When I was younger and went to Camp Hope[1], I realized that there were very few times in which I as a camper had control over what went on during the week. But there was one or two times during the week in which campers got to have a feeling of control. The meals where your cabin set up the dining hall were the times when you as camper had a lot of power. You decided who you get to sit with, who gets to be the “hopper” (For those of you who have only attended Hope’s Buffet period, the hopper is the person who goes and gets the platters of food.) and you had the ability to save seats for your friends that were not in your cabin and if you were lucky, you got one of the coveted seats in front of the fan. All this time at camp and I never realized that doing this was going against Jesus’ teaching about places of honor. In fact, when I really give it some thought, almost every single time I’ve had people over to my home, I rarely invited people over whom I didn’t want there. Perhaps this is simply something we might overlook because it is not something we engage in anymore; having huge banquet where the whole town is invited is a relic of the past. Who would want to have a party where they hung out with people they didn’t like? I know I’ve never liked eating a meal at Camp where I wasn’t surrounded by people who made me feel good.
Instead, Jesus calls us to surround ourselves with four different people when we find ourselves in a moment of celebration. The people we ought to be celebrating with are the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind (Luke 14:13). Now, just by a show of hands, does anyone in here think if they were to have a party this afternoon that they could honestly find four these four people without considerable effort? The problem which we run into if we really want to follow Jesus’ words is that we live in a country where our taxes and charities are already tending to the poor, lame, crippled and blind and although we can always do more to care for them, I’m not sure that we can live out the meaning of this gospel message if we seek to live this out literally. Instead, we need to realize that Jesus wasn’t just talking about people who were physically impaired but people who were spiritually impaired…people who have extra obstacles in their lives which they need help in overcoming if they are to eat a meal with Christ Jesus.
On Tuesday night, those of us on the outreach committee are going to meet to discuss how we can invite the spiritually poor, the spiritually blind, to begin a journey to meet a God who cares about who they are. We on the committee are going to be getting to know the families of the Vacation Bible School students who do not have a church home. Those on the committee are going to spend the next few months eating meals and getting to know those families, with the intent of sharing the love which only Christ can put in someone’s life. Some might consider this to be evangelism, and I guess if you think of it in the strictest sense of the word, it is, but part of the reason which we prayed the liturgy for Thanksgiving was because it is thanksgiving which is at the heart of the gospel story. We are able to give thanks by living the gospel by sharing something as simple as a meal, but more importantly, it is communion with God. Jesus isn’t asking us to fix everything in their lives; he just wants us to treat the people we don’t normally interact with like they are the most important people we know. We are being asked to be friendly, generous, gracious, and comforting to people who might never repay the favor. This sort of hospitality is a sign of acceptance, it tells us that we see other people as equals; it is a way of cementing fellowship.
Hospitality is something I’ve always been quite curious about. Last summer when I was working as a chaplain in the hospital, the word hospitality was used almost every day. One of my fellow chaplains used the word quite often and made it a goal to be as hospitable as possible. To be honest, I had no idea what the word meant. I thought it was being as nice and welcoming as possible to the people who were in the hospital. Sometimes it was something like getting an extra blanket or pillow, or other times it was getting a nurse or something along those lines. It always struck me as odd that this person was trying so hard to work on hospitality because she was already the most hospitable person I knew, at least when it came to being a good hostess. Then, just yesterday, I finally read a definition of hospitality that made sense to me. It wasn’t so much about an action as it was a way of life. Hospitality literally means in Greek, love of a stranger[2]. It doesn’t seem like an outrageous thought, but it really is a radical action.
There is another radical idea in the first half of the story today which I find extremely interesting which I always seem to fail at doing. Again, it’s another common, biblical concept which is fairly hard to live. It’s the idea of the first shall be last and the last shall be first, it is the idea that we are to live humble lives in order that we may be lifted up to places of honor by those who notice such humbleness. As I was studying some of the scholars about this text, I was extremely surprised to find a quote by a Greek historian by the name of Plutarch. I was surprised because I was supposed to read this text for my first semester in college, but I never got around to it. In fact, it stayed by my bed for all four years and I still never finished it, as I only read it when I had trouble sleeping. As far as I was concerned, Plutarch was the better than any sleeping pill on the market. But Plutarch said that “it is the small, apparently trivial act in which character is most accurately reflected.” And Jesus is calling us to be humble instead of choosing things which honor ourselves.
I know I used to try to do such things, but secretly, I was hoping for recognition. I was trying to outsmart others by being humble. I would try to be the last person to receive food in a community meal, and unlike in Jesus’ example, I did not receive recognition for it. Not that it’s such a bad thing, because now looking back, I’m much happier that I did not receive positive reinforcement for something I was doing selfishly. But around the same time as I had the idea to be the last in whatever line I was in, which I rarely do anymore, I started doing something which seems to work much better for me. I started holding the door open for people whenever I could. I started holding the door open for people at church, and then moved out to stores and restaurants. I’m almost always the last person to enter a building and I have to tell you, you learn amazing things about people when you do something as simple as holding a door for them. You learn who knows your name and whose name you know. You learn who is truly appreciative of small acts of kindness as well as who doesn’t want to look or speak to the person doing such a simple act. You also learn the people who you admire because they’re either willing to stand outside in cold or hot weather with you, or will hold the door open for you when you’re able. I did this at my home congregation for 3 years, every Sunday…and the last thing I learned is that if you do something for three years and suddenly leave, the church will soon buy an automatic door opener. (True story)
The challenge for all of us is show someone hospitality, to love a stranger this week on the simple grounds that God loves them too. Hold a door open for the rude person who knocked into you in the store… share a meal with someone that you know doesn’t belong to the family of God; do something, even if you know in your heart that you’re not doing it for the right reasons. Fake it till you make it. It doesn’t always matter why right now so long as it makes a difference in your life at some point and I hope that you come back to me next week and tell me a story about what you did, because even if it didn’t make a difference now, it might someday, and that is when we learn that our love is worth it. Amen.
[1] http://www.camphope.org/
[2] Fred Craddock. “Luke” Interpretation Biblical Commentary series. John Knox Press: Louisville. 1990. Pg 178
Showing posts with label radical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radical. Show all posts
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Radical Interpretation
My first sermon at First Moravian Church of Riverside NJ. August 19, 2007.
As I sat at my desk on Tuesday afternoon, trying to relax a bit after an exhausting morning of Vacation Bible School, I was checking to see if anyone had commented on my latest blog entry. Once I realized that no one had left me any comments, I began to poke around the blogs of strangers whom I had never heard of. The name of a person’s blog will come up on the screen for maybe two seconds, and if the title sounds interesting, I try and click it before it disappears. The first blog that I clicked that day was called “A Roman Thought.”[1] And I checked it out, hoping it might be thought provoking. Luckily for me, it had a video posted from an apparently well respected atheist. I watched a ten minute clip of this man attempt to deconstruct the concept of religion. To be honest, he did a pretty decent job of getting his point across, but as I listened to what he had to say, I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it was to hear his argument on a week when the Gospel lesson is about Jesus’ message spreading division among the people.
If you think about it, very few of us want to believe that the work of God is one that divides people. Instead, we tend to recall some of the nicer scripture verses. Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5).Or perhaps we like to think of Jesus saying “my peace I leave unto you, my peace I leave with you” (John 14:27) Both of these verses, plus many others, talk about the peace that Jesus brings. So when we read verses about how Jesus’ message is going to bring division, it seems quite easy to dismiss them and not bring them into our lives. But it’s my own belief that it is these hard to swallow verses which challenge us to be the disciples God wants us to be.
The real question then is, how do we view such harsh words in a way that conveys the love and grace which comes from Jesus Christ. It is not an easy task. Perhaps we need to first ask if we can find love and grace in passages in which Jesus is, to be quite frank, pissed off. Jesus is warning us about a crisis, but this crisis is not an emergency, but instead is an occasion of truth and a precise time to make a decision about life.[2] How amazing would our lives be if we viewed all of our moments of crisis as moments of the truth of God? The truth of this passage is that Jesus is not simply calling us to be agents of division for the purpose of causing trouble, but instead we will inevitably cause division because we are speaking truth in love which most people do not want to hear.
If you remember the last song we sang, Obey-O, we sing about obeying God, even when it’s hard. I think this is one of the most important lines sung during VBS this week. When Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor, he isn’t trying to simplify the 10 commandments into the 2 easiest, instead, these laws of love are the hardest to live by. They will bring disunity, division, judgment, even destruction, as well as the Fruits & Gifts of the Spirit.[3] I wonder if such gifts will be evident in the kids that went through vacation bible school this week. I wonder if they’ll remember to obey the law of love, even if it causes disunity in the family. Will the students remember to love illegal aliens when their parents blame them for all of our countries problems? Will they love someone different from them when the world tells them to hate? Will they share everything they have when common sense tells them to covet as much as possible?
This is a radical interpretation of the law of love. Too often we choose to love only when it is of benefit to us. I love the word radical because it often conjures a negative image of what religion can do to the world. We use the word radial Muslim to describe terrorists, and when we hear about radical Christians, our thoughts go to fundamentalist Southern Baptists, very rarely do we say that radically living a life of love is a positive thing.
Instead, the great temptation of Christianity is always to have sugar coated Christianity with a sugar coated gospel, with a sugar coated cross, and to eliminate this great call to discipleship for the world. Our greatest temptation is that the cares, riches and pleasures of this life become more important than the call of Jesus Christ. And so the security of family and friends, jobs and homes and vacations become more important to us than Christ and his mission. The result is watered down wine; it is watered down whiskey; it is middle class Christianity; it is complacent Christianity; it is comfortable Christianity. Come and sit in our soft padded pews and worship Jesus Christ with your personal style of music and comfort.[4]
When we become comfortable with discipleship, when we strive only for unity in our beliefs, we do not grow as Christians. As Moravians, we pride ourselves upon the fact that when it comes to the non-essentials, we have the liberty to think and act as we believe best, but too often we neglect to concern ourselves with the Essentials, the things which should be of utmost concern in our daily lives. What are those things which we believe to be essential? The grace of God the Creator, the saving work of God in Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as the faith, love and hope on part of humankind, are all central in our beliefs. If we are not living out these things which we say are central to being a disciple, we are not living the radical life to which we are called.
Now, I need to say, that I gave a lot of thought and prayer to the scripture verses that were read today. It is certainly not the verses I would have picked to share my first sermon, but I did feel the need to preach about the radical message of love with Jesus brings us. Radical isn’t something we need to stay away from, its something we need to embrace. I challenge you to go home from this time of worship today and read the whole 12th chapter of Luke. Read it to figure out why Jesus was so upset. Read it to find out how pointless storing up our treasures are, how silly it is to be greedy. Read it with an open heart as to what it means to live a life of radical love. It’s a really simple concept really. But simple doesn’t mean easy. It doesn’t mean that loving the way Christ calls us to love will be an easy road, it will be filled with people who stand in our way, it will bring division in our family when they don’t understand that we are choosing to love others instead of doing something which pleases only ourselves.
Please don’t think that I’m saying that I’m better than anyone else. In fact, nine times out of ten, I’m one of the biggest offenders in not loving as Jesus calls me to love. But I figured that I’d use this first sermon to have all of you help me to do a better job at it. And it is my hope that we will all keep it in the front of our minds to share that grace which God has so freely given us with others. If that isn’t radical, I don’t know what is.
[1] http://www.aromanthought.com/
[2] Fred B. Craddock. “Interpretation: Luke.” John Knox Press, Louisville. 1990. Pg 166
[3] Laterally Luke, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia
[4] "Christ Brings Division," Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.
As I sat at my desk on Tuesday afternoon, trying to relax a bit after an exhausting morning of Vacation Bible School, I was checking to see if anyone had commented on my latest blog entry. Once I realized that no one had left me any comments, I began to poke around the blogs of strangers whom I had never heard of. The name of a person’s blog will come up on the screen for maybe two seconds, and if the title sounds interesting, I try and click it before it disappears. The first blog that I clicked that day was called “A Roman Thought.”[1] And I checked it out, hoping it might be thought provoking. Luckily for me, it had a video posted from an apparently well respected atheist. I watched a ten minute clip of this man attempt to deconstruct the concept of religion. To be honest, he did a pretty decent job of getting his point across, but as I listened to what he had to say, I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it was to hear his argument on a week when the Gospel lesson is about Jesus’ message spreading division among the people.
If you think about it, very few of us want to believe that the work of God is one that divides people. Instead, we tend to recall some of the nicer scripture verses. Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5).Or perhaps we like to think of Jesus saying “my peace I leave unto you, my peace I leave with you” (John 14:27) Both of these verses, plus many others, talk about the peace that Jesus brings. So when we read verses about how Jesus’ message is going to bring division, it seems quite easy to dismiss them and not bring them into our lives. But it’s my own belief that it is these hard to swallow verses which challenge us to be the disciples God wants us to be.
The real question then is, how do we view such harsh words in a way that conveys the love and grace which comes from Jesus Christ. It is not an easy task. Perhaps we need to first ask if we can find love and grace in passages in which Jesus is, to be quite frank, pissed off. Jesus is warning us about a crisis, but this crisis is not an emergency, but instead is an occasion of truth and a precise time to make a decision about life.[2] How amazing would our lives be if we viewed all of our moments of crisis as moments of the truth of God? The truth of this passage is that Jesus is not simply calling us to be agents of division for the purpose of causing trouble, but instead we will inevitably cause division because we are speaking truth in love which most people do not want to hear.
If you remember the last song we sang, Obey-O, we sing about obeying God, even when it’s hard. I think this is one of the most important lines sung during VBS this week. When Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor, he isn’t trying to simplify the 10 commandments into the 2 easiest, instead, these laws of love are the hardest to live by. They will bring disunity, division, judgment, even destruction, as well as the Fruits & Gifts of the Spirit.[3] I wonder if such gifts will be evident in the kids that went through vacation bible school this week. I wonder if they’ll remember to obey the law of love, even if it causes disunity in the family. Will the students remember to love illegal aliens when their parents blame them for all of our countries problems? Will they love someone different from them when the world tells them to hate? Will they share everything they have when common sense tells them to covet as much as possible?
This is a radical interpretation of the law of love. Too often we choose to love only when it is of benefit to us. I love the word radical because it often conjures a negative image of what religion can do to the world. We use the word radial Muslim to describe terrorists, and when we hear about radical Christians, our thoughts go to fundamentalist Southern Baptists, very rarely do we say that radically living a life of love is a positive thing.
Instead, the great temptation of Christianity is always to have sugar coated Christianity with a sugar coated gospel, with a sugar coated cross, and to eliminate this great call to discipleship for the world. Our greatest temptation is that the cares, riches and pleasures of this life become more important than the call of Jesus Christ. And so the security of family and friends, jobs and homes and vacations become more important to us than Christ and his mission. The result is watered down wine; it is watered down whiskey; it is middle class Christianity; it is complacent Christianity; it is comfortable Christianity. Come and sit in our soft padded pews and worship Jesus Christ with your personal style of music and comfort.[4]
When we become comfortable with discipleship, when we strive only for unity in our beliefs, we do not grow as Christians. As Moravians, we pride ourselves upon the fact that when it comes to the non-essentials, we have the liberty to think and act as we believe best, but too often we neglect to concern ourselves with the Essentials, the things which should be of utmost concern in our daily lives. What are those things which we believe to be essential? The grace of God the Creator, the saving work of God in Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as the faith, love and hope on part of humankind, are all central in our beliefs. If we are not living out these things which we say are central to being a disciple, we are not living the radical life to which we are called.
Now, I need to say, that I gave a lot of thought and prayer to the scripture verses that were read today. It is certainly not the verses I would have picked to share my first sermon, but I did feel the need to preach about the radical message of love with Jesus brings us. Radical isn’t something we need to stay away from, its something we need to embrace. I challenge you to go home from this time of worship today and read the whole 12th chapter of Luke. Read it to figure out why Jesus was so upset. Read it to find out how pointless storing up our treasures are, how silly it is to be greedy. Read it with an open heart as to what it means to live a life of radical love. It’s a really simple concept really. But simple doesn’t mean easy. It doesn’t mean that loving the way Christ calls us to love will be an easy road, it will be filled with people who stand in our way, it will bring division in our family when they don’t understand that we are choosing to love others instead of doing something which pleases only ourselves.
Please don’t think that I’m saying that I’m better than anyone else. In fact, nine times out of ten, I’m one of the biggest offenders in not loving as Jesus calls me to love. But I figured that I’d use this first sermon to have all of you help me to do a better job at it. And it is my hope that we will all keep it in the front of our minds to share that grace which God has so freely given us with others. If that isn’t radical, I don’t know what is.
[1] http://www.aromanthought.com/
[2] Fred B. Craddock. “Interpretation: Luke.” John Knox Press, Louisville. 1990. Pg 166
[3] Laterally Luke, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia
[4] "Christ Brings Division," Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.
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