"Prayer at the Barricades" - Pentecost 7C

Saint Luke 11:1-13

On Labor Day Sunday of 1966 60 people met  at the Bear Lake pavilion of Cherry Log Mountain in Georgia to hold a worship service.  The group continued to meet, monthly at first, then weekly, eventually forming Cherry Log Christian Church.  By  Easter, April 12, 1998, the congregation had grown to 80 members.  Leading them as the pastor was Dr. Fred B. Craddock who one year later would begin his teaching career as preaching professor at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. 

Dr. Craddock was not a tall man and admitted that he had few of the gifts other preachers had.  He lacked either a booming voice or an impressive stature and he served a church which we have come to learn was of average size.  It still is.

A collection of Dr. Craddock’s Sermons from Cherry Log Church contained the quote that you  often hear as you leave this place.  It is  the very un-Lutheran “Charge to the Congregation” to go forth and “live simply, love generously, speak truthfully, serve faithfully, pray daily and then leave everything else to God.“ 

I love those words.  If they were original to Dr. Craddock, he should have copyrighted them because I have seen them appear on plaques, coffee mugs, and numerous other tchotchkes in  shops of towns both large and small.

The words are comforting because they begin by listing things we can do. 

Live simply.  We can do that.  Sometimes we spurge on something like a vacation, or a car, or a big screen television.  But we know each other pretty well by now and we know that if there is one thing that describes us is that we are not flashy.  We are simple folk in the best sense of that word.

Love generously.  We can do that too.  I can’t enumerate for you all the ways you do it but I have seen you do it.  Loving generously may be your forte.

Speak truthfully.  That you can do too.  And like me, I bet there have been times in your lives that you have spoken a little too truthfully. 

Serve faithfully.  On our best days those are words all of us hope will describe us.  We hope we are faithful servants.

It the last clause in the sentence that we might trip over.  Sure, we pray daily but there are times when it is hard, very hard, to then leave everything up to God.

We may place some loved ones in God’s hands but we want to know what the tests or surgical results are so that God and the doctors can be about the business of healing.

We may pray about our finances but we still check our retirement accounts to see if we’re solvent.  We may pray for our church but that doesn’t stop us from getting a little anxious in times of transition.

We can pray about all manner of things but that still doesn’t stop us from trying to help give God a hand in fixing them.

On occasion Dr. Craddock would tell his students that it was all right to give their listeners the good news at the beginning of a sermon rather than waiting until the end.  And the good news for us is that even biblical characters and examples of people in Jesus’ parables sometimes had a very hard time “leaving everything else up to God.”

Clearly Abraham is not going to let God’s desire to destroy the twin sin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah go unchallenged.  He is not going to “leave this up to God.”  Instead he is going to storm the barricades on behalf of the city where his nephew Lot and his family lived.

The problem with the city is that it was ruled by mobs.  It was ungovernable to the point that any visitors or residents of the city could be the victims of murder, robbery and mayhem at any time.  It had become a mad house.

God doesn’t see any other way out other than its complete destruction.  Abraham objects in a most strenuous matter.  His prayer is not “thy will be done” but rather “let’s make a deal.”  

Unbelievably to us moderns he enters into a bidding contest with Yahweh on the city’s behalf.  It is like an auction.  

Abraham starts the bidding with 50 righteous. If he can find 50 good people would Yahweh consider sparing the city?

The problem is he can’t so he reduces the number.  “How about 45?  40?” Abraham bargains.  “35?  30?  25?  20?  Can I get a 15?”  What is this?  An auction.  Finally Abraham and the Lord settle on 10.

Violence has so overwhelmed the two cities that Abraham can’t even meet that quota.  He can’t find ten good people in two towns!  His prayers for the communities are going to go unanswered with only his nephew Lot and some of his family being sparred. 

Even after storming the barricades Abraham didn’t get everything he wanted but he did get what he really needed - the lives of his nephew and members his family.

Perhaps Jesus’ disciples were tired of this storm the barricades model of prayer when they asked Jesus for a better way.  What Jesus gives them and us is a prayer that invites us to trust God above all else for everything we need. 

We are to trust God for the big things like the forgiveness of our sins and the coming of the kingdom.  We are also to trust God for the everyday things like our daily bread.  It’s a prayer that invites us to leave everything up to God.

That is a great place to be but Jesus makes it even better.  He says that with God we can be like that neighbor who shows up in the middle of the night banging on the door and yelling, “‘lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’”1

Jesus says that unlike God while we may grouch a little bit and yell back at our neighbor, “‘Please don’t ask me to get up. The door is locked for the night and we are all in bed. I just can’t help you this time.’”2

But “‘I’ll tell you this, ‘” says Jesus ‘if you keep knocking long enough, (your neighbor) will get up and give you everything you want—just because of your persistence.’”3

Scholars agree the word is not persistence but “shamelessness.” “[S}hamelessness, even though a negative quality in society, is not necessarily so in the Gospel tradition. The ‘faith’ commended  . . .  is a boldness that refuses to be stopped by social proprieties.”4

Who gets up in the middle of the night and goes to a friend and says, “Hey!  I’ve got company.  Have you got anything to feed them?”  Such a request would be shameful but there is no need to worry about that with God.

Four times in these verses, the word "friend" (philos) is used. There is the friendship between the two neighbors and the friendship between the first man and his midnight visitors. The story then suggests that there is a similar friendship between God and us -- we can approach God as a friend -- even waking him up from a deep sleep -- that is, if God ever slept.5

God is not staying up all night waiting for us to present a problem that is too big for God to handle. 

That is what I love about Dr. Craddock’s charge.  We are to do our part - storm the barricades if we feel we have to - but then we can “leave everything else up to God” knowing that God may not give us what we want but will give us what we need.

Adam Fronczek, Senior Minister of Know Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati tells this story:

I  have a minister friend who performed one of the most brilliant acts of parenting I’ve ever seen. When his son was four and going through a period of being fairly demanding about things, my friend taught his son some Rolling Stones lyrics. Every time little Michael demanded something that just wasn’t going to happen, his dad, said, “Michael, what do the [Rolling] Stones say?” And Michael would huff and puff and then would look at his daddy and say, “You can’t always get what you want.” And then [his father] would say, “What else, Michael?” And Michael would answer, “But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”6

Remember “to live simply, love generously, speak truthfully, serve faithfully, pray daily and then leave everything else to God” and discover that, of all people, the Rolling Stones were right.  “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

How about that?  
__________

1. St. Luke 11:5-6.  (MSG) [MSG = The Message]

2. St. Luke 11:7.  (TLB) [TLB = The Living Bible]

3. St. Luke 11:8.  (TLB)

4. Robert C. Tannehill, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), p.189-190.

5. Brian P. Stoffregen, "Luke 11.1-13 Proper 12 - Year C," Luke 11.1-13, , accessed July 27, 2019, http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke11x1.htm.

6. Adam Fronczek, ""Jazz at Four" Sermon" (sermon, 4 O'clock Worship, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, January 20, 2013),  accessed July 27, 2019, http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/2013/012013_4pm.html.

"Mary and Martha's Secret to an Untroubled Life" - Pentecost 6C

St.  Luke 10:38-42

“Everybody’s got different blessings, this is mine,”1 said the unassuming, rugged looking, bearded man from Florida.  In his case his blessing would reap rewards that only Chicago could think up.  In addition to appearing on almost every news and radio program he was asked to toss out the first pitch of Tuesday night’s game and Wrigley and throw the switch that turned on Buckingham Fountain on Wednesday.

In case you have forgotten the man with two first names is Frank Robb and his blessing is that he is able to catch alligators.  His fame came from his ability to do, in one night, what others couldn’t do in six.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday morning Mr.  Robb reeled in “Chance the Snapper,” whom he found hiding out in a corner of the Humboldt Park Lagoon.

Mr. Robb’s predecessor called himself “Alligator Bob” who forever and always will have to remind people that, in his case, Bob is spelled with one “o” not two.  (You’ll think about that on your way home and you’ll laugh!)   The only thing he succeeded in doing was turning the park into a party destination.

People came from all over to look.  They brought food and had picnics.  Strolling mariachi bands entertained Chance at table-side.  Even mascots from some of the Chicago sports teams showed up with cheerleaders.  The alligator must have wondered what he had gotten himself into.
 
Thanks to Mr.  Robb’s blessing the 4-foot 18-pound Alligator will live out the remainder of his days in Florida at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park which will afford him and Mr. Robb a chance to visit.

It was a feel good stories that made me feel especially good when it became obvious that Mr. Robb was a person of faith.  You had to listen carefully because he didn’t hit you over the head with a “I just knew Jesus wanted me to catch that alligator!”  But rather simple things he said like, “I took a deep breath and said a prayer.” before taking the mound at Wrigley.  It was faith in action.  He used his blessing and gave glory to God.

How unlike the unmitigated social disaster we have before us in today’s gospel where a simple invitation turns into a battle between two sets of “blessings.”
Before we get too deep into the byplay between Martha and Mary let us first consider this story’s radical beginnings. 

Martha, a woman, invited Jesus, a man, to dinner and Jesus accepts.  This was not to be done!  Women did not extend invitations to men and men did not accept them.  It was not considered socially acceptable but Jesus and Martha do it anyway.

It looks like it is going to be a great evening as both sisters are primed for spending time with Jesus.  The problem is they are not on the same page on how that time will be spent.

Martha sees it as serving Jesus an unforgettable meal.  She is going to impress him with her hostess and culinary skills.  The table is going to be perfectly set with the very best she had. Every course is going to be excellent and the timing will be impeccable. 

I love dining like this. 

The minute the appetizer is finished the staff is there will the salad.  At almost the very instant the salad fork is placed on the plate the entree arrives cooked to perfection and presented beautifully.  Chicago Tribune food critic Phil Vettle would give the place four stars if the dessert was creative and as good as all the rest.

Martha is making this happen while Mary is not. 

Have you ever thought that maybe Mary is not because Mary could not?  Maybe Mary is one of those people who couldn’t boil an egg.  Maybe she couldn’t tell a cup from a carload.  Maybe if Mary was charged with preparing the meal, they all would have been eating Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches off of paper plates.

I must confess that at this point the story breaks down for me.  It seems that this dinner party really is perfectly organized.   Martha is making dinner while Mary is conversing with Jesus.

I asked some of the guys at the bible study I attended this week how it worked for them in their house.  Most exchanged roles with their partners - one popping in to converse while the other did what needed to be done in the kitchen and then changing off when needed.  It seemed that nobody was expected to spend all of their time in the kitchen and nobody was expected to spend all their time entertaining.

That is where things break down here.

Mary is chatting while Martha is clamoring in the kitchen.  She is cooking on all burners!

Had she been paying attention Mary might have heard the commotion.  She might have heard the pots banging and the dishes clattering.  She may have even heard her sister refer to the guest’s family as she shouted “Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” 

It seems to me that the problem comes when Mary fails to act.  Her blessing is listening to Jesus.  She is hanging on his every word and has his undivided attention. All she wants to do is listen to Jesus.  What could be better than that? 

Fred Craddock warns us not to make a cartoon out of this story.  And he is right.  In fact, I’ve come pretty close to doing that already, haven’t I? 

“If we’re not careful, we’ll get a picture of Martha who always sits at the dinner table sideways, ready to leap into action every time somebody needs something from the stove. And Mary will be so lazy she doesn’t even stoop over to tie her shoes.”2  Says Dr.  Craddock: “If we censure Martha too harshly, she may abandon serving altogether, and if we commend Mary too harshly, she may abandon serving altogether, and if we commend Mary too profusely, she may sit there forever.”3

If we narrow this exchange down too much and make it only a binary choice of either serving or listening to Jesus we are offering a false choice. 

The balanced life contains both.

Martha’s part is not the bad part she is just busy doing things to  show Jesus a warm welcome.  And Mary welcomes Jesus by listening to him.

My guess is that few of us are either Mary or Martha.  Most of us are a combination of the two having some Martha traits and Mary traits within us and Jesus blesses both because we need both.

We all know people who are so caught up in their work or their play that they don’t have time to relax and enjoy their families or their friends.  Spending time with them can make a person nervous because they are always checking their watches or looking around to see if something is happening elsewhere.  They are unable to settle down and center down.

Taking time for any kind of centering prayer is unheard of and the Quaker Idea of an “Inner Light” - the belief God speaks to everyone, but in order to hear his voice, one must learn to be still and actively listen for it - is rebelled against.

I had two such persons in my last congregation. 

One who simply could not keep still during worship but was always walking around in the back balcony choir loft or always engaged in speaking with a neighbor. 

Another would complain about what was termed  the excessively long periods of silence before the congregation prayed.  “Can’t we just get on with things?” was the complaint.

Then there were people who just wanted to come to church and listen to Jesus.  They didn’t want to serve on a committee.  They didn’t want to do any work they just saw church as a place for worship where they would faithfully come to hear the word of God. 

Many of those folks I knew had stressful jobs or lives and them just needed a quiet place to go and commune with their creator.

The secret of a balanced life is to realize that everybody has different blessings and then to find out what yours is.  It is to, with God’s help, find the good portion in your life and even if that “good portion” is catching alligators to label it a blessing.

We gather here in worship. We listen for God’s Word. We sing. We pray. We make our offerings. We show compassion to each other. We do our very best to inhale God’s grace as deeply as we can so we can exhale it once we leave this place.4 

Following Jesus can be a demanding task which is why we need to take time to just be with him.  Sometimes following Jesus, serving Jesus, takes a great deal of hard work.

And sometimes following Jesus means simply being with him and hanging on his every word.

I don’t think that Jesus accepted the invitation to Martha’s house just to talk with Mary.   I think that after he calmed Martha’s anxiety about making everything perfect and assured her that it was already perfect, he took her by the hand and invited her to sit down too.  I think that, after the dustup settled they all sat together and had a fine meal with good conversation because Jesus loved and blessed them both.

And so too by his desire to spend time with us at work or at prayer, in this place or in our kitchens, whenever we use our “different blessings” for the glory of God Jesus blesses us.  

Go!  Be a blessing to someone and by so doing you’ll find yourself being blessed by God.

Thanks for listening.

____________

1. Alehandro Serado and Javonte Anderson, "It's a Wrap for 'Snapper'," The Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2019, Morning ed., sec. 1., p.  11.

2. Randy L. Hyde, "Sermon, Luke 10:38-42, It's All in the Timing," Sermon Writer, July 08, 2019, , accessed July 20, 2019, https://www.sermonwriter.com/sermons/new-testament-luke-1038-42-its-all-in-the-timing-hyde/.

3. Fred Craddock, Interpretation: Luke, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990), pp. 151-152.

4. Shannon Kershner, "What Is the Church Doing" (sermon, Morning Worship, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, July 17, 2016), accessed July 20, 2019, http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/2016/071716.html.

 

"Hate Has No Home Here" Pentecost 5C

Saint Luke 10:25-37

Shortly after our sign was changed to read: “Hate has no home here...only love” I received an email from a very supportive member wondering what it meant.  

I got the idea from signs that I had seen but I thought the message derived its meaning from urban slang: “Don’t you be hating on me.”  It meant don’t hate somebody because you are jealous of them.  “Don’t you be hating on  me ... because of my flashy car, or nice clothes, or spiffy outfit.”

When I did a little research I discovered that the signs and slogan originated in a neighborhood in Chicago close to mine.

The neighborhood around North Park College is known for its diversity. 

One of the mainstays of the neighborhood is Peterson Elementary School whose student body also matches the assortment of races, nationalities and family make-ups in the area.

Now comes the really neat part!  The phrase used in this poster and on our sign was imagined by a third grader and kindergartner at Peterson Elementary!  A third grader and a kindergartner!  A North Park neighbor and designer, created the graphics; and other neighbors secured the translations, organized and launched the campaign.

Let me repeat that again because I can hardly believe it myself.  A third grader and a kindergartner were responsible for the slogan “Hate Has No Home Here.”

The signs not only can be seen in the Peterson Park, North Park, Portage Park neighborhoods of Chicago but all over the city and even United States.  You don’t even have to buy them but can download them at the group’s website: www.hatehasnohomehere.org.

You might be more inclined to do so after listening once again to this beloved parable of Jesus that, when he told it, must have gone over like a dirty joke at a party of prudes.

You know the story as well as I do.  There is no surprise in this masterpiece for us because we know it by heart. 

I could see you settling back in your seats as I began to read.  It was like we were curling up and I was about to read you “The Night Before Christmas.”  For us this as comfortable as an old bedtime story but for Jesus’ original listeners this must have been like having a bomb dropped on them.
 \
You see “by time Jesus and the lawyer were doing their little intellectual sparring, Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for over a thousand years.  

When King Solomon died the monarchy broke into two factions: the ten tribes of the North rebelled and founded a capital in the city of Samaria.  The two southern tribes made their capital in Jerusalem.  There was long-held ethnic hostility and political and religious rivalry between Jews and Samaritans.  So when Jesus said ‘Samaritan’”1 all of Jesus’ listeners had to be surprised and some of them were probably mortified.

They may have understood why those who were considered the highest and mightiest of society past by the wounded man.  They were important people with important things to do.  Their agendas were jammed packed.  As we would say in our day, they had a full plate.

The priest and the Levite are not symbols of what is wrong with the law or Judaism, as so many have claimed, but simply a failure to do what needs to be done.  They are highly religious people who fail to act in compassion, or even obligation, toward one who is in desperate need.2

Now if you are like everybody else who has every heard or read this parable you are probably feeling a tinge of guilt.  Or, maybe a lot of guilt.  I know it runs around like a crazy puppy in my mind every time I pass a beggar on the street but, as Amy Butler, the former Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York City reminded us:

In answer to the lawyer’s question Jesus didn’t take out a paper and pencil and make a list: the homeless guy on the street corner, the person with the flat tire, the checker at WalMart, the college student with nowhere to stay for Thanksgiving, so the lawyer could check them off one by one and meet the legal requirements for heaven.3

 Jesus isn’t talking about the legal requirements, or even the moral requirements, but only the requirement that we see our neighbor. 

Not asking if these people are worthy to receive mercy. Not stopping to enquire about church membership or belief structure. Not querying their theological background or being sure that they subscribe to our particular way of being in the world, but offering a hand of assistance and help in times of desperation and trouble.4

` Jesus only asks the questioning lawyer to see and do.  

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”  And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”5

 What might that going and doing look like?  It may not be quite as extensive as offering a wounded man emergency care and more than a few nights of lodging.  It may be seeing a symbol of divisions and deciding to do something about it.

Only last April did Henry Buxton, a white 85-year-old maintenance volunteer, dismantle the chain-link fence that divided the Linney Cemetery from the Acie Cemetery in Dayton, Texas.  Residents said they were so used to the fence that they didn’t think anything of it.

Buxton and his new boss, Mike George, did.  It was understood and accepted in the community that the Linney Cemetery was for white folks and the Acie Cemetery was for blacks.  That fence was the border line - blacks to one side and whites to the other.

The residents accepted that fact but Henry Buxton and Mike George didn’t.  “It should have been done years ago,” George said. 6 But it wasn’t until the two men saw the fence, realized what it meant, and decided to do something about it.

What must I do?” was the lawyer’s question.  And Jesus’ answer is simply “be a neighbor”.

If we see that people around you are becoming afraid of the violence that seems to be breaking out everywhere - in churches, synagogues, mosques, even Sikh temples where people are killed because of their faith.  In workplaces where people get angry and lash out.  And even in nightclubs and the Las Vegas strip.
We may want to take a lesson from a third grader and kindergartner who know their limitations and know they can’t change the world but they can create a sign that creates a movement which proclaims: “Hate Has No Home Here.”

We may take a lesson from the two guys who saw a chainlink fence that stood for longer than anybody could remember as a subtle reminder of a communities division and decided to take it down.  It was not much really.  It certainly won’t heal all of societies differences but it was a start and a strong statement that “hate has no home here.”

While that fence stood for who knows how long the divisions between Jesus’ people and the Samaritans stood for a thousand years.  One story was not going to change that.  History tells us that, much as we love the story, it hasn’t. 

Maybe the main point of the story is to act.  Do something like those kids at Peterson Park Elementary.  Be like those guys in Dayton, Texas and remove a needless boundary.

Maybe at the end of the day the main thing is to act.  In fact, that is all Jesus tells the lawyer and us to do.  Nowhere in this story does Jesus say, “Love your neighbor.” Jesus tells us to look at all those examples of people doing right by their neighbors and then “Go and do likewise.”

And maybe, one by one, little by little, if we keep doing that hate will not only have no home here but anywhere.

Don’t you think?

____________

1. Amy Butler. “Power Play.” A Sermon for Every Sunday, 9 July 2019, www.asermonforeverysunday.com. Accessed 12 July 2019. 

2,    Stanley P. Sanders, "Luke 10:25-37. Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, vol. 3, Year C (Westminister John Knox Press, 2019).  p.  156-158.


3.  Butler, loc.  cit.

4. Jerrod McCormick, ""Bearing Witness Even in Dust," ModernMetanoia, June 24, 2019, , accessed July 13, 2019, http://modernmetanoia.org/2019/06/24/proper-9c-bearing-witness-even-in-the-dust/

5.  St.  Luke 10:36-37.  (NKJV) [NKJV= The New King James Version]

6.  Johann Calhoun, "Texas Cemetery Fence That Marked Racial Divide Comes down," The Philadelphia Tribune, July 9, 2019, July 9, 2019, accessed July 13, 2019, https://www.phillytrib.com/news/across_america/texas-cemetery-fence-that-marked-racial-divide-comes-down/article_d3da9fe5-adf2-5054-9b2e-6cde35753864.html?fbclid=IwAR1izcRB1k9SdeZDLOa6Sd34tqMNJ3hMZBsbjuiHPi96JyfMz2dr-68uPEs.

"Follow the Directions" - Pentecost 4C

2 Kings 5:1-14

Last February the first pastor I ever worked with, Ted Romberg, passed away.  He was married to his very patient wife Sharon for 55 years and had two wonderful daughters Kristen and Susan, two sons-in-law’s Greg and Rob, and was the grandfather of six.

Ted’s death came as a surprise but everything Ted did was surprising.

We spent almost three years together making each other laugh.  His life motto was “Love big, whoop it up and eat more cookies.”  All of this Ted did and then some.  His biggest gift was his ability to laugh at himself.

One slushy afternoon he called me because a parishioner had called him to say that she had gotten not one but both of the family cars stuck in the grass in her backyard.  I have no idea how the first one got stuck but the second one was there because she had tried to pull the first one out with it. 

Ted called me to help because I had a four-wheel drive vehicle and he had a chain.  The cars came out easily and on our way back home I asked him about our little adventure wondering sarcastically who his people called when they needed pastoral care?  The Auto Club?  He laughed and said it was all part of his being a “full-service pastor.”  That he was and he was also a full-time crazy man.  Or, as my family called them, “crazy-makers” because the actions drove everyone Nuts.

His grandson “loved it when Ted would hit all the floor buttons in every elevator they rode in together - and smile in delight when Sharon, his wife, protested.”  I have done this numerous times and have caused Lowell to respond: “What are you?  Six.”  Now he knows where I learned this.

Ted once hit the SOS button on his OnStar© device instead of the garage door opener.  When the police arrived he just laughed and told the story on himself often.

One of the things that Pastor Romberg was best known for was ignoring directions.  To him they were merely suggestions.  Ted would feign surprise if it didn’t work and call his son-in-law  Greg, to fix it later. If an electronic device is not doing what you want it to just start pushing buttons and see what happens. 

Clearly I am Ted’s protege in many ways.  And fellas, by the look on some of your wives’ faces you too have to same kind of relationship with directions that Ted and I have. 

My dear sisters in Christ, have mercy.  This may come as no surprise to you but we don’t like being told what to do even if we don’t know what we are doing.  Knickknack stores haven’t sold as many of those plaques that say “When all else fails follow the directions” for no reason, you know.

And the good news is that this male behavior dates back to biblical time.  We heard it this morning.  It is the story of Naaman, a commander in the Syrian army, and a man who had a hard time following directions.

It may have been his position that made him so direction adverse.  Here was a man who was used to giving orders not following them.  Now his disease was putting that position in jeopardy.

Any skin disease in biblical times fell under the general category of Leprosy.  It could have been what we now know as Hanson’s disease which  according to WebMD, is a bacterial infection.  The commander also could have been suffering from Psoriasis or even Eczema. 

It didn’t matter what kind of skin disease you had in Naaman’s day the result was the same.  Eventually you would find yourself being cut off from your friends, your community, and even your family.  Naaman would certainly lose his job if he didn’t follow directions.

Those directions come from the most unlikely person.  A Jewish slave girl - literally a prisoner of war - one of the most powerless people imaginable. \

Fortunately for Naaman she was not forced to sleep on the hard floor of some camp covered only with a blanket but was working in his house as one of his wife’s many maids.

She remembers a prophet in her homeland who has the power to heal and so she suggests that Naaman go and see him.  In a way Naaman listens but in another way he doesn’t.  He doesn’t go see the prophet but rather the prophet’s king with what amounts to a bribe.

Naaman and his King thought they were participating in a pay-for-play scheme.  The bundle of goodies they brought would have made any Chicago alderman’s eyes fall out of his or her head.  “Ten talents of silver would weigh about 750 pounds and 6,000 shekels of gold would weigh another 150 pounds.1

Naaman and his king are following the directions of their world and ours where money is thought to buy access to power and wisdom.  They thought that even healing can be bought if “the price is right.”  And where, if you want something done, you go to the top and bring a pile of cash with you.
 
In America we would say they were lobbying the king to get what they wanted done.  Who knows what they would have called it but the intent was the same.

The trouble is that from their high and mighty state they don’t really listen to what the servant girl is saying.  She said “prophet” and they heard “king.”  When they thought power they thought government and sometimes so do we.  We don’t think prophets have much power and maybe they don’t.

When George F.  Will  was called by Ted Koppel “one of the most powerful men in Washington” he replied.

I have written approaching 6,000 columns since 1973, and if power is properly defined as the ability to achieve intended effects, I've got no power that I can see. The country resolutely refuses to do what I tell it to do!"2

 When the powerful discover that they have no power over something they get frustrated.  The king acts like a child.  He tears his clothes.  He pitches a fit.  He accuses Naaman and his king of trying to pick a fight with him.  It is a scene unworthy of a leader.

When the lowly prophet hears that his king is acting like a fool he sends word.  “Send the long-suffering man to me.”

For a moment it looks like Naaman just might follow directions until he gives into his preconceived notions about how life should work and refuses to follow the directions of the prophet who didn’t ever bother to leave his house before describing the prescription for what ails him.

Elisha has God’s power and so is unimpressed with Naaman’s.

The cure prescribed in simple - go and bathe in the Jordan.  It’s too simple for a commander of an Army.  He is not going to follow these directions because there are far nicer, far cleaner, rivers back home.  He didn’t come all this way to take a bath in some local tributary he came all this way to be healed. 

It’s like what doctor’s tell patients who are battling a cold.  “I could give you something and it will go away in a week.  Or, I could prescribe  something and it will go away in seven days.”  A friend of mine who is an M.D. says he is always surprised how many times people have taken the prescription rather than heard his advice.

The key to the story is what happens again.  This time it is Naaman’s servants who intercede with him.  “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!”3

You can almost see Naaman’s soldiers begging with him and cajoling him.  “Come on big boy, just three little dips.  We’ve come all this way.  Why not just try it?  What can it hurt?

When Naaman finally follows directions, he gets the healing he desired.  

 I like to think he was surprised when he stepped out of the water smoother than a slightly used bar of Ivory soap and more than 99 and 44/100ths percent pure.

The moral of today’s little excursion is not that one should always follow the directions.  My friend Ted and other males that I know  (Myself included!)  have made it blissfully through life thinking that they are merely instructions and that if you have a part or two left over at the end of the construction process it is perfectly acceptable to declare those parts “unnecessary.”

The point is that the best directions do not come in the way we would expect from the people we would expect.

In an unnamed servant who belonged to Namaan’s wife who has enough love in her heart to be concerned about the master of household in which she is held captive.  

It is not the king but an uncooperative prophet who is able to set the mighty warrior on the path to healing.  And it is the commander’s servants who get him to put away his pride and take the final steps.

It is those we think of as being powerless who can help us find the power of God. 

It looks like following directions just might be a good idea after all.  I am so convinced that I just might try it some day.

____________

1. Matthew Richard Schlimm, "2 Kings 5:1-14, Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, vol. 3 (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2019).  p.  125.

2.  Ted Koppel, writer, "George Will, a Conservative Rock, Unmoved by Chaos," on Sunday Morning, June 2, 2019.

3.    2 Kings 5:13.  (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible]

"Called to Freedom" - Pentecost 3C

Galatians 5: 1 & 13-25
Saint Luke 9:51-62

Flags in the sanctuary and crosses in the public square.  How did such signs of our unity become such symbols of our divisions?
 

More than a few churches have been divided to the point of collapse by where or even if the American flag should stand in the sanctuary. 
 

Just this June the Supreme Court of the United States had to decided whether a “Peace Cross” erected with funds raised by “a group of mothers in 1921 ... to construct the large memorial for 49 of their fallen sons, hoping it could evoke the crosses that stood over the local boys buried far away in Europe”1 could stand on public land.  Turns out it could.
 

There seem to be some (because there always are some) who take umbrage in seeing a flag in church or a cross in public space for the very same reason:  It is a mixing of church and state.  To some, a flag in church implies a loyalty to the state equal to that of the cross.  To others, a cross on public land places one religion above all others.
 

Maybe I am one of the dying breed of moderates in religion and politics that sees flags, and crosses, and menorahs, and an Islamic star and crescent not as something that threatens but as an opportunity to understand one another’s cultures and traditions.
 

In these matters I may be what one of my heroes, George F.  Will calls himself, “an amiable, low-voltage, athiest.”  A flag in the sanctuary does not raise my hackles but neither does symbols of faith in public places.  However, I do have to acknowledge with Dr.  Will that “there are some people who only feel half alive if they are not incensed about something.”

To me, it is not flags or crosses that matter so much but rather as Adam Sutton wrote in Friday’s Chicago Tribune.

The idea that our political and cultural leaders in this country are touting leadership styles that amount to thrashing around on the floor with plugged ears screaming, “Not listening!” is a disgrace.  This “Us vs. Them” attitude held by our country’s leadership is an existential threat.2

And we can play into this whenever the only things that bring us together are chants like “Lock her up!” or “Collusion with the Russians.”

Jonathan Haidt in his book, The Righteous Mind, called this “tribalism” and it is not so much about disagreement but rather that my tribe can’t even talk to your tribe anymore.  Once known for our “shining city on a hill”  optimism it seems that every thing from political parties, to block parties, to family get-togethers have become fertile battlegrounds of irreconcilable differences.
 

In a very fine article in The Christian Science Monitor called “Outrage nation: Can America overcome its addiction to anger?” the authors made a clear distinction in what they called “righteous anger” which can be [the] appropriate response of an individual encountering injustice and what they called “narcissistic rage.”

Righteous anger has its basis is reality.  It comes when a person has to stand or sit in the back of the bus when there are seats up front.  It comes when one finds themselves being not being hired because of their gender, race, or orientation.    It is the idea behind “Evil only triumphs when righteous people do nothing.”

Even this kind of anger is difficult to handle.  The ancient thinker Aristotle, said: “Anybody can become angry, that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way ... that is not easy.”

The other kind of anger, the kind we see much more often is the the explosion of “narcissistic rage”. That is anger that has been transformed into some kind of personal attack.3 

It is the anger of our politics that comes from both side of the political aisle. 
 

It is the feigned outrage that those of us who do not live our lives enmeshed in the world of Washington or engrossed by the talking heads of the cable news networks both left and right can see from space.
 

We can see it when someone says: “I know your not a racist but...” “How could you say that about me?”  “If you’re going to take that position I’m afraid we can’t be friends” Or, worse yet, when we see people thinking about ways to destroy another person or group over any thing they see as attacking or rejecting them.
 

All this, believe it or not, is exactly what is happening in today’s Gospel. 

This is Jesus and his disciples first visit to Samaria.  Jesus will be back to talk to a Samaritan woman near a well at midday and heal ten lepers with the thankful one turning out to be a Samaritan.  Jesus will paint Samaritans in an especially good light in the parable of the good Samaritan but this time he and his disciples are off to a terrible start.

Historically there was a deep hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans.  To put it simply it was about intermarriage and worship styles.  The Samaritans were a mixed raced people who married outside of their traditions and did not worship in Jerusalem.  The Jews tried to keep their blood lines pure and were more orthodox in their religious practices.  So it should come as no surprise to anyone that this village rejects Jesus and his disciple’s message.
 

What is surprising is James and John’s response.   “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”4   It’s an all-caps warning that in rejecting Jesus this village will “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”5

Jesus has only one response to the disciple’s narcissistic rage and it is an all-caps “NO”.  He rebukes them in the strongest of ways possible.
 

We don’t have the exact words but they might have been something like “What are you?  Nuts!  We don’t reduce people to briquets just because they don’t believe they way we do!  We don’t go around setting fire to the homes of others just because they don’t agree with us.  I don’t know where you got that idea,” I can imagine Jesus asking, “but you didn’t get it from me!”
 

Jesus followers are not to lash out and destroy because such measures are counterproductive to the gospel which we proclaim.  This kind of rage always has us looking back and remembering every slight, every unkind word, every past deed.  Jesus says we need to say good-bye to the these none productive attitudes.  We need to not only say good-bye to them but bury them along with anything else that keeps us from really following him.
 

What Jesus is inviting us to is a call to freedom, real freedom.  No looking back, no excuses, no hitting back and those whom we have perceived to have wronged us.  To put it directly the Christian life is not one long political debate where we try to score points but an offer to be free. 
 

Alexis de Tocqueville warned in his 19th Century classic on life in America, “Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”

How is freedom rightly used?

Let me close with a story of how and where such freedom can be seen. It is also a story about why you should listen to sermons.
 

Over thirty years ago I asked my friend Steve Samuelson, then the chaplain at Carthage College to preach for me when I was in Racine and he told this story about his father-in-law, Karl.
 

He commanded a landing craft on Omaha beach and his best friend was another young man named Leonard Lewis from Detroit.  They were  linked by being married on same date, and having daughters born on same date!
 

At the landing on D-day Leonard was killed and Karl blamed himself.  For decades, Karl called Leonard’s wife every June 6, crying on the phone at the dining room table.
 

When my friend Steve and his family took Karl on a pilgrimage to find Leonard’s grave at the Normandy National Cemetery and Memorial they found amid all the crosses  that Leonard’s grave was marked with the Star of David.  Leonard was Jewish! When Karl was asked why he never mentioned it he said, “I never thought it was important.”
 

Maybe the things that we think are important really aren’t?  Maybe being angry and expressing a desire to get even is not the best way to live.  Maybe acting like spoiled children and not listening to each other is not the way to exist on a national, local, or even personal level.
 

Maybe like Kurt and Leonard we can learn from Jesus to ignore our differences and work for the common good always remembering those other wise words from Alexis de Tocqueville:  “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
 

Greatness only comes out of goodness. May God continue to make all of us good for it is only then that we will really be great.

___________

1.  Harry Bruinius, "It's 40 Feet Tall and Concrete. Is 'Peace Cross' a Civic or Christian Symbol?" The Christian Science Monitor, February 27, 2019, , accessed June 29, 2019, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/0227/It-s-40-feet-tall-and-concrete.-Is-Peace-Cross-a-civic-or-Christian-symbol.

2.  Adam Sutton, "Our ‘Us vs. Them’ Attitude Is a Counterproductive Disgrace," The Chicago Tribune, June 28, 2019, Morning ed., sec. J., p.  14.

3.  Harry Bruinius, "Outrage Nation: Can America Overcome Its Addiction to Anger?" The Christian Science Monitor, December 07, 2018, , accessed June 30, 2019, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2018/1207/Outrage-nation-Can-America-overcome-its-addiction-to-anger.

4.   St.  Luke 9:54.   (NIV) [NIV=The New International Version]

5.  Joshua Berlinger, "Trump Tweets Explosive Threat to Iran," CNN, July 23, 2018, , accessed June 29, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/23/politics/trump-iran-intl/index.html.

"Repossessed" - Pentecost 2C

Saint Luke 8:26-39

One does not have to live very long before one hears about or knows a person who is suffering from the dreaded disease of Altzheimers.  It is a cross-cultural disease that involves not only family but friends as they enter into what Patti Davis called in her book about her father President Ronald Reagan’s struggle with the disease The Long Goodbye.  

 Slowly, little by little, we lose people we love.  They are there physically but we know that they are not with us completely.  

 We’ve all met patients who suffer from this malady who are sweeter than sweet much like the way they lived most of their lives.  On the other hand we also have met people who weren’t easy to get along in the best of times who become unbelievably difficult after being afflicted.

 The sister of the woman who lived upstairs of us was the perfect example.  Challenging at best when she was well when she became afflicted she was a real handful.  Once, after she was placed in extended care, she became so agitated that she threw a potted plant, sent to her by a friend whom she was angry with, out of her third floor window.  Thankfully when it crashed down on the busy boulevard below it struck neither a passing car or pedestrian.

 From the other side of the world comes another story.

 Michael Joyce lives in Franktown, New Zealand with his wife Linda who is lovingly caring for him as he battles this dreaded disease.  So great was the love she shown to him in his care that, even though they were married for 38 years, he asked her if she would marry him.  She said yes.

“Michael had clearly forgotten we were already married but I absolutely went along with him and said I would be delighted to be his wife. In spite of his confused mind, he obviously knows and feels this is something he really wants to do … to Michael it will be our Wedding Ceremony and to our friends and myself, a truly precious memorable occasion.”1

  For the people of that impossible to pronounce gentile village Jesus arrival was memorable but not the least bit precious.

They had become accustomed to the naked guy running around in the cemetery.  While it may not have been a safe place for him it made their community a safer place for them.  If they chained him up in there at least they wouldn’t have to deal with him on a day to day basis.  They could handle his occasional outbursts and occasionally he would break out but sooner or later they would have him chained up in the cemetery once again.

 Until this one day he storms out and approached this foreigner who is fresh off the boat.  We know the man is Jesus but the possessed man gives him a more exalted title in the form of a question.  The man is playing Jeopardy at a very high stakes level when he asks:  “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? Please, I beg you, oh, don’t torment me!”2

 It is not Jesus’ intention to torment the man who is exhibiting more symptoms in one human being than a psychiatrist would see in her or his entire year.  The diagnosis might read: Alzheimers, Self-destructive and anti-social behaviors.  Homelessness.  Inappropriate dress.  Paranoia.  Uncontrollable outbursts of anger.

 The man calls himself “Legion” which is a good name because a legion of soldiers would be about 5,000 in number and it must seem that he has at least that many things wrong with him. 

 In our day he wouldn’t be imprisoned in the cemetery but sent to the drug store with a fistful of prescriptions that might put him into a drug induced stupor.  The result would be the same - separation from the community.
 Jesus may not torment the man but he is about the upset an entire  community by restoring the man to health.  He does so by sending the demons within him into a herd of pigs who plunge themselves into the lake and drown.
 
Note that it is not the healing ... to which the community’s attention ]is drawn but the destruction.  Upon finding the one whom they had devoted themselves to excluding they don’t throw a welcome home party for the man nor a thank you party for Jesus but they become fearful to the point that Jesus and Legion feel they have to leave town.
 Jesus is leaving the same way he came, by boat, and the man wants to go with him. 
 Maybe it is loyalty to Jesus?  Maybe he doesn’t know what to do with his new found freedom and hopes Jesus will show him?  Maybe he doesn’t think he will be accepted as a new man by his neighbors, friends or even his family? 
 Jesus tells him he can’t come with but must stay as a sign and symbol of what God has done for him.  And so he does but not exactly.  He makes his witness to the power of God into a confession that this same power lies in Jesus.
 Luke is very subtle here.  His writing about the newly healed man is so sophisticated that on first, second, or even third reading we might miss it but he says: “So the man went away and told the marvelous story of what Jesus had done for him, all over the town.”3
 The change is that Jesus’ charge is to tell people about the power God and the man witnesses to the power of Jesus, which to him are one in the same.
 That is our witness too. In Jesus God is breaking into our lives.
 The promise is that Jesus will meet us in our darkest tombs, but He also comes with the promise that our lives will not stay the same. That is good news for the naked, tormented guy, but perhaps we should consider what this means for us.

I think it means that God’s love is not limited by our limitations.  It is like the love Michael Joyce had for his beloved Linda.

On their wedding morning, Linda Joyce said she wasn’t sure he would remember, but he woke up and told his betrothed, “Today’s the day!” 

The beaming couple, originally from Scotland, exchanged vows [on a] Saturday at a scenic lake near their home as friends looked on and ducks waddled by in the background. When the ceremony was over, bagpipes began to play ... and the newlyweds danced.

“There’s been a lot of sadness and a lot of frustration,” Linda Joyce said. “And despite all the fogginess, today has been pure joy.”4

  We can have this pure joy when we remember that  God’s love is not dependent on us.  God, in Jesus, sees in all of us, as a beautiful person even when we are behaving in not so beautiful ways.
 It means that the love of God does not come and go but is there amidst all of the fogginess of life.
 And finally, while Jesus may not be able to cure our ills as fully and completely as he did for the man who called himself Legion he is surrounding us with a community in which we are  free to show what God has done for us - even amid all our trials - in the love of Jesus Christ who makes us one.
 That may be the best and most lasting gift of all. 
 Don’t you think?

__________

1.  Allison Klein, "Husband with Alzheimer's Forgot He Was Married to His Wife of 38 Years. He Proposed, and They Married Again.," The Washington Post, January 25, 2018, , accessed June 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/01/25/husband-with-alzheimers-forgot-he-was-married-to-his-wife-of-38-years-he-proposed-and-they-married-again/utm_term=.2b1543580eae.

2.  St.  Luke 8:28b.  (TLB) [TLB = The Living Bible]

3.  St.  Luke 8:39b.  (PHILLIPS) [J.B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English (New York: Macmillan, 1958).

4.  Klein, loc.cit.

"To Be A Hero" - Pentecost C

Genesis 11:1-9
Acts 2:1-21

Charles Dickens began the book David Copperfield with these words:  “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”1

Those brave men who, “In the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944 ... crawled down swaying cargo nets and thudded into steel landing craft bound for the Normandy coast” were heros. Their senses were soon choked with the smells of wet canvas gear, seawater and acrid clouds of powder from the huge naval guns firing just over their heads”2 but they pressed on.

They all probably left American soil with tears in their eyes asking one question running through their minds: “Where am I going, and when am I coming back.”3
 

When asked to describe D-day by Shepard Smith Cpl. John McHugh described it this way:  “Well D-Day was– you really can’t describe D-Day. You’re so, you’re petrified. You’re absolutely petrified,” said McHugh. 

“It’s hell. It’s just hell on Earth. I can’t describe it any better. I don’t think anyone can really describe it.   It’s - needless to say, I had a bad day.”

Shep then asked him about his “big picture considerations back then, such as that they were fighting for freedom.”

“I was in the Army, and they told me to go that way, and I went that way,” came the veteran’s veteran reply. He added later “You know, you get drafted. You had to do it, and I did it. Did it pretty good, too."4

That is the way it is with heros, real heros.  They don’t get up at nine o’clock in the morning and say to themselves: “Today I am going to do something heroic.”
 

Heroism is something that gets thrust upon you and whether you become one or not only the pages of you own life can show.

The people of Babel were going to write their own story in which they were the heros.  They were going to make themselves superstars in the world of pre-history construction.

They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

It’s all about them!  We’ll do this and we’ll do that and our work will reach up to heaven. 
 

But God knows that, as Harry Carey used to say, “There is danger here, Sharie.” So God says to God’s self:  “‘One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.’” Then God scattered them from there all over the world.”5

When left to our own devises humans can cause such things as a D-Day to become necessary.  Left on our own there is no telling what we will do but when God is at work in our lives there is no telling what we can do.

It is nine o’clock in the morning when we find the disciples huddled in their room not knowing what they should do.  They were doing what Jesus told them.  They were waiting for some kind of gift.  They didn’t know what it would be or how it would be delivered but then it came.
 

The wind came.  What was first heard was then seen.  Tongues of fire appearing among them and resting on the head of every believer as if they were human candles.
 

Sufficiently frightened while, at the same time, inspired by the Holy Spirit they began to speak in other languages.  This was not gibberish, this was not babble, they were speaking in other languages each of which could be understood by all the curious onlookers who gathered around.
 

It was nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit was at work.
 

It was nine o’clock in the morning and some of the awestruck bystanders concluded that the followers of Jesus were tipsy.  That’s the only kind of conclusion we can make if we focus on the mayhem coming from the disciple’s at that early morning hour.
 

Pentecost is more than wind, fire, and a crash course in foreign languages.  It is the announcement that God’s involvement with human life did not end with Jesus’ Ascension.  It is the startling realization that God is going to be involved in your life and mine no matter who we are or, frankly, even what we believe.  God is going to bring out the best in us just as God was doing in Peter.

Here, before the half-inquiring, half-mocking crowd, Peter is the first, the very first, to lift up his voice and proclaim openly the word that only a few weeks before he could not speak to a serving woman at midnight.  The Spirit had breathed new life into a cowardly disciple and created a new man with a gift of bold speech.6

 Peter was becoming a hero at that nine o’clock hour.  Gail O’Day was right on the mark when she wrote:

There are days, oh so many days, when we are “sore afraid.” Afraid of the decisions we have to make, the risks we have to take.  Afraid of what happens when we do listen to Jesus’ promises, afraid of what happens when we do not.  Afraid that the world ... is the victor and we will live forever without hope and joy.  Afraid we will be crushed before we find the strength to be faithful to God’s promises for our lives and our world.7

 It is then the Spirit comes to write new chapters in the pages of our books.  The Spirit comes to make us heroes in our own way. 
 

We’re not all going to be a Churchill or an Eisenhower, or even heroes who floated around in the waters of the Pacific for a couple of hours (which must have seemed like an eternity) after our ship had been sunk, but that doesn’t mean that the Spirit isn’t at work in us and in our lives.
 

Pentecost was a unique event within the life of the church.  Pentecost was a dramatic sign to show that the Spirit’s work is bringing all people to a unity of understanding in Jesus Christ.

Whenever people come together and community happens in families, churches and neighborhoods, it’s nine o’clock in the morning and the Spirit is at work making heros.
 

Whenever fresh winds blow and you feel like you did the first time you saw Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.  It’s still the same sky that you’ve seen but everything is different, better, more passionate.  The blues, the yellows, the swirling stars, everything has feeling, movement and even the colors seem alive.
 

It’s like lying on one of Monet’s water lilies.  It’s the warmth of a Georgia O’Keefe flower wrapped around you.  It’s the power and strength of a Degas dancer.

 When you feel that, it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work, making heros.

Where human life is most human - when athletes and physicians, dancers and attorneys, teachers and politicians and homemakers reach deep inside to give more, and create more, and be more human... 8

 ...it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work, making heroes.

When churches rise up and become great realizing that the Gospel is not just for us or aimed at “Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesoptamia” (Whoever they were?) but for all people - Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, married, never-married, divorced, gay, straight - it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work making heroes.

And when our own life is depleted and we are literally and figuratively out of breath and .and quietly we feel restoration happen and vitality return...9

...it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work, making heroes.
 

When individuals come together and exercise their rights to celebrate their differences and see in those differences see unity the Spirit, God’s Spirit, is at work making heroes.
 

Hey!  It’s almost 10:15!  God’s Spirit must be at work.  Let’s go find out where and how. 

______________

1.   Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (Harlow: Penguin, 2008), p.  1.

2.  David Chrisinger, "The Man Who Told America the Truth About D-Day," The New York Times, June 05, 2019, published June 5, 2019 , accessed June 08, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/magazine/d-day-normandy-75th-ernie-pyle.html.

3.  Tom Strong, "Memories of World War II Still Strong for Aurora Veteran," The Beacon-News (Aurora, Illinois), May 26, 2006, sec. 1.

4.  Caleb-Howe, "Shepard Smith Talks to D-Day Hero in Gripping, Emotional Interview: 'We Were Absolutely Petrified'," Mediaite, June 06, 2019, , accessed June 08, 2019, https://www.mediaite.com/tv/shepard-smith-talks-to-d-day-hero-in-gripping-emotional-interview-we-were-absolutely-petrified/.

5.  Genesis 11:4 & 6-9 (MSG) [MSG=The Message]

6.  William H. Willimon, Acts: Interpretation Bible Commentary, vol. 21, 33 vols. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).  p.  33.

7.   Gail R. O'Day, "From Fear to Joy," Pulpit Digest 73, no. 515 (May/June 1992).  p.  11.

8.  John M. Buchanan, "Like a Breath of Fresh Air" (Sunday Morning Sermon, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, June 4, 1995).

9.  ibid.