Taking a Break This Week

Hello everyone, on Monday I cut the tip of my right index finger off with a pair of pruning shears.  It will heal, thankfully, in time.  However, typing with a challenge for me and getting through the day takes a bit of an effort in and of itself.  So, I'm going to take a break for a week or so.  Keep me in your prayers and I promise I'll be back!

Sunday Sermon - Love Your Neighbor

PROPER 25       Matthew 22:34-40, Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18        David Eck

10/23/11

Rev. Jan Shaw, the Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco

---Attended a reading by poet Mary Oliver this past week.

---In the question and answer session afterwards,

---Ms. Oliver talked about about the ordinary despair

---So many people feel as we face of the enormity

---Of the world’s problems. 

---"What can one individual do?" she asked.

Many of us wonder what WE can do

---To turn the tide, to birth light into the world

---Instead of cursing the darkness,

---To make our lives feel more stable and secure

---In these trying times.

The Wall Street protestors, feeling that same sense of powerlessness

---Have taken to the streets to express their discontent,

---And to try and claim their power and their voice. 

Similar protests have now spread all around the globe.

---In fact, they are occurring in our city as we speak

---As the Occupy Asheville Movement remains strong

---And shows no signs of slowing down.

In fact, I drive by their camp site at least once a day

---As I make my way to Abiding Savior

---Or run a few errands in town.

Each time I drive by them it makes me ponder

---"What can I do as an individual

---To make our world a more just and equitable place?"

II.  In our gospel lesson for today

---We the Pharisees were testing Jesus,

---But perhaps the one who approached Jesus

---Had a similar feeling of being overwhelmed

---When he asked him, 

---"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

---For there were 613 precepts in the Torah. 

How was he going to keep track of them all,

---Let alone prioritize them? 

Jesus answers with two positive commandments from the Torah:

---"You shall love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6: 5)

---And “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19: 18).

---"On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Poet Mary Oliver may have answered her own question,

---As Jesus answered the Pharisee’s,

---By testifying to the power of love,

---Reading from her poem “Wild Geese,” which begins:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

American playwright Eve Ensler,

---Commenting on the Wall Street protestors

---After she had talked to many of them,

---Wrote in the Huffington Post:

"So I came out to face this contradiction:

---The dehumanization of poverty and the exploitation of capitalism. 

---A block away from the park

---Where the second General Assembly was being held,

---I heard the words "I love you." 

The words were as swift as the man who said them,

---For when I looked back he was already five paces away. 

---But they were as firm as those paces —

---Heavy with determination, purpose, depth. 

His words permeated the air in Washington Square,

---And the air on the march, and the air in Zucotti Park. 

---Love was EVERYWHERE!"

III. But what does this "love stuff" mean?

---Isn’t it, too vague or nebulous

---When we are trying to address the enormity

----Of the world’s needs?

Christians are, indeed, called “to love and serve the world." 

---It's written all over the Bible.

One of the post-communion prayers we use

---From the ELW reads:

"We give you thanks, almighty God,

---That you have refreshed us

---Through the healing power of this gift of life.

---In your mercy, strengthen us through this gift,

---In faith toward you

---And in FERVENT LOVE toward one another

---For the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior,"

"Fervent love" that sounds like a mighty tall order to fill.

---In essence, we are sent out to put into practice

---What we have become in Holy Communion:

---The Body of Christ, here on earth.

"Ours are the only hands and feet

---That Christ has now,"

---16th century mystic Teresa of Avila once said.

IV. When we are sent out into the world,

---When we heed God’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves,

---We need to ask what that relationship

---Between the Church and the world means. 

Christianity has always had a paradoxical attitude to the world,

---And the doctrine of the Incarnation bears it out. 

On the one hand, God so loved the world

---That God sent his only begotten son,

---Who healed the sick, fed the poor, raised the dead

---And lived, preached, ate and made friends in the world

---Alongside ordinary human beings,

---Especially those on the margins of society. 

On the other hand, those actions of Jesus of Nazareth

---Meant that he eventually came into conflict with the world,

---As he challenged human priorities and institutions.

As a consequence, many Christians

---Have had a negative view of the world. 

Some, like the Amish, have chosen to stay away from it,

---Building separate, gathered, utopian communities. 

---They would agree with the author of the epistle to Diognetus,

---In the middle of the second century,

---That Christians "live in their own countries, but only as resident aliens."

  

Other Christians have assumed that the world is a very bad place,

---Because it is fallen, but they are committed

---To making it more 'godly,'

---By converting as many people as possible to Christianity. 

For them, individual sinners must be saved

---In order to redeem the world.

Yet other Christians still assume that the world is a bad place,

---But believe that Christians can make it better:

---We can build the kingdom of heaven on earth. 

These Christians do not withdraw from the world

---Nor do they simply try to grow their own ranks. 

---They get their hands dirty to change things. 

This perspective has provided the impetus for many wonderful projects,

---But it has, at times, been paternalistic,

---Assuming still that Christianity has all the answers.

But what if loving our neighbor means

---That we need to listen to the world and engage with it? 

What if we realize we do not need to bring Christ to the world,

---Because Christ is already in the world? 

This creates a different model of loving our neighbor,

---Which is much more about Christians

---Being vulnerable, listening, and participating.

V. Eve Ensler’s work with women who have been raped in the Congo

---Provides a model for this sort of vulnerable, listening, participative action. 

Ensler’s organization V-Day,

---Along with UNICEF and the Panzi Foundation,

---Are building a community called the City of Joy

---For women who have survived violence in the Congo. 

The key thing is that the City is being developed by

---And run with the women of the Congo,

---Developing their leadership capacity

---And providing them not only with the tools for healing,

---But also for economic empowerment,

---So that they can engage in horticulture

---And other revenue-generating activities.

I cite this example because it illustrates

---The 'engagement with' and 'listening to' mode. 

And Eve Ensler speaks movingly

---About what she has learned

---From the women of that community,

---Especially in her own recovery and survival

---From a cancer that ripped through her body. 

Healing came not only for the women of the Congo,

---But also for Ensler

---When she became truly a part of their community,

---Seeking a solution for the horrors of their lives, yes,

---But also being vulnerable with them herself.

Here is a simple truth of the Christian faith: 

---God made us, God loves us and God accepts us as we are. 

---We did not have to earn our creation,

---And we do not have to earn God's love. 

---But God is delighted when we respond to that love. 

---If we are to bring that love to others

---Then we must know something of what it means

---To be vulnerable with one another and vulnerable with God.

To truly love our neighbor

---Is not some sort of mushy, sentimental act.

---It is a tough and tenacious love

---That is bound and determined

---To let God's light shine in the darkest of places.

In order to love our neighbor fully

---We must believe that God's kingdom

---Is not something to be reserved for the "sweet by and by."

---It's meant to be manifested right here and now

---In our church, in our community, in our nation,

---And throughout the world.

We must love our neighbors

---The way Jesus loved us:

---Fully, unconditionally and without hesitation.

Jesus' love transformed the world.

---Our love for our neighbor

---Is meant to transform the world as well.

VI. The past two weeks our Sunday School class

---Has been looking at Martin Luther's explanation

---Of the Ten Commandments as found in the Small Catechism.

What is remarkable about Luther's explanation

---Is that he turns the "Thou shalt nots"

---Into "Thou shalts"

Instead of focusing on what we are supposed to avoid

---He turns the commandments on their head

---And reminds us what we are supposed to embrace.

Some of his explanations tell us a great deal

---About what it means to love our neighbor

---Passionately and fervently.

For example, in his explanation of the 5th Commandment,

---"Thou shalt not kill."  Luther says  

---"We are to fear and love God,

---So that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors,

---But instead help and support them in all of life's needs."

Similarly in his explanation of the 8th Commandment,

---"Thou shalt not bear false witness." Luther says

---"We are to fear and love God,

---So that we do not tell lies about our neighbors,

---Betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations.  

---Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them,

---And interpret everything they do in the best possible light."

Loving our neighbors involves more than

---Having mushy sentimental feelings for them.

---Our love must have arms and legs and a voice

---That speaks out for the oppressed and the needy;

---That refuses to yield in the face of

---Hatred, injustice, violence

---And seemingly hopeless situations.

VIII.  Over the last two years the ELCA

---Has been the brunt of a lot of criticism

---From what is now known as the North American Lutheran Church

Some in the new denomination seem to believe

---That the ELCA is mired in what they call "works righteousness"

---And has lost sight of its understanding of what grace is.

I would argue that the ELCA is deeply centered

---In its understanding that we are saved by grace

---And not our works.

---Because of this we are determined not to sit in our pews

---But reach out into the world as agents of grace

---To those who need it the most.

This means we are not content to write simply write a check

---To the appropriate helping agencies

---In our community, nation and world.

---We are determined to love our neighbor

---By rolling up our sleeves and getting to work.

Whether it is serving breakfast at Pritchard Park,

---Or making God's Eyes with Latin kids at Fiesta Latina,

---Or extending a warm welcome to our LGBT neighbors

---At Blue Ridge Pride,

---Or starting a grief support group this coming month,

---Our church has the audacity to believe

---That our efforts do make a difference the world.

---Each of us is called to love our neighbors

---In whatever way we can.

---Those efforts are important and powerful

---Even as we try to change the world

---One person at a time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ

---The time has come for us to be bold.

---The time has come for everyone to do their part

---In loving our neighbors both near and far.

In closing I remind you of the words Jesus spoke

---During his first sermon in the gospel of Luke.

---This was his chance to define his ministry

---And announce to those gathered in the Temple

---What he intended to do in their midst.

He unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah

---And read the following passage:

---"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

---Because he has anointed me

---To bring good news to the poor.

---He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

---And recovery of sight to the blind,

---To let the oppressed go free,

---To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

Brothers and sisters, 

---Let us love our neighbors the way God has loved us

---With grace, overwhelming generosity,

---Forgiveness and compassion,

---That we might make a difference in the world

---And transform these dark times

---With the light of God's presence.

AMEN

[The first sections of this sermon were borrowed and edited from Rev. Jan Shaw, the Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  Her thoughts were posted on www.textweek.com.  Thanks for getting me jump started this week!]

We Are One in Christ

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3:28, NRSV]

I have always found this to be one of the most powerful statements Paul ever made, considering the time he lived in. There were many inequalities that existed between the three pairings of people Paul lists here: Jews looked down upon the Greeks and saw them as heathens who had little respect for God. Slave owners treated their slaves as little more than property to be managed and exploited. Men held all the cards in Paul's day and age and women had little, if any, rights.

What Paul is saying is that Jesus brought with him a new way of ordering the world where all the hierarchical structures were torn down and everyone had an equal place at the table. This was radical stuff in his day and it is still radical stuff in ours. The Body of Christ is not supposed to be a place where we are climbing Jacob's moral ladder, each rung taking us higher and higher; it is a place where we are dancing Sarah's circle and everyone is welcome to join us in the dance.

If you doubt this is still a revolutionary teaching, consider a few more pairings that we could add to Paul's list: There is no gay or straight, trans or bi, Republican or Democrat, pretty or ugly, liberal or conservative, supermodel or geek, illegal immigrant or native born, Occupy Wall Street or Tea Party, butch or fem, for all of us are one in Christ.

The Gay Agenda

I saw this the other day and just had to share it with all of you.  It pretty much sums up my week and my big fat gay agenda.  How about you?

A New Kind of Fear

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [Luke 12:32 KJV]

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. [Ps 110:10 NRSV]

We tend to fear people who are different from us. Christians fear Muslims and Muslims fear Christians. Conservatives fear liberals and liberals fear conservatives. Americans fear Iraqis and Iraqis fear Americans. Straights fear gays and gays fear straights. And so on and so forth.

Fear is at the core of many of our divisions and prejudices. If we can move beyond our fears we just might be able to heal our world and learn to live in peace, united in our humanity.

You might find it interesting ot know that in the Bible [both Hebrew and Greek] there are two meanings for the word "fear." The first is what we usually think of when we hear this word: to be afraid, frightened or alarmed. This kind of fear is destructive, especially it is the core emotion we attach to the way we feel about our neighbor.

The second meaning of the word "fear" is "to be in awe of, to reverence, or to worship." While I'm not advocating that we worship our neighbor, I am suggesting that if we can look at all our neighbors with reverence, seeing everyone as a child of God, it will radically change the way we view and interact with the world.