...And All the Water Was At Ease

Brad Sullivan

Proper 21, Year B

September 30, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29

Psalm 19:7-14

James 5:13-20

Mark 9:38-50

…And All the Water Was At Ease

Between the woods the afternoon

Is fallen in a golden swoon.

The sun looks down from quiet skies

To where a quiet water lies;

And silent trees stoop down to trees.

And there I saw a white swan make

Another white swan in the lake;

And, breast to breast, both motionless,

They waited for the wind's caress,

And all the water was at ease.

-          The Mirror, A.A. Milne

That poem is The Mirror by A.A. Milne, one of my favorites.  My mom used to read the Complete Poems of Winnie the Pooh to my brother and me as kids growing up, and I have been reading those poems to our kids as they grow up.  I love the peace and beauty of this poem where there are these two swans seemingly similar and yet as different as they can be, different as night and day.

One swan is flesh and blood, bones and feathers, the other one photons reflected off the surface of a lake, and yet they touch, uncrowded, sharing that space in peace, waiting for the wind’s caress.

Jesus’ disciples could have learned a little something from these two swans.  When they saw the other casting out demons in Jesus’ name, it was too close:  too close to who they were and what they believed, and yet too different.  He was not one of them, and they wanted him to stop. 

I think we understand the disciples reaction pretty well.  I daresay last week was one of the most contentious weeks in America in quite some time…in politics which then affected most of our lives, with the continued senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh as we heard from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her allegations of sexual assault against Judge Kavanaugh. 

How could anyone who believes her possibly be a Christian, or how could anyone who believes him possibly be a Christian?  The confirmation for a Supreme Court judge has been ripping us apart because we can’t imagine the other side belonging.  “If you do this or if you declare that, then I just declare you to be outside of Jesus and his way.”  “If they are in the church, then I am going to have to leave.” 

Which group gets to be a follower of Jesus?  Which group gets to declare who gets to be a follower of Jesus?  Which political party gets to claim Jesus and be his followers? Which socio-economic group gets to claim Jesus and be his followers?  Which race or gender gets to claim Jesus and be his followers?

Well, it’s pretty clear.  Jesus said that whoever agrees with him in at least 83.4% of what they do and say and believe…  He didn’t say that. 

“Whoever is not against us are for us,” Jesus said.

The other who claims Jesus and does deeds of power in Jesus’ name, is claimed by Jesus.  So we gather, breast to breast, motionless, and wait for the wind’s caress, and all the water is at ease.

What are we to do then with those with whom we disagree so viscerally that there is violence inside of us ready to explode out?  We speak with those other, kindly, and we listen to those others.  We talk.  We allow ourselves to be right.  We allow the other to be wrong.  Hopefully they allow us to be wrong, and we don’t declare them outside the camp, or terrible, or awful…even if we’re thinking it.  We gotta leave a little room for Jesus in that.  For if our rightness causes us to sin, then cut it out and allow ourselves to be wrong.

How do we live with those with whom we disagree?  Well, we continue to follow our baptismal covenant.  We continue to speak, and work, and strive for justice.  We continue to speak, and work, and strive to respect the dignity of every human being, including the wrong ones.  We continue to speak, and work, and strive for the values we hold, and then we allow those others to still be wrong and to still be disciples of Jesus.  “Have salt within yourselves, and be at peace with one another,” Jesus said.

Those who claim Jesus and strive for his kingdom and whose ways and beliefs you find abhorrent?  We’ll, you’re probably right that they are wrong, and Jesus’ grace is sufficient for their wrongness and for yours.

As silent trees stoop down to trees, we remain breast to breast, both motionless, and we wait together for the wind’s caress, and let the water be at ease.

 

To Sustain the Weary With a Word

Brad Sullivan

Proper 19, Year B

September 16, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Psalm 116:1-8

James 3:1-12

Mark 8:27-38

To Sustain the Weary With a Word

Years ago, when I was youth minister and assistant priest, one of the youth in the church said to me, apropos of absolutely nothing, “You shouldn’t even be paid.  All you do is talk for a living.”  She said it with a smile…I think she was joking.  We laughed.  There is a lot of talking in my job, and one thing I pointed out was, “hey, I gotta eat.”  Hopefully what I’m really doing through all this talking, is sustaining the weary with a word. 

That’s what God had Isaiah do in his years of prophesying to Judah:  sustain the weary with a word.  Judah had not yet been taken into captivity by Babylon, and Isaiah prophesied both warnings of coming captivity and promises of restoration.  Throughout Isaiah’s messages of warning and hope, there was a recurring theme of sustaining the weary with a word. 

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people:  It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 3:13-15

One of the main problems that God had with his people was how they were treating the poor and marginalized.  ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’  The people called out.  “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers,” God responded through Isaiah.  (Isaiah 58:3)  God was not pleased with any religious sacrifice or offering while the unskilled workers were left poor and marginalized.  God was not pleased by any amount of pious devotion or faith by those in a nation in which the wealthy became rich off of the labor of the poor, and the poor did not make enough to get by. 

If it sounds like I’m getting political, talking about America, that’s what’s in Isaiah.  Isaiah was there to sustain the weary with a word, not to uphold the wealthy who kept the poor weary through low wages.  Isaiah was not about class warfare.  Neither was God.  God wasn’t telling the wealthy they had to be paupers.  He was telling them, however, that if they truly wanted to be God’s people, then they had to make for darn sure that the poor among them, the wage earners and day laborers, had more than enough to get by.  Otherwise, God said, you will not continue to be my people.  

That is the heart of God.  Don’t worry so much about pretending to love me through devotion, worship, and religion, God says.  Truly love me by making sure that the least among you has enough not to be in poverty. 

At our last diocesan council, there was talk about executive salary, and I spoke with a man who agreed wholeheartedly with Isaiah.  Years ago, this man was being paid a multi-hundred thousand dollar a year salary, and those whom he managed and oversaw were being paid not just less, but not enough.  They were struggling.  So he changed that and lowered his own salary to give substantial raises to those who worked under him.  This man didn’t talk for a living, but he did sustain the weary with a word:  the word of Isaiah, the word of Jesus which he lived out and made real in his life.

The word of Jesus that he lived out was, “those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  This man didn’t go hungry.  He didn’t lose his house.  He sacrificed quite a lot of luxury and convenience.  He didn’t have the lifestyle that he could have, but he had enough.  He chose to have less than the market demanded he have in order to make sure that others had what they needed.

That’s losing your life for Jesus’ sake. 

Choosing to get by with less ain’t the easiest thing in the world to do.  There are folks who will ridicule you for it.  Folks who would be made uncomfortable by it.  Choosing to get by with less so that others may have more is kind of counter to the American dream.  Work hard enough, do enough, and you can get ahead, get rich, become powerful, a captain of industry.  Choose to sacrifice your own wealth for the sake of your workers?  That’s not really in there.

“Sustain the weary with a word,” God told Isaiah, and let that word be lived out in your actions.  To be fair, everyone is weary.  Even the wealthy and powerful get weary.  We all have variations on the same brokenness inside of us:  fear, lack of trust.  From our earliest days, we all come to realize the world is often dangerous, and we can’t always trust the people around us.  Jesus understands that fear which means God shared that fear with us.  God gets it; God understands, that fear and lack of trust, our brokenness, is part of what drives us to seek power and wealth.  With enough power and wealth, we feel secure, like we don’t have to depend on untrustworthy others.  The problem is, it’s hard to get wealthy without someone down the line working for almost nothing.

If you try to save your life, you’ll lose it, Jesus said.  Give up your abundance, your excess, your luxury (which many would call “comfort”), and see to it that those who work for very little, have enough.  If you’ve got someone who works in your home or in your yard, pay them more than they ask for.  Encourage others to do the same.  Shop at businesses that pay their workers more than the minimum.  Tell businesses that don’t, that you won’t do business there.  Sustain the weary with a word.  We’re not talking charity here, we’re talking wages needed to have enough, even if the market demands less.

I keep thinking of the Frank Capra movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  It’s the story of George Bailey, a businessman who owns and operates the Bailey Building and Loan.  He was hoping for a more lucrative business, but when his father died, he ended up taking over the business because the only other lender in town was a rather greedy man named Mr. Potter.  Potter charged high interest, made a lot of money, and no small amount of people were left impoverished when they were late on their loans. 

So, George Bailey continued his father’s business, making loans to folks so they could build a house, make it till the next month or the next job, and he didn’t charge high interest, and told folks who couldn’t pay him back, to do what they could when they could.

George didn’t get rich.  He helped his community.  He had a drafty old house, an old car, and enough for his wife and kids.  He’d been a man with big dreams, and was frustrated by seeing his childhood friends getting wealthy and getting ahead while he was stuck in his hometown, not getting wealthy, sometimes wondering if he was going to be ok, if they were going to have enough.  Even so, he wouldn’t let that fear drive him to get rich off of the needs of the folks to whom he loaned money.  He helped his community.  He sustained the weary with his word and actions.

Then his bumbling Uncle Billy lost a huge amount of money, and George was facing the possibility of jail time and of losing his home and business because of the missing money.  In the midst of this crisis, his wife made some calls to friends and family to let them know that George was in trouble.  Folks from all over the community came pouring into his home, bringing money to get him out of the trouble he was in, and he received a message, in inscription in a book:  “No man is a failure who has friends.” 

That’s what giving up your life for Jesus looks like.  That’s what sustaining the weary with a word looks like.  If all you do is talk for a living, if you mow lawns, if you’re a captain of industry, or anything in between, we get to sustain the weary with a word.  We get to live like George Bailey and all of his friends.  We get to encourage others to do the same, to save our lives by giving up our lives, and to sustain the weary with a word and with action.

There Is Only We

There Is Only We

(Meditation on Mark 7:24-30 & James 2:1-10, 17)

In one of my favorite and rather troubling passages of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is met by a gentile woman who asks him to heal her daughter.  He basically calls her a dog (we all know the modern word for female dog) and says he won’t heal her daughter.  She’s one of those others, one of those gentiles, and he’s not going to waste his time with her.

She persists and pleads with him, that even if she is a dog, she’ll take whatever scraps he drops for her.  Jesus then has a change of heart.  “For saying that,” Jesus then says, “you may go - the demon has left your daughter.”

What in the world is going on here?  I thought Jesus was supposed to be without sin, and  yet here he is calling this woman a dog and refusing to heal her daughter because she is the other.  Was he testing her, as I’d often heard asserted in various efforts to defend Jesus’ actions?  Maybe, but that’s a bit too easy, to let Jesus off the hook like that.  He wouldn’t test the faith or devotion of a gentile woman, one who wouldn’t have had any faith in God in the first place.  Such notions seem like they’re just trying to defend Jesus’ goodness as God. 

Lest we forget, however, Jesus is also fully human.  As a human Jesus had to learn and grow as we all do.  He had an uncanny knowledge and wisdom of the scriptures, and we’re also told that he grew in wisdom as he grew up.  He learned as he went, as he was taught.  He might have been taught some wrong things.

Centuries ago in America, many white folks in our country believed that black Africans were not fully human but rather some lesser being.  They therefore had no problem enslaving Africans and later African Americans because they viewed them as the other.  Something else. Something lesser.  The slave owners and others in America would of course teach this view to their children, that black people were the other, were less than human.  Children grew up knowing this to be true.

Then, some of these children began having real interactions with their enslaved fellow humans, and they began to understand that what they had been taught was wrong.  They began to understand that being from a different part of the earth and having a different skin color didn’t make people less than human.  It didn’t make them other.  They were all brothers and sisters.

I don’t know if something similar happened to Jesus, but he did grow up in a society which looked down on non-Jews and referred to them as “gentile dogs.”  Jesus was likely taught that same view as a child, knowing that gentiles were beneath him. 

Then he met one, a gentile woman with a sick daughter.  A mother who loved her daughter  and would take any insult and debasement if it meant healing for her daughter.  A mother’s love, like his mother’s love.  Human, not some lesser thing.  Perhaps this is what Jesus realized in his interaction with the gentile woman, and he saw her and all gentiles not as the other, but as beloved brothers and sisters.  In John’s Gospel (10:6), Jesus says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.”  Perhaps Jesus’ ministry to the gentiles and his realization that they belonged to him just as much as the people of Israel happened in this interaction with the gentile woman. 

We don’t know, but it certainly honors the full humanity of Jesus as he learned what it was to be fully human.  Being fully and truly human means there are no distinctions between us.  There is no “us” and “them.”  James points this out in his letter.  “Do you by your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” No.  In our acts of favoritism and our us vs. them mentality, we can’t really say that we do.

In the Episcopal Church, we have a bit of a history of acts of favoritism, a bit of a reputation for accepting the well to do and having some reservations for those who are less fortunate.  This reputation is somewhat justified, somewhat not, and I see us getting better.  We’re becoming more of a community of all. 

To be fair, all churches have some form of other.  Some churches won’t allow folks who believe in evolution to be a part of them, even if they also believe in creation.  Some won’t allow folks who question their faith.  If you wonder too much, then you are declared other.

A young woman I know has been questioning her faith…not really questioning her faith, just pretty sure she doesn’t believe in the faith of Jesus, and so she has been exploring other beliefs.  Now, she hasn’t been looking at one of the other Abrahamic faith, not Judaism or Islam, nor has she explored any of the more known faiths of the world, Buddhism, Hinduism.  She’s been exploring a faith that Christians would think is pretty out there.  We’ve been discussing this, and I’ve been giving some counsel, not to keep her following Jesus (I can’t and wouldn’t make her do that), but to consider well the ways and beliefs of this other faith. 

So, last Sunday, she told me that she had decided on this other faith, but she hadn’t fully converted yet, and she asked me if she could still have communion.  “Of course you can,” I said.  Nothing could prevent her from being able to join in this meal of Jesus’ body and blood.  Nothing can separate her from the love of God in Jesus Christ.  Even though she believes in a different faith, she is not the other.

We have all sorts of others in our world today.  People of different religions.  People from different countries.  Worst of all, different political parties - those damn Democrats and those awful Republicans.  We have such a propensity for declaring someone else as other, and yet Jesus shows us in his interaction with the gentile woman, that there is no actual other.

If ever there was an other, we would be the other to God.  Wholly different from God, creatures rather than creator, and yet God became human so that we are not other than God.  In becoming human in Jesus, God became one with us.

Christian, Jew, Muslim, believer, non-believer, atheist.  Republican, Democrat, American, Russian, native, immigrant.  Gay, straight, transgender, cisgender, conservative, liberal.  Black life, blue life.  There is no other.  There is only we, all of us one with God.