Pluck out your eye! Cut off your hand!

I give thanks for the research and enlightenment of the Right Rev. Michael Rinehart of the ECLA Church. Much of his exegesis and some of his words are contained in this sermon. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hellfire and Damnation! You are going to burn – I Am Going to BURN!! If you’ve thought it in your mind or heart – you may as well have done it, because you are certainly going to get the punishment as though you had! Who hasn’t been angry with someone? Haven’t we all? Have you been divorced and are now remarried – or living with someone outside the vows of marriage?? It’s hellfire for you! It’s hellfire for me! Oh, NO!!!
How often have we heard these messages? From Dante’s “Inferno” through Milton’s “Paradise Lost” on up through our Puritan history to screaming televangelists today, what we hear leads us to look at these verses of Jesus and quake – shaking in our shoes that we really are in a world of hurt and there is no way to work our way out of the deep sin in which we find ourselves? Oh…My…God! What can I do? I find myself in a wonderful and decent marriage, but Jesus appears to call this one adulterous, because I’ve been married before! What shall I do?
Well, I think I can tell you what we all need to do, and that is: take a deep breath and calm down. Fundamentalist preachers have interpreted these words of Jesus for hundreds of years in a completely different way than most theologians read them, whether those theologians were from the ancient world like St. Augustine, and Luther, or modern theologians. People who read the Bible literally, without considering the circumstances in which they were said, can completely misunderstand Jesus’ meanings.
In this particular scenario, we are hearing a portion in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We’ve been reading it in order for the last three weeks. But suddenly, after the words about Salt and Light we heard last week, come these hard words. So different and so harsh from what has gone before. I think it is very important that we understand what Jesus was doing here.
When people hear “hellfire,” they take it quite literally. Jesus may have meant it literally, but I suspect not. Translated from the Greek, this phrase reads: “into the Gehenna of fire,” which refers to the dump south of Jerusalem where garbage was burned. I don’t want to negate the image of judgment here. Jesus certainly means to say that there is a Judgment Day coming, in which things are going to be sorted out, good and bad. Bad stuff will be burned like trash. But, we have to hear this as literary hyperbole. Here’s why: In just a few verses, Jesus will instruct his listeners to tear out their eyes if they are a cause of sin. I presume he didn’t mean this literally, as there’s no evidence that Jesus’ disciples mutilated themselves. St. Augustine assumes that Jesus is speaking metaphorically. These shocking images work. They ring in people’s ears two thousand years later. He’s using a powerful homiletic tool, preaching tool, to make his point.
So what is the point? Relationships are important: more important than vengeance, more important than retaliation. We can do violence with our words. When we do, mending those relationships is more important than going to church, or making our offerings. Asking others for forgiveness is as important as seeking God’s.
About the statement on anger, Martin Luther explained it this way: We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray, slander, or hurt our neighbor’s reputation, but defend, speak well of our neighbor, and explain everything in the kindest way.
About Lust, I’ve got a quote that may shock you, but it made me stop and think: our beloved C. S. Lewis said the following: “He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart.” What Jesus is really saying is, he is very interested in the heart. What you think matters: your motives matter. Transformation of behavior alone won’t do. Actually, it won’t work. The only hope is transformation of the heart, from which all actions flow.
I suppose even if we are entirely chaste, our lusting will work its way out in other ways, resulting in: anger? Resentment? Unhealthy relationships? Fear of intimacy? Selfishness? I’ve always felt that lust and covetousness came from the same source. It’s the desire for more, more, more, no matter how much I have. It is, at the heart of things, self-centeredness. God will have to deal with this in us, if we are to become spiritually alive.
And now, to Divorce: Consider this. A man could “put away” a woman by simply writing down a note. “I divorce her.” The Bible was used to justify this practice. The woman had very few options. There was a huge power differential. Jesus is upholding the sanctity of marriage. The goal is faithfulness. And fairness.
The Hebrew Bible’s laws about divorce are draconian and patriarchal. They are about men’s rights to divorce women, not women’s rights to divorce men. By and large, they assume women as a possession of men, traded for shekels like cattle. Women have few rights in this system. Consider this passage from Deut. 22: If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives. So, if a man rapes a woman, his punishment is paying the father 50 shekels and marrying the woman. She is forced to marry her rapist. She cannot seek a certificate of divorce, and neither can he. One can only wonder about the marital dynamics in such an arrangement.
It seems to me that Jesus, by criticizing divorce, is making it more egalitarian. The woman couldn’t divorce anyway. Jesus is leveling the playing field. And he creates a loophole: “except on the grounds of unchastity.” And it’s quite a loophole. What qualifies? I can imagine physical or emotional abuse as being unchaste. There’s wiggle room here, just not, “the man said so.” Jesus is not a fan of divorce, or broken relationships of any kind. It’s tragic really. But even he leaves a loophole. There is grace here.
The following three statements on oath taking – only saying “yes” or “no”; going the extra mile rather than retaliating, and loving our enemies, are also points of grace. Without discussing them in detail, what Jesus is doing is calling his followers to a higher standard than the law given by Moses. He is saying that our behavior in adhering to the law does not bring life. Those who are peacemakers, full of mercy and hungry for justice will see beyond the letter of the law to its deep inner yearning for purity of heart and a world of justice. They will exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Righteousness is not obedience to legislation, but perfect conformity to the will of God. The end product is that we are to be: children of our heavenly Father: righteous and merciful.
These words we’ve always heard as harsh and scary, are really words of love. Jesus calls all of us to respond in love to every situation, hurtful and hard as those situations might be. He is calling on us to be sacrificial with our thoughts, words, actions and feelings. He is telling us that we can change our hearts to hearts of non-judgmental love. Until our lives overflow with caring more and doing more for others than for ourselves, we’ve missed the boat on what it means to live the Christian life.
It is time to move into the next level. To move beyond our worship in this place, to moving out into the world, showing people we do not know and who don’t know us, what living in Christ’s love truly means to the world. It’s time to get our priorities in order: to go out and live the love we’ve been given. Amen.

The Exiled

Parts of this sermon were strongly influenced by a sermon written by the Rev. Richard Fairchild. My prayers of thanksgiving for his work and willingness to share his talents with the world go up to God this day. Amen

Jesus was walking toward Jerusalem. On his final journey there that would end on the cross. He was near the border to Samaria when ten lepers call out to him. These people had a disease that was the equivalent of AIDS in the early ‘80’s, if you are old enough to remember the fear of AIDS at that time. These people were under a sentence of death. Leprosy was so feared that the victims of this disease were total outcasts.

By the rules of their society, rules created by a fear of contamination, lepers were forced away from society except with other lepers, and when they encountered healthy people, they rang bells that said to others, “keep away – I am lethal!”
Until very recently, people who had leprosy, what we now call Hansen’s disease, were treated as the living dead: shunned, avoided, feared, they were believed to be unclean, as men and women of the greatest misfortune (if not guilty of huge sins) as people beyond help and not worthy of notice except, perhaps a little charity.

As Jesus entered a village these lepers approached him and called from a distance: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They must have cried out with a sense of futility, for so few people even acknowledged their presence. Jesus did something unusual for him. Rather than saying, “be healed” – “stand up” – “take up your bed and walk”, Jesus responded to their cry by saying “go and show yourselves to the priests.” Now Jesus was referring to Leviticus chapter fourteen, which specifies what a priest is to do with a leper who happens to get healed. If cured, the leper could gain readmission to the temple, and to the rest of society, if he was ritually purified and certified as “clean” by a priest.

Yet, despite the unusual response of Jesus, they turn and go, and as they walk down the path towards the priest in the village, they are healed. The Greek word translated “healed” in verses14 and 17 is a word that literally means cleansed or cured.

As we know, one of the ten, a Samaritan man, realizing he had been made clean, turned back and praising God with a loud voice he came to Jesus and prostrated himself: he fell on his knees and his face before Jesus’ feet, and thanked him. And Jesus looked down on him and said to his disciples:

“Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And then he said to the man: ‘Get up and go on your way, your faith has made you well.’”

The word for “well” used here in the Greek can mean cured or healed, but it also means to be made whole or to be saved. My Friends, Jesus’ point is that it is faith that makes us whole. In this story, we have the opportunity to see faith in a different light than we might normally see it. We have the opportunity to see faith as something that leads us to a life that is more than just being well: it is what leads us to wholeness. Through this story we can see that faith is nothing more difficult, nothing more profound than remembering what God has done and giving thanks to him for it.

What, after all, is the difference between the nine lepers who are made clean and the tenth leper who is not only made clean, but also made whole? Just this one: of all the healed lepers, the Samaritan, realizes real resurrection. He alone comes back to say “Thanks”. He realizes that his healing comes from God, through Jesus, and that God has put him in a relationship with Jesus and that relationship alone has made him whole and alive again.

Both last Sunday and today, our reading from Jeremiah has focused on the people who were exiled: taken into Babylon when Israel was conquered. The people torn from their homes and their way of life, are similar to the lepers in our gospel. And there are people here in Central Texas who have been made to feel like exiles. There are many more around the country, and I believe that God is calling us to love them, to let them know that He loves them, just like we are told God loves all of Her creation.

There is something going on in our country that is being almost shouted from the rooftops. I think we’ve finally realized that we are drowning in incivility. People’s rudeness toward others covers the spectrum, with everything from road rage to employee abuse, to people taking their anger out on strangers. But what has really caught my attention, and most probably yours, if you put any focus at all on the news, is the increasing numbers of teen suicides as a result of bullying. Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death among college-age students (after auto deaths) in the United States, with some 1,100 deaths a year. In yesterday’s paper I read about four high school kids in one Ohio town who killed themselves during the last year: one was a girl named Sladjana, whose family recently immigrated from Croatia, and she was ridiculed for her accent and unusual name. She hung herself. Another girl was gay, and another was teased mercilessly because she had a learning disability. Eric, a boy from the same town wasn’t gay, but the school bullies decided that he was because he liked to dress differently. He shot himself in the head.

You may have heard about the death of five teens that took their own lives in the month of September. Raymond Chase, 19; Seth Welsh, 13; Asher Brown, 13, here in Texas; and Billy Lucas, 15, in Indiana, all committed suicide after being bullied and harassed about their sexual orientation. And, just a little over a week ago, Tyler Clementi, 18, of New Jersey. He did it because he didn’t know how to live with what was done to him. A brilliant musician, Tyler was a freshman in college. He had an amazing future in front of him but, in torment over his roommates “outing” him by broadcasting a video of his sexual encounter with another man, Tyler threw himself off a bridge.

Honesty and openness about sexuality is difficult at any age. For teenagers, it can be simply paralyzing, an almost impossible subject to discuss with parents or other adults. Kids don’t know what to do, or how to protect themselves, and harassment is devastating to fragile, emerging personalities.

But bullying isn’t just about sexual orientation. It is a tragic and deadly trend in our schools that students are not being held accountable for their disrespect of others. In Bob Lively’s Faith column, also in yesterday’s Austin paper, he quoted theologian Richard Rohr, saying that though our human problems are for the most part psychological, the solution for those problems is mainly spiritual. It is so obvious to those of us who know and follow the Lord Jesus Christ that our world is hurting so much because we are not following his command to love one another and to treat each other as we would like to be treated.

In our baptismal covenant, we say that seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
our neighbor as ourselves. We say we will strive for justice and peace among all people, and will respect the dignity of every person. As followers of Christ it is our place to step up in protecting those who are being harassed, and to try and show bullies a better, more compassionate way to be.

As the lepers were shunned and shut out of society, so are many of our children being shunned and shut out, or even worse. One of the many reasons I love my job is because I have the privilege of knowing the youth of St. Paul’s. I cherish each and every one of you, and you can pass the word to any and all of your friends and acquaintances. It doesn’t matter to me what the trouble is: anyone, any time, can feel free to come talk to me about anything in confidence– there will be no judgment given, only caring concern, and thoughtful support. There is nothing you can tell me that will shock me – and with love and God’s help, we can find a way to make things better.

The good news is that we can do something about this. Each of us has a responsibility to be present in the lives of our youth, offering them reminders of their belovedness as members of the Body of Christ, and giving them the support they need to thrive. As Jesus pointed out in the Gospel today, as we love and care for one another, and as we give thanks to God for his grace given to us, we have the opportunity to become whole. That it is through God’s loving grace, manifested through His people, that we all find healing and wholeness from the hurtful things of this world. And as one helps another, and that one loves another and helps them, the world can be changed. Amen, and amen.

What a FABULOUS Weekend!

Oh, my, I feel like my prayers have been answered...at least for this past two days. St. Paul's had a yard sale on Saturday, and most of the church pitched in to organize things on Friday evening, and then came back to help with the sale. It was a real community effort just like we've been praying for, and everyone seemed to have a great time (and we made some good money to further along our plans for our 25th anniversary celebration too!).

Then, including the young ones in the nursery during worship, we had 52 people at church! And most of them stayed for Sunday school and our usual potluck lunch that we have on "First" Sundays (the first Sunday of every month). It was so good to study God's word together, and then visit while we ate and cleaned up the church.

Then, there was just time enough to run to the store to buy treats for the animals for our 2:00 PM St. Francis' Blessing of the Animals (as I promised and almost forgot to get). This was so that every pet that was brought by their person or people to the blessing service could enjoy refreshments just like the people did. We had 18 people, 12 dogs and 1 cat, including the two precious dogs from the Pflugerville Animal Shelter who are patiently waiting for someone to adopt them. One was an older female pit bull mix who was simply sweet and loving. The other was a young black and white terrier who, from a standing still stance, jumped almost 3' off the ground! And he did it over and over again, every time anyone paid him the slightest attention. If you are thinking of adopting a dog, get yourself to the PAS in a hurry -- these sweeties won't last long!

I'm not sure how much money we raised for the shelter, but there was enough dog and cat food to help them out for a few days anyway, and it was a real blessing to have animal control officer, Michael, with us again for the second year. It has been an amazing few days -- full of love and laughter and church family. We are so very blessed to have each other!

Where to begin....?

The pilgrimage to Malawi was life-changing. I'm not sure how exactly, yet...I'm still processing it all. Such beautiful, joyous people -- joyous in the Lord, even when they are lacking any creature comforts, and live as our early ancestors did, with dirt floors and no water or electricity, and no toys for the children except balls made from plastic bags tied around with string. It made evident how very spoiled we are here in the States.

It all seems to relate to our Gospel reading for next Sunday, Luke 14:25 - 33: How much are we willing to give to be a follower of Christ? Are we willing to pay the price to follow Jesus? What is first in our lives? He tells his "many followers" that there is great cost in choosing him. He tells them that they must weigh the cost and choose. Have we truly chosen, or are we among those many followers who aren't really following Him -- simply walking along and listening, saying we believe and are followers, but not truly choosing to live the Christian life? What is most important in our lives?

It seems to me that we here, in a place that has every creature comfort imaginable, have become so attached to those things which give us comfort, or mindlessness, (read that as bleeping out on television, being a "workaholic", depending upon alcohol or drugs, watching sports or playing video games) that we have forgotten what could -- and yes, should, be the most important focus of our lives.

Why is it that we don't focus more on the one thing that truly can bring us the most joy that it is possible to experience? Is it because we have become so jaded with the "entertainment" or "busyness of work" that we can't allow ourselves to just sit and be with God? Is it because we have spent so little time with Her that it's uncomfortable to be in silence, doing nothing but paying attention to Him?

Yes, Jesus was telling the truth when He told those many followers that they needed to count the cost of following Him. Yes, we may lose friends and acquaintances, if they are just with us to play, and see what they can get from the relationship. If they are attached for selfish, or frivolous reasons. For what Jesus is saying is that if we are truly to follow Him, all that we have -- all that we possess in this life -- must become unimportant to us in comparison to our love for God. Somehow it seems that we should lose some "friends" or even family, if we choose to love God first. It seems obvious when I think about it, that when our priorities are in the proper order, our reality changes: we become immersed in God, and many other things fall away -- and there is a parting of the ways because we no longer relate to people in the same way we did when we were caught up in the trappings of the material world.

The most amazing thing is, that when we truly let go and release our attachment to all these things that we "love" on this Earthly plane, and focus on God as the source and destination of the only true love, we find ourselves complete -- lacking nothing -- and living in total joy.

This is what I experienced in Malawi, and what I experience in my own life when I allow myself to be still in the presence of God. It changes things. It is what makes life have meaning. What I don't comprehend is why I have such difficulty remaining aware of Him. It is the most glorious experience of my life, and yet I get caught in the mundane, and forget to focus on Her. It seems so hard in this place, back in everyday life. Perhaps this is why I had such a hard time leaving Malawi: Out there in the bush, working with the orphans and widows, God was so palpably evident...It was all I wanted to do for the rest of my life...

And then I realized that I can do more from here than I could ever do being there. That doesn't mean that I don't want to go again, and focus on certain things that I only got a glimpse of on this whirlwind trip to see so many different projects that are making a difference. But this is home, and it's where I belong.

In our Gospel for Sunday Jesus says we must hate our families, and I have trouble with that. Not only do I love my family and need to be with them; I also love my parishioners, and know that we are doing good work, growing in our love of God together. Although he literally used that word, hate, perhaps he was using it in a quantitative sense, that we should love God so much more. I don't know. I firmly believe that God is love and wants us to reflect that love throughout our lives to everyone -- perhaps Jesus was talking about attachment. There are so many opportunities to share the love of God, now matter where we are -- it seems to me to be a matter of putting God first.

I will not let go of my love of the land and the people of Malawi. They have taught me many great lessons: lessons of priorities, lessons of focus, lessons of love. Love in the deepest sense. Love that comes from deep within a relationship with God, which pours out to the entire Earth and all the people in it. For God loves all of His creation, and what I believe She wants each one of us to be is a conduit of Her love to all those we meet, and that happens no matter what continent we are on, or where we are on our journey.

Heading into the bush

It is just a few days until I get on a big "bird" and fly to the other side of the world...as chaplain of a group of seven, including me, to experience pilgrimage in the country of Malawi. Don't know where it is? Well, Google a map of Africa and look southeast. Where we are going (in the southern part of the country) is completely surrounded by Mozambique, which is just north of South Africa. It is one of the poorest, most destitute countries of the world, plagued by AIDS and therefore, there are many orphans.

The Diocese of Texas signed a concordant agreement with the Diocese of Southern Malawi in January -- we are now "Sister" dioceses. We go to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ, to rejoice with them in the love of Christ, and to see how we might help them with worldly needs while they teach us how to love. You see, from what I know about the Malawian people, they don't have a bunch of "stuff" as we do here in the States, but they are overflowing with the love Christ calls us to live in. I think that they know more than we about real living.

I may be unable to post while I'm there -- I don't know what access I will have to wifi and the web, but know that my thoughts and prayers are with you all while I am across the world.

When their bishop, the Right Rev. Bishop James Tengatenga came to St. Paul's a few months ago, one of my parishioners asked him, "What will Judith do when she is in Malawi?" Bishop James replied, "Well, I hope she encounters God there." I, too, hope to encounter God among these beautiful, loving people. Please pray for our group while we are there. We all believe God is calling us to this place, and will help us realize how He wants us to be family together.

Have you time to make a call?

July 4^th: Proper 9 -- Year C

II Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, Galatians 6:1-16, Luke 10:1-11,16-20

What I gleaned from this Old Testament story of the healing of Naaman is something I believe is very important for all of us to hear. I think we usually tend to either sit around waiting for God to call us to do something dramatic, something out of the ordinary…or we’re so afraid that He might call us to do something that’s going to disrupt our lives, that we don’t listen for His call.

What the story of Naaman is telling us is that God usually calls us to do something simple, something that’s easy. What God most particularly asks most of us to do is a gentle healing of our lives and the lives of others through a simple change of attitude, a change of heart. These are both of the Old Testament lessons today. Rejoice, for God is with us and loves us, and…open your minds and hearts to be ready to do the little things, in simplicity.

Our Epistle reading from Galatians is about “Karma” – that Hindu and Buddhist word for the idea that, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” If you are selfish, you’ll get selfish people surrounding you. Ignore the presence of God around you, don’t pay attention to spreading His love around, and your life will pretty well be overgrown with weeds, with problems that are difficult to clean out of your life. But if you let God’s love grow in you and you share that caring love with those you encounter in your daily life, your life will bloom. Bear one another’s burdens and the burdens will be lighter for all of us.

Paul tells us to plant things of the Spirit within ourselves, and in those we meet, and what we will reap will be the joys of heaven. He writes that we are to do whatever we can for the good of everyone whenever we have the opportunity. And he reminds us of what our attitude should be when he says, “May I never boast of anything, except the cross of Christ.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He goes on to tell his followers (and that’s us as well as those people he spoke to so long ago). He goes on to say that we don’t need any special preparation for doing his will. Simply go your way, and when you are with others, share God’s peace, help them however you can, tell them that God is near them, and your name will be written in heaven. Sometimes, God calls people to make dramatic changes in their lives, and to undergo huge sacrifices for the faith, but most of the time, God wants us to do His will right where we are, in the little things of life. Sometimes we don’t even realize that it is God’s urging that is moving us in new directions.

I have a story about some new friends that Lewis and I made on our trip. Timir Banerjee and his wife Elaine happened to sit with us at dinner the first night of the tour. They live in Louisville, Kentucky, where they are both active in their faith. Elaine is a nurse who is doing additional graduate work, and is interested in integrating spiritual aspects of life into the healing process. Timir is a retired neurosurgeon who has in the last few years begun teaching 5^th grade three mornings a week. He came to the United States several decades ago from India to practice medicine and improve his life: he is a naturalized American citizen. This story is one that Dr. Banerjee told us over dinner.

He started out by saying what an amazing country the United States is, how in this country things can happen that would never happen anywhere else. And he shared with us the story of Dennis.

The year was 1978, and Dennis was a 32-year old patient of Timir’s. Dennis had a debilitating lung condition that kept him from living on his own, or providing for himself. He spent lots of time in the hospital to undergo oxygen intubations for his condition. In consultation with Dennis’s mother, Timir found out that it didn’t matter to her whether Dennis was in the hospital or at home, she couldn’t rest. She never got a good night’s sleep due to her worry that Dennis would become unable to breathe, and would die with no one to help him.

When Dr. Banerjee discovered how distraught Dennis’s mother was, he couldn’t let the problem continue. He picked up the phone and called the headquarters of AT&T and asked to speak with the president of the company. He didn’t even know the man’s name, but he did know that at that time, AT&T owned Bell Laboratories, and he thought maybe they could help in some way. Timir actually got through to the top man, and he explained the problem. (You see, at this time there were some monitors built for pediatric use to alert nurses if a child had difficulties, but no monitors that alerted someone if an adult patient’s breath stopped.)

The President of AT&T told Dr. Banerjee that he didn’t believe he’d ever had a more important problem to solve, and he would be in touch as soon as he could. Just a day or two later, Timir received a call telling him that two engineers from Boeing were flying in from Seattle and they’d be in KY in a few days to get to work. These men came in and developed the medical monitor that results in an alarm if a patient stops breathing.

Dr. Banerjee, the hospital, Dennis, nor any of their insurance companies, were ever charged even a penny for the work that went into the development of the monitor. These men did what needed to be done because they wanted to help someone they didn’t even know. Timir told us that this type of thing is what makes us different, and why he wanted to be a citizen of this country. Timir explained that he wanted to be a part of a place where a relative nobody could ask for help from a powerful person just by picking up the phone.

Timir grew up in the Brahmin caste, the highest and most powerful level of India’s caste system. Here there is no caste system: each person is equally valued, be they a major corporate executive, or someone without a job or home. We have been taught from early childhood that all people have value, each person in the world has equal value with every other person: there are no untouchables here. Our forefathers founded this country on this basic principle that Christ teaches.

Timir has done some other dramatic and unusual interventions to help people since he became an American citizen. Shortly after the shootings in Columbine, CO, he formed a non-profit organization named SPAVA, an acronym for the Society for the Prevention of Aggressiveness and Violence among Adolescents. Their mission statement says they exist to produce a nonviolent society by being mentors and role models for our youth. Last year, as a fundraising and public relations effort for the charity, Timir walked all the way across the country.

The message I got from all that Timir told us is that he believes what our forefathers wrote about equality and liberty, and he believes what he’s read in his Bible about caring for one another. These gave him the courage, or maybe simply the belief that we are all able and called to make a difference, so he does it. All it took to prevent Dennis’s death, and his Mom’s sleepless nights, was a phone call, and Timir made it. God calls all of us to take those steps: to make that phone call. Timir thought he came to the U.S. to practice medicine and have a better life. But because he saw a need and took the brief minutes necessary to make the call, thousands of lives have been saved, and will continue to be saved.

God calls us all to be open to love and to care for all of those we encounter. May each and every one of us, this day and every day, give thanks that we have been put in this place where we have the freedom to be conduits for God’s love flowing into the world. May we remain aware that no matter how young or how old, rich or poor, educated or not, we are able and capable of making a difference in the world around us, and this is what God calls all of us to do. Amen.

Sinners! Sinners everywhere!

Here is my sermon for today: 6/13

Proper 6, Year C

2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15, Psalm, 32, Galatians 2:15-21, Luke 7:36;-39

Sinners…I see sinners…everywhere I look, within and without the church, in every Bible story I studied all week long, nothing but sinners! Now why do you think that’s so? Well, I got to thinking about all these stories of sinners, and it became obvious – everyone sins. Everyone but Jesus, that is. We can delude ourselves and start ticking off lists of all the wonderful things we do, and how we don’t cuss, and we remember to pray, and how much we love all the people we know, but I’m here to tell you, we all sin.

Some of us know how we personally sin, and many of us don’t. Sometimes it’s really hard to look at ourselves objectively and see where we are falling short. Some of us are aware that we get really angry with loved ones at times, and we don’t control it. Others of us have road rage. Sometimes we might mutter, “Stupid” under our breath when thinking of a coworker. Some of us don’t control our drinking, and it causes great strife within the family. And others of us get caught in looking at the negative side of things, and yet don’t realize that this too can be a sin. Sins abound around and within us.

So, it only makes sense that on occasion the Lectionary would focus on this pervading aspect of life, that every one of us experiences. Let’s look at these scriptures for today.

First we have the ancient tale of King David, and how, though he had hundreds of wives and concubines – an entire harem of beautiful women at his beck and call – he saw Bathsheba on her rooftop across the way from his palace, and he coveted her, the wife of his general, Uriah. We aren’t told how Bathsheba felt about the situation, but David, as a powerful king, could not be denied no matter what he wanted. Uriah was away, fighting battles for King David, and David is busy impregnating Uriah’s wife.

You probably know the story. How David sent for Uriah to come from the battlefield in hopes that he would be with his wife while at home in Jerusalem, and return to the battlefield, only to believe later that the child was his. But Uriah was an excellent soldier who would not leave his troops even while they were on R&R – he did not go home to see Bathsheba.

So David plotted to have Uriah sent into the most dangerous part of the battle, using his enemies to take care of his problem. Uriah was killed in battle and, after the proper period of mourning, Bathsheba was called to David and he made her another of his wives.

God sent Nathan to challenge David, to point out to him how he had flaunted the laws of God. And David didn’t even recognize himself in Nathan’s story. When David said that the rich man who had stolen the lamb from the poor man should be killed, Nathan replied, “You are the man!” David’s anger suddenly turned to great remorse. He realized his sin, and repented. He still had consequences to face because of what he had done, but his relationship with God was restored.

In our Gospel reading, we heard of someone so much like we tend to be. The Pharisee, Simon, was so sure that he recognized all the sinners around him, though his sin of judging others never entered his mind. He knew that the woman who followed Jesus into the house was not worthy to even enter his door, and yet there she was, crying over Jesus’ feet, drying them with her hair and anointing them with ointment. Simon was interested in who Jesus was and what he had to say, but he didn’t care enough for his guest to even make sure that what was considered common courtesy was extended to him: no one, not even the lowliest servant, came to offer him the opportunity to wash after coming in from the dusty roadways.

Yet when this unnamed female fell down at Jesus’ feet and cared for him, crying over her sins, Simon could only judge and wonder if Jesus really was a prophet, for surely no prophet would let a woman like that touch him! "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him-- that she is a sinner."

Jesus is quick to respond to Simon’s unspoken thought: "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

You see, Simon believed in the letter of the law, not the heart and meaning behind the law itself. He never considered or looked at why God laid down the rules: that they might be for healing and for love, rather than simply arbitrary laws to follow with no reason. Jesus was asking Simon to look deeper, beyond what he’d accepted as law…to look deeper to find the love God was trying to embody in his creation.

There are people outside of these walls who do not understand what we’re doing here. There are quite a few who say that churches are full of hypocrites. That we talk a good game about love and compassion, and then we go our merry ways, treating others just like every other cheat and swindler who plots to do evil. What those people haven’t understood (and it’s probably our fault because we haven’t told them) is that church is not a club for the angelic high choir whose members have it all figured out. Church is a hospital for sinners. It’s a place we come to hold up before our eyes the very best examples of how we wish we were. This place is for healing, and for forgiving, over and over again. We all sin, every day.

Oh, excuse me. There may be some here who don’t know the definition of “sin” and here I’ve been using the term all this time. The Encarta Dictionary defines sin as: “an act, a thought, or behavior that goes against the law or teachings of a particular religion, especially when the person who commits it is aware of this.” The second meaning is ”something that offends a moral or ethical principle.” Looking further, Jesus himself told us how we are supposed to live when someone asked him, “What is the greatest commandment?” He replied, “To love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Anytime we aren’t living fully out of that place of love, we are sinning. Oh my word! It’s nigh to impossible to live in that love all the time, isn’t it? Jesus didn’t think so. It’s the only thing we are about in this place: reminding ourselves that we are sinners, attempting to grow more loving. Being aware of when we fall short of that love is the most important thing. For when we are aware of our shortcomings, we begin to change, and become more like Christ. When I suddenly realize that I have not been living in a Christ-like place, that I’ve been crabby and short and mean, immediately, contrition and confession pop into my mind. I turn to those I’ve been rude toward and ask for their forgiveness, and ask for God’s forgiveness also. And I repent: I turn around my actions and face God – becoming more loving once again,

This is what we are called to do. We, like all, have gone astray, and our repentance is what God asks of us. To turn our faces into His love, and to carry that love with us, as much as we possibly can. And to continue our striving to become the pure love God desires us to become. When we ask forgiveness, our Lord does forgive. Then we too, can sing with the psalmist, as we read today: “Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!” I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord, shout for joy, all who are true of heart.” Sinners, rejoice in the forgiveness and love of the Lord! Amen.