Race, Guns, Courts, and Other Irrelevancies (Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman)

Brad Sullivan
Proper 11, Year C
Sunday, July 14, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

    This weekend, we were in Austin for my niece and nephew’s 6^th birthday party.  The kids all had a great time together…so did the adults for that matter.  Friday night, the family was talking together, and my sister-in-law’s father who speaks Spanish and a little bit of English asked what we thought about the Zimmerman trial, nice easy topic for a Friday night.  With my limited Spanish, I could only give about a one sentence answer which was totally inadequate for my thoughts.  If I could have said more, I would have said something like this.

            Ever since Trayvon Martin was killed, we’ve been hearing about problems of race and racial profiling.  We’ve been hearing about problems of guns and violence.  We’ve been hearing problems about courts and judicial practice, and all of these headline grabbing, angst inducing topics are ultimately irrelevant to what happened between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman.  We don’t know the specifics of what happened leading up to Trayvon’s death.  All we really know was that by the end of it, Zimmerman was beaten up and Martin was dead. 

            We don’t really know exactly what was going through their minds leading up to their confrontation, but I’ve got a pretty good hunch that both saw the other as a threat, first and foremost, rather than as a human being.  Race, guns, courts, all of it ultimately irrelevant.  Two men saw each other as a threat rather than as a human being.  That goes completely counter to the way of life in the Kingdom of God. 

Jesus was fully committed to the Kingdom of God, and he didn’t have time for anything else.  Jesus was fully committed to God’s Kingdom in which people were humans and beloved Children of God before they were anything else, and Jesus was against anything which got in the way of loving people and treating them with love. 

            Martha invited Jesus to her house for dinner.  Now, home is generally the place where all pretense is left at the door.  We can truly be ourselves at our homes, with our family.  So, when Jesus entered Martha and Mary’s home, Mary dropped all pretense.  By the culture of the day, she was woman and he was man.  She should have been preparing dinner, and any teaching he was doing should have been for men only.  Rather than let those customs get in the way of their interaction, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to him.  Mary spends time with Jesus.

            Martha, on the other hand, invited Jesus into her home and then ignored him, spending all her time preparing dinner.  She was following the customs and the norms, but she was bound by them, enslaved to them.  He Man, She Woman, and Jesus didn’t have any time for that.  The Kingdom of God doesn’t have time for anything that gets in the way of genuine human interaction.  There is no place in the Kingdom of God for anything that gets in the way of loving our neighbors. 

            Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman saw each other as threats.  Well, it’s easy to eliminate a threat.  It’s easy to destroy and enemy.  Once that threat, than enemy becomes a human being, then it’s not so easy to destroy that human being.  So long as we are threats and enemies in each others’ eyes, then violence and anger, and darkness will have an easy time remaining strong in the world. 

            Proclaiming and enacting the Kingdom of God first and foremost, we don’t see each other as threats and enemies, but as human beings:  humans with parents, humans with children, humans with brothers and sisters, humans with blessing, humans with troubled pasts, humans who are just as afraid as we are, humans whose lives are every bit as much of a mess as ours are if not more so.  Living in the Kingdom of God, we don’t have time to see each other as anything else.

            As disciples of Jesus, if we are truly disciples of Jesus, then we will be fully committed to proclaiming and enacting the Kingdom of God, seeing each other as human beings first and foremost, loving God and loving each other.  As disciples of Jesus, we will be fully committed to admitting when we haven’t lived the Kingdom of God life, fully committed to making amends for those times, and fully committed to repenting and returning to the Kingdom of God life. 

There are people whose narratives are different than the Kingdom of God narrative, and they are fully committed to those narratives.  Martin and Zimmerman, it’s about racism.  Martin and Zimmerman, it’s about guns.  Martin and Zimmerman, it’s about…whatever.  The folks who have been championing these causes are committed to their causes.  They take every opportunity to voice their commitment to their cause.  Disciples of Jesus have even been part of these discussions, and yet I have not once heard someone say that the problem with Martin and Zimmerman was that two men didn’t see each other as human.  I have yet to hear a disciple of Jesus proclaim that two men, who were at least nominally Christian, viewed each other as less than human and weren’t, at least in that moment, living the Kingdom of God life. 

As disciples of Jesus, we need to stop getting caught up in these other narratives.  They have their place, but our narrative is primarily the Gospel narrative, and our way of life is first and foremost “Love God and Love People.”  All other considerations fall under those two ways of the Kingdom of God life.

            The narratives we’ve been hearing in the wake of Trayvon’s death are all reactive narratives.  Once a problem arises, they pounce on it, championing their causes.  In the Kingdom of God life, we’re proactive in proclaiming and enacting a loving world.  As a solution to crime, our laws focus on locking folks up to punish and prevent, on the back end of crimes.  That has its place, but the proactive Kingdom of God life tries to take away the reasons for crime.  I’m not talking about a political or governmental solution, but a way we live our lives as disciples of Jesus.  When Jesus saw people hungry, he fed them.  When Jesus saw people in pain, he healed them.  Jesus taught people a better way of viewing each other than as threats and enemies. 

Jesus treated other humans as beloved children of God, and he didn’t have time for anything else.  He didn’t get involved in the struggle against the Romans.  That wasn’t his arena.  “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.”  As we heard in the story of the Good Samaritan last week, Jesus’ arena was the Kingdom of God.  “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” 

That is our way of life.  That is our arena.  That is our fight.  We probably won’t win.  So let’s do it anyway.  Disciples of Jesus don’t live the Kingdom of God life because we know we’re going to win.  Jesus wasn’t concerned with the fact that it would take centuries for women to get to sit at Rabbis feet.  Jesus saw a woman who wanted to listen to him and he talked to her.  Disciples of Jesus aren’t concerned with winning and losing.  Disciples of Jesus live and proclaim the Kingdom of God life because that is who we are and that is how we live. 

          If some other way of life is going to win out in this world, then so be it.  We’re going to be disciples of Jesus.  We’re going to live and proclaim the Kingdom of God life.  We’re going to heal the hurting we see in the world.  We’re going to see other people as human beings, not as threats.  We’re going to be proactive in how we live, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.  We’re going to seek and serve Jesus in all people.  We’re going to live according to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles.  We’re going to resist temptation and repent when we fail.  We’re going to proclaim and enact the Gospel, the Kingdom of God life.  As disciples of Jesus, that is who are and how we live.  That is how we view the world, and we just don’t have time for anything else.  Amen.

Hey, At Least They Aren't Dead

Brad Sullivan
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Bay City, Texas
Proper 10, Year C
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37

            For the people of Israel back in the first century, about the worst thing you could be was a non-Jew.  It’s not as though all non-Jews were utterly hated or thought of as less than human, but consider this.  If you were Jewish and then gave up your faith in God, you were considered dead.  Life itself was diminished if you were not a Jew. 

So, you had Gentiles, all non-Jews, who didn’t have this life in them that the Jews did, and then you had Samaritans.  Samaritans were a religious sect that traced their roots to Abraham but which believed that they, and not the Jews, were the true followers of God through Torah.  Samaritans believed that they were the righteous descendants of Abraham and that the Jews were the unrighteous descendants. 

Jews may not have been particularly fond of Gentiles or at least not thought as highly of them as of other Jews, but Samaritans were held with the utmost contempt.  It’s not surprising that they were contemptuous of a group which said, “yes you believe in God, but your way of following God and your beliefs about God are dead wrong.”  You could liken it to the struggles and even wars between Protestants and Catholics during the height of struggles between those two groups.

So, when Jesus called the Samaritan a neighbor in the story he told, the importance of his statement can hardly be overstated.  Neighbors were considered to be the people of Israel.  In Leviticus 19, there are verses which what it means to love one’s neighbor.  “You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.  You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind;” I love that we need that last part.  Don’t trip blind people.  Don’t make fun of deaf people.  It’s rather funny that we would need God-given laws telling us such seemingly obvious things, and yet, if we’re honest and if we look at human history and the actions of people around us and even at our own actions, we know that we do need such seemingly obvious laws.

But I digress.  Leviticus goes on to say, “you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.   You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.  You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.  You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.  You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:13-18)

That last sentence seems to be equating “your people” with “your neighbor.”  “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  So, love your neighbor as yourself could be understood as “love all Israelites as yourself.”  Remember, if you were no longer a Jew, you were considered dead.  So, to love your neighbor as yourself was probably not understood as love any old person who lives near you, but “love your Israelite brother or sister as yourself.”

            So, when Jesus told the story of the Samaritan who helped out this beaten and robbed man, contrasting the Samaritan with two upstanding Israelites who did not help the beaten and robbed man, Jesus declared the Samaritan to be a neighbor to the man, and the two Israelites not to be neighbors to the man.  Was Jesus declaring the Samaritan to be more of a Jew even than the Jewish priest and the Levite?  Was Jesus declaring the Jewish priest and Levite to be dead, no longer truly Jews because of their actions, while declaring the non-Jew Samaritan to be truly alive because of his actions?

            I don’t know, but it’s certainly worth pondering.  I believe James, the brother of Jesus, author of the letter from James might agree with the assessment that the Samaritan, by his actions was, at least in the moment, more alive and more Jewish than either the priest or Levite.  “Faith without works, is dead,” James wrote.  “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.” (James 2:18)  Notice, in the story Jesus told, the Samaritan’s faith hadn’t changed.  The Samaritan still believed Israel was wrong, and yet when he saw a man in need, he helped him.  The two upstanding Jews who had all the right beliefs did not help him.

            Perhaps by calling the Samarian a neighbor rather than the priest and Levite, Jesus was saying that despite his beliefs, the Samaritan was more of a Jew than the priest or the Levite.  In either case, Jesus’ command after the story and lesson was quite clear.  “Go and do likewise.” 

            When we gather here on Sundays, or anytime we gather together, I feel such love, the love that we have one for another.  We are neighbors because we share life together in Jesus and we share love for one another through that life and joy we share in Jesus.  We could generally call each other up and ask for help with something, and the response would likely be, well that’s a Saint Markan, I’m going to go help.

            We also have relationships formed and a common identity which gives us some trust of each other.  Even if we haven’t met someone from St. Mark’s, they don’t feel like a total stranger because we share a common life and identity.  We’re neighbors.  Jesus then commends us to go and treat others as though they are neighbors too.  Go and live out your faith, treating others as though they were your neighbors, even if they are one of your enemies.  Go and treat others as though they were St. Markans, even if you’re not particularly fond of them. 

            Go, Jesus said, and live our your faith, truly loving your neighbor as yourself.  Go, and treat people as you would treat any St. Markan, regardless of what they believe.  Hold no contempt for those you believe are deeply wrong and misguided, but love them as a neighbor, as one of your own.  Regardless of who they are or from where they come:    

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.  You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.   You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.  You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.  You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.  You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:13-18)  Amen.

Help Each Other Out. Do It All Yourself.

Brad Sullivan
Proper 9, Year C
Sunday, July 7, 2013
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Did you notice that in our Galatians reading today, Paul wrote, “bear one another’s burdens” and “all must carry their own loads”?  I love the seeming contradiction in his words.  We’re all in this together.  You’re ultimately on your own.  We see the truth of these two statements in the cross of Jesus.  Jesus had help and support throughout his ministry.  He gathered disciples.  He sent the 12 out to proclaim the gospel, to heal people, and to prepare the way for his coming.  After that, as we heard today, Jesus sent 70 out to proclaim the Gospel, to heal, and to prepare the way for his coming.

“[Jesus] appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.”  Jesus sent the seventy on before him to prepare them for his coming.  Jesus was working with his disciples, not having his disciples do his work for him.  Jesus had help and support throughout his ministry, like those we heard about a couple of weeks ago who helped provide for Jesus and his disciples out of their resources. 

Ultimately, however, when it came time for Jesus’ death, the thing which only he could do, Jesus was alone.  No one jumped in to take Jesus’ place on the cross.  He’d been given help and support from his disciples and friends for years, but his death on the cross was his burden to carry alone.

I think of these two statements then, “bear one another’s burdens” and “all must carry their own loads” like a concert.  We help each other prepare.  We can help and support each other even during the performance, but ultimately it’s on each of us if we’re going to play our parts correctly.  It’s on each of us if we’re going to prepare for the performance.

Preparation is essential before performance.  I was on a mission trip back in college, and the leaders of the trip wanted us to do some evangelism while we were there…or at least they wanted us to do what they called evangelism.  We were in an exceedingly poor area of Mexico, and we were put into groups of four or five and sent out to go door to door to talk to folks about Jesus. God help us.  God help the people we talked to.

I think I was the only Episcopalian in the group, so this was not entirely up my ally in the first place, and in the second place, the night before we went out, the leaders prepared us for this work by quoting Mark 13:11, “When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”  So we worshipped the night before and they got us all pumped up and full of the Holy Spirit and sent us out on these poor unsuspecting people.

So our preparation to talk to people about Jesus was, don’t be prepared, just wing it.  Things did not go well.  The self appointed leader of our group offered threats of hell to people living in dire poverty, trying to force them into following Jesus.  The others in our group told her what a great job she was doing.  Mine was a lone dissenting voice, and that night, as the leaders were preparing us for our second day of evangelism, I’m guessing they agreed with me because they decided to give us some dos and don’ts and some talking points which did not involve threats of hell. 

To the credit of those I was with on that first day, they had the courage to perform.  They were told to go out and talk to people about their faith, and they did.  They had the courage to go out there and do the work they had been given to do.  They had the courage to perform.  They needed more preparation, and I would argue different and better preparation, but they did have the courage to perform.

On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got folks who prepare really well.  People help bear each others’ burdens, they help each other prepare, but then they never really go out and do the performance part of it.  They don’t really carry their own loads and do whatever part is only theirs to do.  As disciples of Jesus, we prepare in order to perform.  We help bear each others’ burdens so that when the time comes we can carry our own loads.

So what is your load?  What is that thing which is only yours to do?  Are you preparing for that ministry with the help and support of others, and when the time comes, are you taking the courage to perform?

At the beginning of our stewardships campaign last fall, we had a theme for this year, “Lord, make us servants of your peace.”  At St. Mark’s, this year alone, we’ve done a lot.  We’ve made and given out prayer blankets for those who are sick.  We’ve cooked and serve breakfast for people on Fridays and given out food during the week.  We recently had a book drive for first graders at Tenie Holmes Elementary.  We’ve made meals for people who are sick or mourning the loss of loved ones.  Our youth are about to go on a mission trip to help rebuild Bastrop.  In August we’ll be hosting a back to school event with MEHOP.  We give of our building so KIDS can counsel children suffering from abuse. 

We also have been doing a lot individually, and that’s what I’d like to address, the performances, the ministries we have in our personal lives beyond the walls of St. Mark’s.  There is a lot going on that a lot of us don’t know about, and I want us to start sharing those stories.  When the 70 came back after Jesus had sent them out, they immediately started sharing their stories with joy and excitement.

Jesus then gives his warning not to rejoice at what they were able to accomplish.  I hear Jesus telling them not to become proud and boastful of what they were able to accomplish with God’s help.  Share your stories in order to help build each other up and encourage each other, but be careful not start bragging or trying to one up each other.

So, in order to help build each other up, I’d like us to start sharing our stories of ways in which we’re serving others beyond the walls of St. Mark’s.  I’m thinking we’ll call it “stories of the seventy.”  Now I know what some people are doing, so I’m going to start asking them to write a few paragraphs about what they are doing, and these will be printed in the Lion, the weekly newsletter, and maybe even a sentence or two in the Sunday bulletin.  I’m also asking people to submit their stories to me or to the church office.  Write ‘em down, send them in an email, and we’ll add them to “The Stories of the Seventy.”  These stories will also be anonymous.  That way we avoid the risk of bragging or one-upmanship.  We can simply share our stories in order to build each other up, to help inspire each other, and to help bear one another’s burdens. 

I’m looking forward to reading these and to hearing about all the different ways we are servants of God’s peace in each other’s lives and in the lives of others’ in Bay City.  Lord, make us servants of your peace.  Prepare us for the work you have given us to do.  Help us to bear each other’s burdens, and give us courage and support to carry our loads and perform when the time comes.  Amen.

Sweet Dude! Fire From Heaven!

Brad Sullivan
Proper 8, Year C
Sunday, June 30, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Luke 9:51-62

The people did not accept Jesus, and Jesus didn’t want fire to be brought down upon him.  Rather, he wanted to continue with his ministry.  Jesus didn’t get caught up in pining for what he desired would happen.  He had hoped they would accept him; they didn’t.  He went on to continue his task of proclaiming the Gospel and going to Jerusalem to complete his ministry on the cross.

I’m guessing we’re rather fond of that part of our Gospel story, no fire from Heaven for not accepting Jesus, but then we come to the next part of our Gospel story.  Jesus invites a man to follow him, and when the man asks to bury his father, Jesus replies, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Ok, so I don’t think Jesus is intending to say, “funerals bad; leave the dead to rot.”  Rather, I think he’s saying something along the lines of, “if you wait until everything is perfect in order to follow me, then you’re never gonna follow me.  The world is not always going to be the way we want the world to be, and even so, follow me,” Jesus is saying.

I’m about to sing a song which I wrote called The Wild Hunt (words and music by Brad Sullivan, BMI).  It’s based on a Norse folk legend of Odin’s Wild Hunt which was this fearful time when Odin rode out to collect the souls of the dead.  This was during winter, the season of darkness and death, and people would hunker down, afraid of being swept away in the chaos of The Wild Hunt, this fearful season.  Then, the winter solstice, the longest night of the year came, after which the nights got shorter, the days got longer, and people celebrated the return of light in the world. 

So, I wrote this rather dark song about The Wild Hunt which I’m going to sing for you now, and then I’ll explain what in the world this has to do with the Gospel.

The Wild Hunt

words and music by Brad Sullivan, BMI

Winter’s come like lightning with Autumn’s setting sun,

The harvest stored preparing for the cold and dark to come.
The chilly wind a portent, death is stirring in the earth
Across the Texas plains as they wait for the Sun’s rebirth.
You hold your wife; you bless and kiss your daughter and your son,
And huddle close together.  The Wild Hunt’s begun.
 
The howling of the hounds is borne to you upon the wind,
And you wonder if tonight is the beginning or the end.
Chaos bleeds as thund’rous steeds advance across the night.
You peer into the darkness, but there’s nothing there to fight.
So you light a candle, praying, knowing there’s nowhere to run,
And huddle close together.  The Wild Hunt’s begun.

He comes with death surrounding him, his servants heed his call,

Drawn out from the shadows where they lay but did not fall.
Six more weeks to go until you reach the darkest night,
With the sacred promise that the world will be put right.
Knowing this, you also know the madness never ends,
For every day we walk the earth The Wild Hunt begins.
 

So there’s darkness and this fearful time and the song ends by acknowledging that even when the light comes back into the world at the winter solstice, the Wild Hunt never really end.  Every day we walk the earth, the Wild Hunt begins.  That being the case, it is also true that the return of the light happens every day.  There is darkness and chaos in the world every day, and there is the light of Jesus in the world every day.  We’re not just going to hunker down in fear of the chaos every day for the rest of our lives.  As disciples of Jesus, we step out into the darkness with the light of Jesus, facing into the chaos and continuing to live and proclaim the good news of God’s love and God’s kingdom in the Gospel of Jesus.

We’ve had some big changes in our world recently with the Supreme Court decisions over the last several weeks, overturning parts of DOMA and declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional.  Now the Texas senate is considering a bill about abortion, and other changes in our laws may be taking place.  For some of us, these changes are darkness.  For some of us these changes are light.  For all of us, these are substantial changes, adding to the chaos of the world, and as disciples of Jesus, we’re called not to hunker down in fear of the chaos or to ask fire to come down on those we think are wrong. 

As disciples of Jesus, we keep our faces set toward Jerusalem, as Jesus did, meaning we keep on in mission and ministry, serving as the light of Jesus in the world.  It’s a crazy world with new things happening all the time.  Sometimes we’re fans of the change, sometimes we’re not.  We can look back to the past, wishing the world was the way it used to be, but we don’t live in the past, we live in the here and now.  We put our hand to the plow and we don’t look back because our constant is Jesus.  Every day we walk the earth, the light of Jesus is with us.  Every day we walk the earth, we step out into the chaos of the world proclaiming by how we live and by what we say that the light of Jesus is here in the world.  Every day we walk the earth, the Gospel life begins.  Amen.

Jesus Didn't Force the Man to Be Healed

Brad Sullivan
Proper 7, Year C
Sunday, June 23, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
1 Kings 19:1-4, 5-7), 8-15a
Psalm 43
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39

 In our Kings reading today, Elijah was fleeing for his life from Ahab and Jezebel, and God met him on the mountain where he was hiding.  Before meeting with Elijah, God send a destructive wind, then an earthquake, then fire, three things with which God could destroy Ahab and Jezebel and all those who were seeking to kill Elijah.  God’s power was far greater than anything Ahab and Jezebel had, and yet we are told that God was not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire.

Rather, after all three of these had passed, there was a sound of sheer silence, and God was in the silence.  Out of the silence, God spoke to Elijah, asked him what he was doing, and told him what to do and where to go next.  Elijah was lost, in need of reassurance and direction, and out of the silence, God gave him the reassurance and direction he needed.

We are shown through this story to seek God in the silence.  When troubles are at our door and life seems overwhelming, silence is often the last thing we want, better to distract and anesthetize ourselves with all kinds of noisy activity, and yet the silence is where we meet God.  Silence is also where we have to face the parts of ourselves which we may not want to face.

Looking at the story of the Gerasene demoniac, the gentile man who had many demons inside him, we see a story of Jesus healing a man who was afraid of being healed.  The man was living in a graveyard because the demons had forced him out there.  He could not be bound even by chains because the demons were so strong.  You’d think the man would want the demons gone, and yet, when Jesus ordered the demons to leave him, he begged Jesus not to torment him. 

Being healed is often a painful process so much so that we sometimes want to go on as we are rather than face the pain of being healed.  I’m guessing the demons were hurting the man as they were being cast out, clawing at him to stay inside of him because, as they said to Jesus, they did not want to be returned to the abyss, likely the depths of the sea, the dark place where the souls of the dead were thought to dwell.

Now, Jesus could have and by all accounts should have told the demons, I don’t negotiate with demon scum like you.  Leave the man now and return to the abyss.  Jesus could have said that and the man would have been healed, and the demons would have the punishment they deserved.  Instead, Jesus had compassion on the demons and allowed them to enter the swine. 

With that, the demons seem to have gone peacefully, Jesus’ compassion saving the man from greater torment as well.  After this, the man was healed.  Still, Jesus had compassion on the demons.  Why should he have done that?  It may have saved the man some pain, but shouldn’t the demons have been punished? 

Well, yes, they should have been, but remember we’re talking about the same Jesus who taught us to pray for and bless our enemies.  Jesus was doing exactly what he taught us to do. 

Looking again at the man in the story, he had been totally controlled by the demons, having no will of his own.  Then, Jesus comes to heal him, by offering that same force of will on the demons.  Perhaps even the man didn’t want Jesus to force and control the demons as he had been forced and controlled.  Perhaps the man didn’t want Jesus to remove the demons because he saw Jesus as one even more powerful than the demons, and he was afraid of Jesus was going to force him to do once the demons were gone.  The devils he knew were better, he thought, than this even more powerful man whom he didn’t know.  Jesus, then, allows the demons to enter the swine as they had asked, and they leave the man peacefully. 

At this point, the man understands that Jesus is one whom he can truly trust.  He healed the man, and he did it in a way totally opposite of the way the demons had harmed him.  Having been asked to stop, Jesus didn’t force the healing on the man.  Having been begged to show mercy, Jesus showed mercy even on the demons.  The man then saw Jesus as one whom he would gladly follow, wherever he led, and Jesus then showed compassion once more, this time by saying “no”. 

Rather than taking this man away from everything and everyone he knew, rather than bring the man with him back to Israel where he would be hated as a gentile, Jesus tells the man to return to his home and declare there all that God had done for him.  Return to the place that you have been driven from, return to your life, and be truly and fully healed.  Return and declare all that God has done for you, and so the man went away, joyfully telling all that Jesus had done for him.

Jesus had compassion on the man by healing him, by giving him a choice rather than forcing him, by having him return to his home to be restored to his life.  Jesus even had compassion on the demons who had been tormenting the man, and Jesus is the one whom we meet in the silence.

Are we at times afraid to meet God in the silence?  Are we afraid of facing the demons within us?  Are we afraid of what new direction God might have for us?  Do we seek God in the silence?  Do we distract ourselves from the silence with noise?  Can we face the demons within us?  Will we allow God to heal us when we do?  Healing seems painful, and yet perhaps it won’t be as painful as we imagine.  Jesus is mighty.  He is one with God who showed his power in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire.  Meeting with Jesus in the silence can be rather daunting, and yet Jesus had compassion on a legion of demons.  Will he not have compassion on us, even as we face the demons within ourselves?

In the silence, we can meet the Jesus of healing, the Jesus of compassion, the Jesus who gives us new direction in our lives, direction that leads to even greater healing.  Meeting with Jesus in the silence, we also find peace enough that we can perhaps pray for our enemies, and have compassion on those who hate us.  Meeting Jesus in the silence, we may also find peace enough to have compassion on and forgive ourselves as well. 

I’ve been told by many people here of their practice of seeking Jesus in the silence, seeking Jesus in prayer.  Can we also find peace enough in the silence to take the next step?  Can we tell others about the peace we find in meeting Jesus in the silence?  Can we declare, like the healed demoniac, all that God has done for us? 

We needn’t go to some far away land.  We needn’t go to a random street corner or to strangers.  Jesus told the man “return to your home, and declare all that God has done for you.”  Following his example, we would declare all that Jesus has done for us in our homes, among our family and friends. 

There are, after all, many among our family and friends who do not meet Jesus in the silence.  There are many who used to, but have stopped for one reason or another.  We can declare to them, with the same compassion and love which Jesus showed the Gerasene demoniac, all that Jesus has done for us.  We can help remind them of the peace which comes from meeting Jesus in the silence, of the compassion and healing which Jesus offers.  So, if you trust in Jesus’ compassion and love, if you have met Jesus in the silence, then go, return to your homes, and declare all that God has done for you.  Amen.

This is Too Important to Get Right

Brad Sullivan
Proper 6, Year C
Sunday, June 16, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a
Psalm 5:1-8
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3

In thinking about our Gospel story this week, one thing occurred to me which had never really occurred to me before.  The Pharisee was right.  That woman had no business being in his house.  He was having a dinner party, and this woman whom he hadn’t invited showed up and began harassing one of his guests, all of that, in addition to the fact that she was a sinner.  We don’t know how bad she was or exactly what she did, but it was enough to have been well known, such that she was notoriously sinful.

So the Pharisee was right.  She didn’t have any business being there, and the Pharisee was committed to upholding what was right.  The woman needed to change her ways, and possibly make some big time changes to her ways before she showed up at the Pharisee’s house. 

The Pharisee was holding this woman accountable for her actions, saying “that’s not who we are.  We don’t behave the way you’ve been behaving.  God has given us a way of life in which the harm you’ve been causing yourself and others just doesn’t fit.”  The Pharisee wanted her to change her ways, to live as a Jew before he would have her in his house.

Jesus, you’ll notice didn’t disagree.  The woman was a sinner, Jesus even said she had many sins, and yet rather than hold her to task for her sins, rather than be concerned with what was right, he decided to forgive her.  The way of Jesus is the way of love and forgiveness.  Jesus knew she wanted to repent, to change her ways, so he had no problem forgiving her.  He wasn’t concerned with justifying himself in his actions.  He wasn’t concerned with being right like the Pharisee was.  Jesus was only concerned about doing what was right for the woman. 

Now the Pharisee might have said, “but wait, Jesus, that woman doesn’t deserve to be forgiven.”  Jesus would have said, “You got it.  You’re right.  That’s the point.”  We don’t forgive people because they deserve it.  We forgive people out of love. 

If we wait to forgive until a person deserves it, until that person has paid whatever penalty is owed, then we aren’t practicing forgiveness.  We’re just burning the note after a debt is paid.  Forgiveness means forgiving the debt, not collecting, burning the note before the debt is paid.  That means giving up our pride, giving up our sense of justice, and giving up our sense of what is right.

Being comfortable with who we are, is essential if we are going to be forgiving people who love God.  I’ve found it easy to forgive when I am at peace with myself.  When I feel threatened or wronged or feel somehow less than I should be (don’t feel great about my life or myself), then I find it difficult to forgive.  I want to uphold justice and a sense of what is right and part of that is to soothe my own sense of being wronged or hurt somehow. 

I think the Pharisee felt this way.  Like most of us, I’m guessing he had varying degrees of self doubt and hurt inside of him.  Carrying those burdens, the Pharisee had a hard time forgiving.  Carrying the burdens of self doubt and hurt, he had a strong need to uphold justice and to uphold what was right.  To be more complete himself, he felt he had to do what was “right”, he had to hold the woman accountable for her sins. 

Jesus, on the other hand, was totally ok with who he was.  He was not burdened with self doubt or hurt, and so he could forgive the woman.  Unconcerned with making her pay her penalty before she could be forgiven, Jesus saw a woman who was hurting.  Jesus saw a woman who was in pain, probably from others and from her own poor choices, and he decided to ease her pain and forgive her sins.

When we, like Jesus are content with life as it is, we can more readily forgive. When we have no need to feel strong, we can forgive.  Forgiveness is an act of weakness so to speak.  If we hold something over someone’s head, not forgiving them, then there is a feeling of power over that person.  Forgiving that person is giving up that power. 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “The Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’  So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” 

Content with our own weaknesses, we can more readily forgive others out of love for others.  Giving up our power, giving up our strength and forgiving others is the way of God, the way of Jesus, to forgive out of love, rather than to hold onto the wrong out of being right.  The forgiveness someone’s wrong may not be deserved, but that’s God’s way, to forgive.

Notice also the result of forgiveness.  She loved Jesus greatly, having been forgiven much.  “Therefore, I tell you,” Jesus said, “her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love.”  When someone acknowledges their sins, and that person’s sins are forgiven, the result is love.  We love because of the kindness shown and want to then give that same kindness to others.

Must we, then, build up a huge store of bad deeds so that we can be forgiven much in order to love God?  Do we have to sin a lot in order to love God more?  If we live a wholesome life, honoring God and honoring each other in our actions, will we then love God less because we feel we have been forgiven less?  By not feeling as strongly the gratitude from having been forgiven much, would we necessarily love less? 

Well, possibly, but I don’t believe necessarily.  Otherwise, the lesson would be, “Go, sin a whole big darn lot, that way, when you’re done, you can repent and really love God, and be that much better off.”  We can also love God purely for the beauty of who God is.  We don’t have to hate ourselves in order to love God.

We do, however, need to be able to look at ourselves honestly.  We do need to be able to acknowledge our faults.  In doing to, we can become comfortable with who we are.  We may not like all of who we are, but by acknowledging our faults, we can accept God’s forgiveness, love God more, and be content with who we are, scars and all.  Accepting our own weakness, we can trust more in God’s strength, accept God’s forgiveness, and love more fully.  For “‘[God’s] grace is sufficient for [us], for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, [we] will boast all the more gladly of [our] weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in [us]... for whenever [we are] weak, then [we are] strong.”  Amen.

United in God's Kingdom

Brad Sullivan
Pentecost, Year C
Sunday, May 12, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104: 25-35, 37
Romans 8:14-17
John 14:8-17 (25-27)

 

Happy Pentecost, y’all.  Happy birth of the church.  On the first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ disciples, as well as those who became Jesus’ disciples were united in many ways.  The Holy Spirit came upon them with a rush of wind and tongues of fire.  They were united in their language such that, rather than speak one language, they spoke the language of those who heard them.  There was no barrier that was going to stop the church, no lack of spirit that would still its birth.

Jesus was victorious once again.  As he had been in his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus was now victorious in the Holy Spirit and the disciples continuing the work he had done, continuing to spread the good news of God’s kingdom, continuing to give to others the faith, hope, and love that Jesus had given them.

Jesus had united his followers before his death and then reunited them after his resurrection.  That was Jesus’ prayer which we have been hearing for weeks, that his disciples would be one.  “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

In our story from Acts today, we see God’s enormous “yes” to Jesus’ prayer for his disciples.  We see God’s Holy Spirit uniting Jesus’ disciples, and we see God uniting them in a reversal of the way in which God separated humanity in the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel.  In Genesis 11, we are told that all people had one language and that they decided to make a tower to the heaven’s, literally to God’s realm, so that they could make a name for themselves and prove how mighty they were.  Knowing that there would be no end to the peoples’ ambition and selfish glory, God confused their languages so that they would be limited in what they could accomplish, so that their selfish and harmful schemes would be more difficult.

On the day of Pentecost we see a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel.  God took the confusion that had entered in to the languages of the people and brought them back together.  He also helped his disciples to see that there was nothing that could stop his message in the world.  He gave them an assurance that if they worked for him he would give them the words to speak and would open the ears of those around them to hear and understand his word.  he as preparing the church for an explosion of growth even before the disciples had set out on their mission.

Unity in the church was essential.  The disciples needed to believe that what Jesus had asked them to accomplish could be done.  They had to believe that they could take the good news of the resurrected Christ out into the world.  If they didn’t believe that God would be with them, that the Holy Spirit would be guiding them all along the way they would have failed.

Unity in the church is essential today as well in the work and mission that we do.  We are still continuing Jesus’ mission in the world, to live and invite others to live in the Kingdom of God.  The Holy Spirit unites us if we allow it to.  The Holy Spirit draws us together in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the wind that flows through each of us and inhabits our homes, our churches and everywhere that we move in this world that God has created. 

United by God’s Holy Spirit we have a mission to take God’s message out into the world, and as confusing, or hard , or impossible that may seem, God has promised that he will be with us wherever we go and that he will give us the words to speak.  We are a people who are gathered under God’s spirit and we have to remain a people united if we are to spread his message of peace, hope and love.  

The unity the Holy Spirit gives is essential for us, and without it we cannot stand against the things in this world  that pull us away from God.  I thought of this while reading a children’s book to my son, Noah.  We’ve been reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and in the fourth book, the great enemy returns, and the leader of the good guys gives the following speech:

In the light of [our enemy’s] return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.  [Our enemy’s] gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great.  We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.  [Our differences] are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.” (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 33, p. 723)

People think they don’t need Jesus.  They think other things will fill them more fully than Jesus.  They think the kingdoms of money, time, power, amusement, etc. are better kingdoms than the kingdom of God.  I say this not to look contemptuously at anyone, but to realize that for many, church, and even Jesus have become irrelevant.  Jesus has no place in many peoples’ lives.  They have filled the holes in their hearts with other things:  with stuff, with high stress jobs, with fun activities which they think will bring fulfillment to their lives.  None of these things are bad, but as St. Augustine said, “our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” 

We are a people who were made to rest in God--to put all of our trust in him and to fill the deep longings of our heart with his.  But our society increasingly presents us with other things to fill the holes in our lives.  We have to resist the temptation to fill in the empty places in our hearts with more things or more activities or more work.  We need to fill in those empty places with God.

This is the message that the world is craving to hear.  So many people are spinning their wheels trying to figure out why their lives don’t seem to be what they imagined they would be, trying to figure out why something always seems missing.  So they constantly strive for the next activity or thing which will finally make them complete and whole, and they fill themselves up with things.  People fill their lives with fear, and vengeance rather than with faith and love.  People live out various kingdoms of men rather than the kingdom of God, the kingdom of peace, hope, faith, forgiveness, charity, and love.  As a church we need to live that kingdom of God and bring the message that we as a people are meant to fill ourselves with God and live lives of his kingdom.

In light of the challenges facing the church, people’s indifference to Jesus and the competing kingdoms out there, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.  There are many competing narratives, whose gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great.  We can help guide people away from those competing narratives and to the narrative and life of Jesus best by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust among ourselves, by living God’s kingdom, by allowing God’s Holy Spirit to unite us in Jesus, and by inviting others to that same unity in Jesus.  Like the disciples on the morning of the birth of the church, God has given us the ability to sort out the broken languages, the misplaced desires and the misguided understandings of who Jesus is.  We know that Jesus lives and that his Spirit is within us.  Now go out into the world and live and preach his Gospel.  Amen.