the illusion that war alone will resolve conflict between enemies, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When it feels like every menace, whether imagined or real, is a threat to our security, and fills us with fear, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When religion is used as an excuse to exclude, threaten, or destroy others, forgetting or ignoring all that unites us, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we become stuck in the past, unable to respond to the challenges we face with vision and hope, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we wrestle with how to create a better future for our children, even to the seventh generation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we struggle to find a new and peaceful way to live in the world, and forget that you, O God, are our help and salvation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
All: O God of all peoples, nations and creeds: you have created us and rejoiced in the goodness of creation, and have wept with us when have experienced death, loss and grief.
Send your healing presence into the world and endow all people, leaders, groups and nations with your vision of unity and peace; so that we and all people may move on from the wounds of the past and seek to live in harmony with one another; to the end that the goodness of your creation may be restored, enhanced and sustained for the common good of all.
Through mercies of your love and grace, and in your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world. Amen!
September 11, 2011
Year A
Exodus 14:19-31
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
13th Sunday after Pentecost
The importance of September 11th
Today is September 11th. We all know that ten years ago a plane destroyed the twin towers, and drove into the pentagon. We all know that was a pretty traumatic day for our nation. September 11, 2011 is also a day of trepidation as we have been told that the threat for today is just as real. We live in fear that it could happen again. And we don’t know what to do about it.
There are those days when we remember and will never forget
When we think about that day – most of us can remember where we were, what we were doing. I was on the train from Aurora to Chicago, I had a special meeting to attend downtown Chicago. A cell phone above me rang, and the lady above me was told that a plane had just driven into the twin towers. By the time we got to the meeting, everyone was so worried that we watched television as we met. We watched in horror. We told that the building had to be evacuated, and I caught the train back home. There have been several events in my life where a particular day will be etched in my mind forever. I was not yet three years old – but I remember the day Robert Kennedy was killed. I wasn’t born, but many have recounted the day MLK was killed or John Kennedy was killed
Those were moments when life as we know it changed forever, and we realized that there was no way that we could return.
Every year we are asked where we were on 9/11. Someone yesterday asked do you remember what you were doing on 9/10 – and I don’t. I didn’t need to. But when our lives change – things stick with us.
The Isrealites 9/11
Exodus tells of that day for the Israelites when life as they knew it would change. God had found favor on their condition. God sent them out. They crossed the red sea as Moses parted the sea for them. They all passed through. The angel passed before them and behind them and the spirit of God was with them. Scripture says that the Egyptians came after them, and the water passed over and they were destroyed. Once they made it over, they looked back and all they could see were dead Egyptians.
Midrash story
There is another midrash story which says that says that after the event, the angels noticed that God was sitting on the side crying. The angels asked why god was crying since god’s children have been saved. God said that he was mourning the loss of his children. The Israelites were his children, but so were the Egyptians. And now they lay dead.
Life changing moments usually a day of life and death
Death is usually a part of those life changing moments. In this story it was the death of the Egyptians, on 911 it was the 2000 or more people who perished that day, or it could be the death of an important or inspirational person. That day could also include the death of the past, the death of a dream, the death or all that you have been working for, the death of innocence, the death of normalcy in life.
Whatever that day may be – that day is a day when we look back and see death, and we look ahead and see a life that we don’t understand. It is a say when we see what has been taken away from us, but we don’t see what we have been given. We see that the life that we embraced doesn’t work anymore. But we don’t know what to do to go on. Until god comes along and tells us that there is no way to go back, we can only go forward. The question is not why life changes, but how it changes. What are we supposed to do now in order to go forward?
The motto for 911 is - we will never forget. Never forgot the moment that changed our lives. Never forget the people, who we lost,
This is a moment for our nation to questions the values that hold us together as a community, to look at who are our enemies, who are our friends. Who can we trust and who can’t we trust, who do we blame for all of our pain.
10 years later there still a lot of pain, a lot of woundedness, a lot of consequences, a lot of unaswered questions.
In teaching a class on forgiveness, there was a story of three mothers who lost sons who were fireman. 10 years later they are still in pain, because the bodies of their sons were never found. Until their sons are buried and laid to rest, there is no closure, no chance to heal and to move on. They cannot forget. But if you can’t forget, how can you ever forgive? If you can’t let go, how do you get to move on. Only God can answer that.
Christian community is an example for the world
“There will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among world religions. There will be no peace among the world religions without peace among the Christian churches. The community of the Church is an integral part of the world community” Hans Küng.
We are called to be an example to the rest of the world of what is possible when you forgive and vow to live in community. We will have our differences, but how we solve them is to be an example for others.
Just as God cares just as much as the Egyptians as he cares for the Israelites. He cares for the world, and how we treat one another. What we do to one another. Christian community is chosen to be an example for the world. Not because we are better than others, but because we have been appointed for a special purpose – to do the work of Jesus. Jesus was a peacemaker, a way maker.
We did not focus on the gospel, but peter asks Jesus about the magic number of forgiveness. How many times should forgive a person, seven times? Seventy seven times, and more if it requires it. We are a forgiven people, so we need to be forgiving people.
Forgiveness and nonjudgment
Along with unforgiveness, comes judgment. We label that person, and no matter what they do, we attach that label to them. If they crossed us, they will cross us again. If we are a follower of God and we have been wronged, then that person must not be a friend of God. The gospel of a story of grace and mercy, not a story of judgment and criticism.
The two million dollar mistake
John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man’s enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn’t have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller’s office. As he approached Rockefeller’s desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. “I guess you’ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,” he said abruptly. “Yes,” the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. “Well, I’ve been sitting here listing all of our friend’s good qualities, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?”
We are asked to do the same that God does for us
God does the same for us everyday. God takes into account or value, not or sin. God expects us to do the same for others.
Romans says that we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
God is the judge of my actions, not you. And everything that I do is to please God, not to please you. We all have to stand before God, so it is not our job to judge their character. It is or job to learn to live in community.
When we live in a world of us and them – it is real easy to point to finger at them. Romans says that we are all different, we understand or faith differently. What may be okay with you may not be okay with me. And yet we are not only Christian, we are a part of the same church. How do we manage our differences, how do we disagree without losing community? By learning to forgive, and not to pass judgment. If we master that, we can change the world.
We all stuck on Egypt
The truth is we all, faithful or not – we are all stuck in Egypt, looking for freedom. We are all holding onto something. There is something holding us back to being the person God wants us to be. There is something that we need to be delivered from.
We all live in a 9/11 world – where we have wounds that need to heal, unfinished monuments that we promised to build, things that we will never forget, and will drive our actions and opinions.
Live in 9/12 not 9/11
And the day has come and it will come again, when God will intervene in our lives, in a way that we can’t deny. When whatever happened yesterday is wiped away. And all there is for us to do is to take account of or lives and move on. 9/11 affects us all in some way. But let’s not stay stuck on what we were doing on 9/11. The real question for followers of Christ is what did we do on 9/12. If I remember correctly, that is the day that we got up and needed to pray. We needed to come together in community, we needed to volunteer to help make a difference, we needed to make plans for how to support others, and how to understand those who we have ignored, how to stand together in community. We can remember 9/11 – but we need to live for 9/12 and beyond. I want us to say a litany – a community prayer for God’s healing and hopes in our lives and in the lives of others.
Litany
Leader: When memories of terror reawaken the past, and experiences of death, loss, and grief, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When anger and inflamed passion tempt us to respond with violence and seek revenge, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we are enticed to give in to the illusion that war alone will resolve conflict between enemies, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When it feels like every menace, whether imagined or real, is a threat to our security, and fills us with fear, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When religion is used as an excuse to exclude, threaten, or destroy others, forgetting or ignoring all that unites us, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we become stuck in the past, unable to respond to the challenges we face with vision and hope, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we wrestle with how to create a better future for our children, even to the seventh generation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we struggle to find a new and peaceful way to live in the world, and forget that you, O God, are our help and salvation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
All: O God of all peoples, nations and creeds: you have created us and rejoiced in the goodness of creation, and have wept with us when have experienced death, loss and grief.
Send your healing presence into the world and endow all people, leaders, groups and nations with your vision of unity and peace; so that we and all people may move on from the wounds of the past and seek to live in harmony with one another; to the end that the goodness of your creation may be restored, enhanced and sustained for the common good of all.
Through mercies of your love and grace, and in your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world. Amen!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Our God is an Awesome God
Genesis 28:10-19a
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
5th Sunday after Pentecost
July 17, 2011
Year A
Our God is an Awesome God
When Barry Merritt was a little boy, he fondly remembers playing baseball. Those were the days when his coach would take them all out on a picnic, and they would all have a good time. The coach would ask them, how many of you want to grow up and become a part of the major leagues, and play baseball in the big time. Every single had went up, every child had a dream of being something more than what they were, every child had something to aspire for and to hope for. When he grew up, he didn’t become a major league player – but he did become a coach. He had his own team, he was entrusted to pass on his dreams to the next generation. He did the things that his coach did. He had picnics for the boys, he asked the question that he had been asked – how many of you want to become major league players when you grow up? How many of you think you have what it takes to play professionally. Not one hand went up. Not one of the children had any hope or any dreams of being anything more than what they were. Barry had to stop and ask himself what went wrong? Who had stolen the dreams of these young people? More importantly, how do you give hope and encouragement to someone, who doesn’t have a dream of being anything more than what they are today?
It is our dreams that define us. Our dreams that call us forward. Our dreams that inspire us to move forward. The dream to play ball professionally is still a big one. I think of how many young men in Englewood who love to play basketball. Who if you ask them what they want to grow up to be – they tell you that they want to be a basketball player. A basketball player and a lawyer. If it keeps them in school, it keeps them motivated, it inspires them to do the right thing – then it is a wonderful dream. You never want to say anything to them to take away their dream. The good news for us today is that no matter how much the world change, no matter how much we change, the power of our dreams never change. If it is God that gave us that dream, then there is nothing in the world that can take it away. God gives us our dreams for a reason. It is in our dreams that God makes a promise to us. Promises for our future, for the future of the kingdom of God. A dream is the image of something that is not present yet, but is coming.
Genesis is another story of a young man and a dream. A pretty typical young man by today’s standards. He was always competing with his twin brother, always in some kind of trouble. He came from a religious family, but didn’t have much use for this God himself. But this time he has gotten into enough trouble that the dream may be in danger. He has been fighting so much with his brother, that his mother sends him away to a safe place – back to her family down home. During his escape he has a strange dream. A dream of angels descending and ascending into heaven. God speaks to him, reminds him of the promises of the past, and the promises of the future. Reminds him that the world is dependent on his dreams, his hope, his future. He changes his life, and learns to include God in everything that he does. That all that he does is dependent on the presence of God with him. For him to experience the love of God, this must be an awesome place. He sets a stone so that the place would be remembered. What he misses is that this is not an awesome place. But an awesome God. The presence of God with us is not a place or a thing, it is a relationship. Anyplace with God is awesome. Any dream that we have that includes God is an awesome. Because the God we worship is an awesome God. A god that is incomparable, unexplainable, and without rival.
Jacob called it Bethel, Jesus called it the kingdom of God. What do you call it? When you reach that point in your life when you feel the presence of God? And you know that God is with you?
In chapter 13 of Matthew jesus gives several parables that describe what the kingdom of God is like. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a field, a field of wheat with a bunch of tares. That is an interesting comparison. Jesus was a carpenter, not a farmer, so what did he know about planting seeds? And the people that Matthew would have wrote this story for were city dwellers, they too would not have understand planting. But this was written to address something going on in the church. People were starting to judge others. The bible teaches us right from wrong, good from bad. What do you do when you are doing to right thing, and you see other people doing the wrong thing. Is it time for you to judge them and what they are doing?
Is God always going to be with us, going to support us. Is everthing that we do right? We know that answer to that question no. Sometimes I do and sometimes not. But the real question for the disciples is how do you respond to people who you think are wrong? What happens when you disagree with their dreams? How do you respond? Do you respond? Do we ever have a right to judge someone else’s dream?
There were two stories in the news that resonate with this point. First there is the story of the 16 year old who just married a 60 year old. The met on the internet and talked for 4 months and decided that they were a match made in heaven. When you look at the girl, she has boobs out to here, wears short dresses, and is constantly smooching on this man. Hardly appropriate for a 16 year old. Her parents say that she is a devout Christian and feels that this marriage is the right thing to do. It makes you ask – what kind of church does she go to. More importantly, what kind of church does her parents go to that they would allow such a thing. Is she still a child of God? do we have a right to take away her dream?
And then there is the Casey Anthony case. She was just released and protestor were angry, feeling that she got away with murdering her daughter. Is she a child of God? Does God have a plan for her life? Was she guilty? Jesus says that none of that is our place to judge.
A group of pastors experienced that first hand in Rwanda as they witnessed whole congregations being killed. As their life was threatened, they ask their superiors what to do. They were told that that God no longer needed them. They were watching everyone getting killed around them, and their turn was coming too. God did not need them that was why this was happening. In the war between the Tutsis and hutu’s. there were tutsi and their bosses were hutus. Some were the wheat and some were the weeds.
That seems a little extreme, but when we judge other people as good and bad, right and wrong, us and them that is what we do. When we think we need to get rid of the wrong people in church that is whag we do.
There is good and bad in us all. But there is also a part of God. And only god knows the difference in us. If God can save a scoundrel like Jacob, then surely God has use for all of us, you and me.
Our God is an awesome God, God has some awesome plans for us, God has some awesome dreams for us.
Anyone who is a part of God, has a dream from God. If God gives you a dream God will make sure that it comes to fruition. For God’s sake not yours.
If you can think it, you caught it, God bought it, You sought it, I got it. God will give you the vision to see, the faith to believe, and the will to do some awesome plans. amen.
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
5th Sunday after Pentecost
July 17, 2011
Year A
Our God is an Awesome God
When Barry Merritt was a little boy, he fondly remembers playing baseball. Those were the days when his coach would take them all out on a picnic, and they would all have a good time. The coach would ask them, how many of you want to grow up and become a part of the major leagues, and play baseball in the big time. Every single had went up, every child had a dream of being something more than what they were, every child had something to aspire for and to hope for. When he grew up, he didn’t become a major league player – but he did become a coach. He had his own team, he was entrusted to pass on his dreams to the next generation. He did the things that his coach did. He had picnics for the boys, he asked the question that he had been asked – how many of you want to become major league players when you grow up? How many of you think you have what it takes to play professionally. Not one hand went up. Not one of the children had any hope or any dreams of being anything more than what they were. Barry had to stop and ask himself what went wrong? Who had stolen the dreams of these young people? More importantly, how do you give hope and encouragement to someone, who doesn’t have a dream of being anything more than what they are today?
It is our dreams that define us. Our dreams that call us forward. Our dreams that inspire us to move forward. The dream to play ball professionally is still a big one. I think of how many young men in Englewood who love to play basketball. Who if you ask them what they want to grow up to be – they tell you that they want to be a basketball player. A basketball player and a lawyer. If it keeps them in school, it keeps them motivated, it inspires them to do the right thing – then it is a wonderful dream. You never want to say anything to them to take away their dream. The good news for us today is that no matter how much the world change, no matter how much we change, the power of our dreams never change. If it is God that gave us that dream, then there is nothing in the world that can take it away. God gives us our dreams for a reason. It is in our dreams that God makes a promise to us. Promises for our future, for the future of the kingdom of God. A dream is the image of something that is not present yet, but is coming.
Genesis is another story of a young man and a dream. A pretty typical young man by today’s standards. He was always competing with his twin brother, always in some kind of trouble. He came from a religious family, but didn’t have much use for this God himself. But this time he has gotten into enough trouble that the dream may be in danger. He has been fighting so much with his brother, that his mother sends him away to a safe place – back to her family down home. During his escape he has a strange dream. A dream of angels descending and ascending into heaven. God speaks to him, reminds him of the promises of the past, and the promises of the future. Reminds him that the world is dependent on his dreams, his hope, his future. He changes his life, and learns to include God in everything that he does. That all that he does is dependent on the presence of God with him. For him to experience the love of God, this must be an awesome place. He sets a stone so that the place would be remembered. What he misses is that this is not an awesome place. But an awesome God. The presence of God with us is not a place or a thing, it is a relationship. Anyplace with God is awesome. Any dream that we have that includes God is an awesome. Because the God we worship is an awesome God. A god that is incomparable, unexplainable, and without rival.
Jacob called it Bethel, Jesus called it the kingdom of God. What do you call it? When you reach that point in your life when you feel the presence of God? And you know that God is with you?
In chapter 13 of Matthew jesus gives several parables that describe what the kingdom of God is like. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a field, a field of wheat with a bunch of tares. That is an interesting comparison. Jesus was a carpenter, not a farmer, so what did he know about planting seeds? And the people that Matthew would have wrote this story for were city dwellers, they too would not have understand planting. But this was written to address something going on in the church. People were starting to judge others. The bible teaches us right from wrong, good from bad. What do you do when you are doing to right thing, and you see other people doing the wrong thing. Is it time for you to judge them and what they are doing?
Is God always going to be with us, going to support us. Is everthing that we do right? We know that answer to that question no. Sometimes I do and sometimes not. But the real question for the disciples is how do you respond to people who you think are wrong? What happens when you disagree with their dreams? How do you respond? Do you respond? Do we ever have a right to judge someone else’s dream?
There were two stories in the news that resonate with this point. First there is the story of the 16 year old who just married a 60 year old. The met on the internet and talked for 4 months and decided that they were a match made in heaven. When you look at the girl, she has boobs out to here, wears short dresses, and is constantly smooching on this man. Hardly appropriate for a 16 year old. Her parents say that she is a devout Christian and feels that this marriage is the right thing to do. It makes you ask – what kind of church does she go to. More importantly, what kind of church does her parents go to that they would allow such a thing. Is she still a child of God? do we have a right to take away her dream?
And then there is the Casey Anthony case. She was just released and protestor were angry, feeling that she got away with murdering her daughter. Is she a child of God? Does God have a plan for her life? Was she guilty? Jesus says that none of that is our place to judge.
A group of pastors experienced that first hand in Rwanda as they witnessed whole congregations being killed. As their life was threatened, they ask their superiors what to do. They were told that that God no longer needed them. They were watching everyone getting killed around them, and their turn was coming too. God did not need them that was why this was happening. In the war between the Tutsis and hutu’s. there were tutsi and their bosses were hutus. Some were the wheat and some were the weeds.
That seems a little extreme, but when we judge other people as good and bad, right and wrong, us and them that is what we do. When we think we need to get rid of the wrong people in church that is whag we do.
There is good and bad in us all. But there is also a part of God. And only god knows the difference in us. If God can save a scoundrel like Jacob, then surely God has use for all of us, you and me.
Our God is an awesome God, God has some awesome plans for us, God has some awesome dreams for us.
Anyone who is a part of God, has a dream from God. If God gives you a dream God will make sure that it comes to fruition. For God’s sake not yours.
If you can think it, you caught it, God bought it, You sought it, I got it. God will give you the vision to see, the faith to believe, and the will to do some awesome plans. amen.
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Person in the Mirror
August 30, 2009
James 1:17-27
Mark 7
The person in the mirror
Year B
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Story of mirror woman
There once was a wolf pack – who stuck together to just make a living. There were willing to share with one anther – but also with others. One day this very strange woman came to live with them. And they were willing to share what they had with her. But they could never really see what she looked like because she hid her face with a mirror. They called her mirror woman. She would also show the faces of the wolves in the mirror. Whenever they would try to hold a conversation with her – she would hold up the mirror. And she would point out all of the bad things that she saw in others from this mirror. The wolves saw themselves so much, that they started to believe everything that she said. They started to believe they were the bad behavior in the mirror. Until one say the den mother explained, that they were so much more than the mirror reflected. There was some bad things, but there were also some good things. They actually started to resent mirror woman, and asked her to take the mirror down. But she was afraid and left the pack. She did not want to think about her own bad, it was easier to see that in others. But when she was gone – they started to reflect the love that they wanted to see in others.
I am always amazed at how people quickly the people who don’t go to church like to use that word hypocrite when a talking about Christians.
How many times have I heard that people don’t go to church, because the church is full of hypocrites. What does that mean? And why do you need to say such a thing.
It is just like the woman in the story – who was so busy blaming and accusing others, that she did not take the time to look at her own character. She did not see that what she was doing was even more destructive for the group, then anything that she accused them of doing.
The word hypocrite – comes from greek – it means an actor. In the days of classical theater- an actor would put on one of those masks – either with a happy face or a sad face – to show what character they were playing in a play.
It was very clear that they were not the person they were playing on the stage. They were putting on a persona – taking on a personality that was not really their own.
There are many people today besides actors who have a professional persona and a personal life. That is just a part of the job they have. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. And most of the time these are really nice people. And their persona is just an exaggeration of their real self.
Hypo – means under - crite means truth – which means under truth or understatement – not overstatement.
Over the years – it seems that the word has taken on a negative connotation that was not intended. Today to word means someone who intentionally takes on a religious or moral persona to hide their true self.
That does not describe the average Christian.
I told you about the workshop on safe sanctuaries. On making the church a safe place for children. The FBI agent warned us that child predators look at life in a totally different way then we would. He also said that many of them intentionally develop a persona of being thought of as a good person. They intentionally go to church, they intentionally try to be a nice guy. So that you don’t question their behavior.
The agent says that usually at the trial of these people, the family members or friends will spit on him, or yell at him. And say that the offender is really a nice guy – look at all of the things he has done in the community. He loves children.
That is the problem – he loves children, that is why he is being prosecuted. To me I would say that is the true definition of a hypocrite.
In Mark 7 as jesus is talking to the Pharisee – he calls them hypocrites.
It is a part of the tradition of the elders – to wash your hands before you eat. Every jews would have known that. The tradition was a set of unspoken rules that everyone would have known and everyone would have obeyed without question.
To jewish tradition to be clean was everything. In order to be close to god you had to be clean. As a Pharisee, you had to be intentional to make sure that you did not do anything that would dirty your hands or your body. That meant you were not fit to worship god. Today, when you enter into a muslim mosue – before you can pray – you have to ceremonially wash your entire body. Even though they are intentional to tell visitors that is only intended for muslims, others are not bound by that custom.
In the Christian church – we don’t have ceremonial cleanings, even though it is still tradition to dress up and look nice when we come to church. We still have the tradition of the elders.
And that was what Jesus was trying to attack when he called the Pharisees hypocrites. The tradition of the elders was not scripture - it was something someone made up. It was something that you just did without question and no one really knew why. Jesus point was that we should stop doing things because they were tradition and to give some thought to what they were doing and why. Maybe the intention of what you were doing was more important than following tradition. And jesus had a mission to fulfill, more important than the way it was always done.
Jesus went on to point out that it was not the tradition of being clean that caused the real evils in the world – it was the condition of the heart – the human heart – to lie, to steal, to criticize, to hurt when we have been hurt.
So we shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about the outside – but concentrate on the inside.
It is not just Christians, or people trying to be good who have those things – but all of us – it is human nature. In some ways we are all hypocrites. Not just Christians, but all people.
The lesson for us as Christians is not that we don’t have those tendencies inside of us, and not that we don’t have an inner self and an outer self. Being a Christian means that we know what is inside of ourselves and we acknowledge that we are sinners and we work to do something about it. We don’t exploit our sin to hurt others, to know that we are sinners, totally dependent on the grace of god to deal with our sinful nature.
For an outsider to be obsesses with calling a Christian a sinner is like the mirror woman finding the faults of the wolf pack – they spend so much time talking about others, that they forget to correct themselves.
Jesus knows that we will always sin, but some of us will look in the mirror and be able to fix what we see is wrong.
James talks about uses mirrors as a metaphor for looking at our selves and our actions too. He says that when we know the will of god and we don’t do it – we are like someone who looks in the mirror and forgets what they look like.
We look like the sons and daughters of God. In the message – Euguene Peterson says that when we know the word of god but we don’t do it – it is like we forget the face we were born with. We forget that we were all born sinners, but we were all born in the image of God. That is the true persona of all people – to reflect the love of god in their lives in some way.
Yesterday, sydaney and ray and I attended the workshop on stewardship. Great speaker, he told a story about a docter who went on a mission trip to Honduras. Before he left, he went to church, but it didn’t mean anything to him. He went through the motions, but it had no meaning. But when he went to help the people of Honduras – he saw the word of god being put into action, and he started to understand why he was really coming to church.
When we returned, he gave more in the offering plate, he volunterred more, he even was able to share his faith with others in a meaningful way.
There was something that was changed in his inner heart – that changed his outer actions. It was the cleansing of his inner heart – that made his outer heart clean. That is all jesus is trying to say to us. Cleansing comes from the inside out – not the outside in.
When we go outside of the sanctuary there are still those who will look on the outside and be critical no matter what. There are still non Christians who need to call Christians hypocrites, there are still neighbors who tell us that they need to see a change in our behavior to really trust us and to believe that we are who we say we are.
I hope you will always be able to admit that you are a sinner saved by the grace of God. Someone who has a heart of jealousy, anger and all kinds of bad things. But a sinner who has been touched in your heart by God, who lives a life not mandated by the mirror of others, but the light of God’s love for you.
James 1:17-27
Mark 7
The person in the mirror
Year B
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Story of mirror woman
There once was a wolf pack – who stuck together to just make a living. There were willing to share with one anther – but also with others. One day this very strange woman came to live with them. And they were willing to share what they had with her. But they could never really see what she looked like because she hid her face with a mirror. They called her mirror woman. She would also show the faces of the wolves in the mirror. Whenever they would try to hold a conversation with her – she would hold up the mirror. And she would point out all of the bad things that she saw in others from this mirror. The wolves saw themselves so much, that they started to believe everything that she said. They started to believe they were the bad behavior in the mirror. Until one say the den mother explained, that they were so much more than the mirror reflected. There was some bad things, but there were also some good things. They actually started to resent mirror woman, and asked her to take the mirror down. But she was afraid and left the pack. She did not want to think about her own bad, it was easier to see that in others. But when she was gone – they started to reflect the love that they wanted to see in others.
I am always amazed at how people quickly the people who don’t go to church like to use that word hypocrite when a talking about Christians.
How many times have I heard that people don’t go to church, because the church is full of hypocrites. What does that mean? And why do you need to say such a thing.
It is just like the woman in the story – who was so busy blaming and accusing others, that she did not take the time to look at her own character. She did not see that what she was doing was even more destructive for the group, then anything that she accused them of doing.
The word hypocrite – comes from greek – it means an actor. In the days of classical theater- an actor would put on one of those masks – either with a happy face or a sad face – to show what character they were playing in a play.
It was very clear that they were not the person they were playing on the stage. They were putting on a persona – taking on a personality that was not really their own.
There are many people today besides actors who have a professional persona and a personal life. That is just a part of the job they have. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. And most of the time these are really nice people. And their persona is just an exaggeration of their real self.
Hypo – means under - crite means truth – which means under truth or understatement – not overstatement.
Over the years – it seems that the word has taken on a negative connotation that was not intended. Today to word means someone who intentionally takes on a religious or moral persona to hide their true self.
That does not describe the average Christian.
I told you about the workshop on safe sanctuaries. On making the church a safe place for children. The FBI agent warned us that child predators look at life in a totally different way then we would. He also said that many of them intentionally develop a persona of being thought of as a good person. They intentionally go to church, they intentionally try to be a nice guy. So that you don’t question their behavior.
The agent says that usually at the trial of these people, the family members or friends will spit on him, or yell at him. And say that the offender is really a nice guy – look at all of the things he has done in the community. He loves children.
That is the problem – he loves children, that is why he is being prosecuted. To me I would say that is the true definition of a hypocrite.
In Mark 7 as jesus is talking to the Pharisee – he calls them hypocrites.
It is a part of the tradition of the elders – to wash your hands before you eat. Every jews would have known that. The tradition was a set of unspoken rules that everyone would have known and everyone would have obeyed without question.
To jewish tradition to be clean was everything. In order to be close to god you had to be clean. As a Pharisee, you had to be intentional to make sure that you did not do anything that would dirty your hands or your body. That meant you were not fit to worship god. Today, when you enter into a muslim mosue – before you can pray – you have to ceremonially wash your entire body. Even though they are intentional to tell visitors that is only intended for muslims, others are not bound by that custom.
In the Christian church – we don’t have ceremonial cleanings, even though it is still tradition to dress up and look nice when we come to church. We still have the tradition of the elders.
And that was what Jesus was trying to attack when he called the Pharisees hypocrites. The tradition of the elders was not scripture - it was something someone made up. It was something that you just did without question and no one really knew why. Jesus point was that we should stop doing things because they were tradition and to give some thought to what they were doing and why. Maybe the intention of what you were doing was more important than following tradition. And jesus had a mission to fulfill, more important than the way it was always done.
Jesus went on to point out that it was not the tradition of being clean that caused the real evils in the world – it was the condition of the heart – the human heart – to lie, to steal, to criticize, to hurt when we have been hurt.
So we shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about the outside – but concentrate on the inside.
It is not just Christians, or people trying to be good who have those things – but all of us – it is human nature. In some ways we are all hypocrites. Not just Christians, but all people.
The lesson for us as Christians is not that we don’t have those tendencies inside of us, and not that we don’t have an inner self and an outer self. Being a Christian means that we know what is inside of ourselves and we acknowledge that we are sinners and we work to do something about it. We don’t exploit our sin to hurt others, to know that we are sinners, totally dependent on the grace of god to deal with our sinful nature.
For an outsider to be obsesses with calling a Christian a sinner is like the mirror woman finding the faults of the wolf pack – they spend so much time talking about others, that they forget to correct themselves.
Jesus knows that we will always sin, but some of us will look in the mirror and be able to fix what we see is wrong.
James talks about uses mirrors as a metaphor for looking at our selves and our actions too. He says that when we know the will of god and we don’t do it – we are like someone who looks in the mirror and forgets what they look like.
We look like the sons and daughters of God. In the message – Euguene Peterson says that when we know the word of god but we don’t do it – it is like we forget the face we were born with. We forget that we were all born sinners, but we were all born in the image of God. That is the true persona of all people – to reflect the love of god in their lives in some way.
Yesterday, sydaney and ray and I attended the workshop on stewardship. Great speaker, he told a story about a docter who went on a mission trip to Honduras. Before he left, he went to church, but it didn’t mean anything to him. He went through the motions, but it had no meaning. But when he went to help the people of Honduras – he saw the word of god being put into action, and he started to understand why he was really coming to church.
When we returned, he gave more in the offering plate, he volunterred more, he even was able to share his faith with others in a meaningful way.
There was something that was changed in his inner heart – that changed his outer actions. It was the cleansing of his inner heart – that made his outer heart clean. That is all jesus is trying to say to us. Cleansing comes from the inside out – not the outside in.
When we go outside of the sanctuary there are still those who will look on the outside and be critical no matter what. There are still non Christians who need to call Christians hypocrites, there are still neighbors who tell us that they need to see a change in our behavior to really trust us and to believe that we are who we say we are.
I hope you will always be able to admit that you are a sinner saved by the grace of God. Someone who has a heart of jealousy, anger and all kinds of bad things. But a sinner who has been touched in your heart by God, who lives a life not mandated by the mirror of others, but the light of God’s love for you.
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