What Do We Give to God? Everything.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church

October 18, 2020

Proper 24, A

Matthew 22:15-22

What Do We Give to God?  Everything.

“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”  Well, that shut the Pharisees up as they were trying to get Jesus in trouble.  See, being under the authority of Rome, no one in Israel could say they shouldn’t pay their taxes to Rome, to the emperor.  That kinda thing could get you in a lot of trouble pretty quick.  Then again, as an Israelite, you really couldn’t be boasting about giving money to a country whose leader claimed to be God.  

So, the Pharisees’ trap:  how could Jesus say to give financial support to a government that claimed divinity of their leader?  How could Jesus say to give financial support to a Roman society that ate exceedingly non-kosher and lived exceedingly not according to the ways of Israel?  How could Jesus say to give money to a government that kept soldiers garrisoned in Israel to keep Israel in line, no longer as a free nation?

The Pharisees thought they had Jesus pretty well caught in their trap.  I dare say, we often think we have each other similarly trapped when we talk about and question how people who say they love Jesus can vote differently that how we, or I, or you vote.

Sometimes the government doesn’t do what we believe is following the ways of God, and sometimes they do.  So, how we vote is important.  Our faith will likely influence how we vote, and our faith is going to influence some of us to vote one way and some of us to vote another.  Yet, in our convictions and in our faith, we often wonder, “How can anyone who claims to be a Christian vote differently than how I vote, as a Christian?”  Then, in our hubris, we lay for each other the Pharisees’ trap.  

Into that trap, Jesus said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”   

Jesus recognized that we live simultaneously in at least two kingdoms.  Jesus and all of Israel lived in the Empire of Rome, in the Kingdom of Israel, and in the Kingdom of God.  Whether Jesus liked living under Roman control or not, he accepted it as a reality that would not change without bloody, armed revolt, and even then, it probably wouldn’t change.  So, Jesus decided, or realized, or knew that he could live simultaneously under the authority of Rome and still live in the Kingdom of God.  

We too live in at least two kingdoms.  We live in the kingdom of The United State of America, and and we live in the Kingdom of God.  How do we live in these two kingdoms as faithful followers of Jesus?  Some would say that doing so depends on how you vote and that voting for a candidate who believes in something contrary to a teaching of Jesus is voting against Jesus.  I would say, that’s not what Jesus said.  Remember that in saying “yes” to paying Roman taxes, Jesus said “yes” to giving financial support to a government that was decidedly anti-Jewish.  Jesus said “yes to giving financial support to a government that did things with that money that Israel and Jesus himself really didn’t like.  In the difficult situation of paying taxes to the Roman government, Jesus said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”

Remember also that before answering the Pharisees’ question, Jesus had them show him a coin which had the emperor’s likeness on it.  Jesus used the coin as a symbol, and not only a symbol of money.  The coin was a symbol of the Roman government and authority under which they lived, like it or not.  Notice, however, that he used no such symbol for God’s kingdom and authority under which they lived.  By having a symbol for Rome’s kingdom, Jesus showed that their kingdom was limited; God’s was not.

So how do we live in at least two kingdoms, one limited and one not?  What do we give to our government, and what do we give to God?  Well, we give to the government our votes.  We give what we owe for taxes.  We give our opinions to our elected officials, and we give our basic obedience to the laws they set forth.  Sometimes we also give our civil disobedience to the laws when those laws are unjust.  That’s a decent non-exhaustive list of what we give to our government, but what about God?

What do we give to God?  Everything.  I don’t mean that we should give God everything or we aught to give God everything.  I mean, whether intended or not, we give God everything.  

The kindnesses we give to the people we know and love, and the kindnesses we give to the people we hardly know are given to God.  Similarly, the hurt, contempt, and indifference we give to the people we know and love are given to God, and the hurt, contempt, and indifference we give to the people we hardly know are given to God.  Our votes even are given to God, and I daresay most of us are doing are darnedest to vote in a way that honors God’s kingdom, even when we vote differently from each other.  So, don’t let anyone tell you that vote goes against God’s kingdom or God’s way just because you vote differently than they do.  Do contemplate seriously how your vote does or does not follow the ways of God’s kingdom; realize also that by “God’s Kingdom,” I don’t mean particular religion or religious practice.  By God’s kingdom, I mean the beauty, light, and love of everything that is.  Everything we do is giving to God’s kingdom. 

Realizing that we give everything to God, the point is not to feel shamed or scared of messing up and giving God the wrong thing.  The point is to see the beauty of God’s kingdom all around us, to see the light and love of God’s kingdom all around us, and to let that beauty, light, and love transform us continually into beauty, light, and love, and then to live naturally out of that.  

Looking at all we have as part of God’s kingdom of beauty, light, and love, we see that everything we do and everything we give, and keep, and take is done in God’s kingdom to enhance or diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  Again, as to any thoughts of shame or fear, we’re all going to take a lot of actions which diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  God knows this, and God works to redeem those things.  Perfection is not what God asks of us; it never has been.  God asks that we work continually to align our motivations and our actions to accord with God’s will and God’s ways so that we make continual progress towards enhancing the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  

Now I can’t give every specific action of how we are to act to enhance God’s kingdom, but I can say, based on Jesus’ teachings, that the more we act as Lords over others, demanding our will and our way, assuming we know best for them, the more we diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  On the other hand, the more we act as servants to others, and not as servants who are superior to others, but as true servants, the more we enhance the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  

See, God’s kingdom is in all of creation and through all of creation.  God’s kingdom is in and through and beyond all governments and political systems.  So yes, how we vote is part of what we give to God.  How we spent our money is part of what we give to God.  How we spend out time and how treat others is part of what we give to God.  What exactly do we give to God?  Everything.  

Playing Harmonica with Jesus

I played harmonica with Jesus today.  Actually, I was playing guitar, and he was playing harmonica.  We were standing outside of his car as he and his caregiver were attending our drive-thru Gathering Place.  

The Gathering Place is a monthly time of respite, entertainment, and hospitality for people who are living with Alzheimer's / dementia and their caregivers.  We had been holding these monthly gatherings for years indoors at our church, then with Coronavirus, that changed.  After months, we were able to have a drive-thru Gathering place in which our guests drove to locations in our parking lot with our church ministers there to provide the activities.

I was serving as a "roving musician," playing my guitar and singing songs for folks as they drove through.  The first guest was also a musician. 

They had arrived early, so I walked up to their car and asked if they wanted a song.  They did, and the elderly gentleman in the passenger seat had his harmonica with him, so I asked if he wanted to play with me.  He was very glad to do so and began getting out of the car to play.   His daughter/caregiver said of his playing, "It's just noise," not as an insult to him, it seemed, but to let me know out playing together might not be a rock solid jam session.  I smiled and said, "No, it's music," as I went around to the other side of the car to play.

Getting his harmonica out of its case took a few moments as his elderly, shaking fingers weren't as adept as they used to be.  The Alzheimer's had taken its toll, slurring his speech and slowing his movements.  I asked about his playing, and he said he used to play in a country band.  Then, taking note of the pitch of his harmonica, a blues D harp, I chose a couple of songs in the key of D.

We began playing together, he on his harmonica and I singing with my guitar.  It was beautiful.  His playing was mostly on one note, changing with the blow to the draw.  His disease and age had taken away his former skill, but it hadn't taken away the music.  We played together, savoring every note, enjoying the gift of song, of story, of the divine dance and whispered love that is music. 

After finishing a second song together, it was time for them to drive on up and through the rest of The Gathering Place.  I don't even know the gentleman's name, but I know who he was.  He was Jesus.  He was God with us.  He was who he was, a man born decades ago, beloved of God and of countless others, family and friends, all fellow children of the Divine One.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says, "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."  Whether sharing food with one who is hungry, water with one who is thirsty, visiting one in hospital or prison, or sharing music with one whose mind has been ravaged by Alzheimer's, Jesus said these things we have done to him, we have done to God.

Every single one of us is a beloved child of God, and God lives within each of us.  Making music together with this beloved man, playing harmonica with Jesus, I was blessed, and for a few moments, God revealed the world beyond the veil.  A couple of things stuck with me.  

One:  Jesus plays a mean harp.  

Two: moments of blessing and union are all around us, the world alight with the Divine One who is in and through all of creation, every moment, every speck bursting with opportunity for life and love.  

The Deeper Music

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
September 27, 2020
Proper 21, A
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32

The Deeper Music

I had a great online dialogue with a friend and fellow singer-songwriter last week about our similar and different beliefs on God and being.  She grew up Christian, has since left the church, and still believes “in prayer, God, and living a good life.”  She said she has friends who are atheists and friends who are Christian, and she respects and loves them all.  She said, “Love is the key. And we need more [love] in the world!”

I then shared a bit about how and why I believe in Jesus.  She was appreciative to read that, and then I wrote, “Thank you…for your words, your music, and getting to share in the deep[er] music, even via [text chatting].”  That deeper music is the inkling of God that runs through the world.  That deeper music is the desire for justice, peace, and love at the core of all of us. 

Looking at our gospel story today, we saw some conflict arise between the chief priest and elders, and Jesus.  Anytime Jesus has conflict with political or religious leaders, I tend not to read those stories as being about love, but rather as either/or, in or out, one side over another kinds of stories.  I believe, however, that that is an incorrect and harmful reading of these texts.  Looking at our Gospel story for today, the chief priests and the elders were questioning Jesus about his authority to reform the Temple worship and sacrifice.  He’d recently overturned the tables of the money changers and driven the animals out of the temple, and in doing so, he’d disrupted the system of animal sacrifice which had been in place in the religious practice of Israel since before the Temple was built.  This system of animal sacrifice was intended to help people give thanks to God and to repent and ask for God’s forgiveness when they went against God’s ways.  Jesus was seeking to reform that system of sacrifice.    

So, there is conflict in this story, no question, but if we look at this story as either/or, in or out, one side over another, then we end up with Jesus as the good guy and the chief priest and elders as the bad guys…or the other way around.  What if we don’t look at the story as good guys vs. bad guys?  What if we look to the deeper music being played in the story?  

“Who gave you [the] authority,” to reform the sacrificial system of Israel?  They asked, and Jesus responded with a question about who was doing the will of God, those who say they would and then don’t, or those who say they won’t and then do.  He was referring to people’s responses to John the Baptist.  

The sacrificial system of Israel at the time seems not to have been working for a lot of people.  The tax collectors and prostitutes whom Jesus mentioned seem not to have been transformed or healed by the system of temple sacrifice.  The sacrifices weren’t leading to repentance for them.  The temple sacrifices weren’t leading them to the deeper music, to walking with God in justice, peace, and love.  John’s baptism, on the other hand, seems to have done so. 

Now, the point is not that baptism is better than animal sacrifice.  The point is not, “are you doing your religion correctly?”  The particular religion or religious practice isn’t really relevant.  The point is, “are you doing the will of God?”  Are you listening to and following the deeper music of justice, peace, and love?  

So we see this story is not about an either/or, in-group/out-group, one side over another conflict in which we get to declare “Jesus good" and “chief priest and elders bad.”  Both sides in this conflict brought some to follow more closely the will of God.  The deeper music was not whose religious practices were best.  The deeper music was the seeking of God, the seeking of justice, peace, and love that pervaded both religious practices.  

Back to my conversation with my friend, the deeper music is about us, humanity, coming together in following God’s will and God’s way of justice, peace, and love.  I would say, if that happens through Christianity, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love, happens through Judaism, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love happens through Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love happens through no religion or belief in God of any kind, great.  

See, I believe that when we are walking the way of justice, peace, and love, when we’re living the deeper music, then we’re walking in the way of God whether we believe in God or not.  

Who’s in and who’s out is not the point.  The point is following God’s will and God’s way of justice, peace, and love.  In our society, when we have lived with a “who’s in and who’s out” mindset, then we have tended to end up with women and minorities being treated as less than:  less wages, less opportunities, less protections under the law.    

Many have been mourning over the last week, the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She championed the rights of women and minorities not to be treated as less than.  She was unwilling to accept that women weren’t supposed to do, well much of anything outside of the home.  That was the view of things when she was growing up.  Women were supposed to find a husband, and men were supposed to do everything else in the world.  

Justice Ginsburg didn’t buy that worldview, and she worked throughout her life to uphold laws for equality and to overturn unjust laws that upheld inequality.  In all that she stood for and worked for throughout her life, she was a champion of justice, peace, and love.  Ruth Bader Ginsburg listened to and followed the deeper music.  Even in her dissents, she didn’t view the other justices as being part of the out group.  She was good friends with Justice Antonin Scalia with whom she often disagreed strongly, strongly but not unkindly.  Rather than shout and belittle and shame, Justice Ginsburg would disagree in a way so as to bring others along with her.  Rather than simply declare a right in group and a wrong out group, she sang the deeper music and worked to bring the other side along with her, seeking not to take justice and equality from those who had it, but to bring justice and equality to all.  See, RBG lived not for an either/or, in or out, one side over another kind of society.  RBG lived for the deeper music of justice, peace, and love.  

Now that she has died, many of us feel a hole in the world, as though the deeper music has been quieted and lessened.  Remember, however, that although Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died, she is also alive with God, and the deeper music plays on as strongly as ever.  Her work is ours to continue; her music is ours to make.  Justice, peace, and love didn’t end with Jesus’ death, and justice, peace, and love does not end with RBG’s death.  Justice, peace, and love is the will of God, the deeper music throughout our lives, and this deeper music is not a solo act.  The deeper music of justice, peace, and love is made by all of us together, every voice important:  yours, mine, those we love, those we struggle to love.  The deeper music is God’s presence, God’s way, and God’s will of justice, peace, and love which runs through all of us, every person a part of each others’ song.

The Cloak of Forgiveness, Healing, and Love

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
September 13, 2020
Proper 19, A

Matthew 18:21-35

The Cloak of Forgiveness, Healing, and Love

So, how many times do we have to forgive?  Not just seven times, but seventy times seven…times.  I actually did the math, and seven times seventy is 490.  Now, 490 forgivenesses would be kinda hard for me to keep track of, so I did some more math, using this prayer bracelet.  It has 14 knots, so if I pray to forgive a person on each knot, every day, then I’ll reach that 490 number in 35 days.  So, with this prayer bracelet, I need to pray to forgive someone once a day for one month and an additional four days or five days, depending on the month.

Ok, I don’t think that’s quite what Jesus had in mind, although praying to forgive someone 14 times a day for 35 days just might go a long way to help me actually forgive someone and release that burden.  We’ll get back to that idea, but first I want to take a look at this seventy times seven number that Jesus gives.  

The number of times Jesus says we should forgive someone is not arbitrary.  The number comes from Genesis chapter 4.  Cain killed his brother Abel and then was told that if anyone killed him, he would be avenged sevenfold.  See, Cain was afraid that the whole world would be against him for killing his brother, so being avenged sevenfold was a form of protection.  If you are killed, you’ll be avenged sevenfold.  Ok, so murder bad, and lots of vengeance is brought into the world.  Then, Cain’s great-great-great grandson, Lamech killed a man, and he was presumably afraid that someone might seek retaliation against him.  So he said,  “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (Genesis 4:24). That’s a lot of vengeance.  

So when Jesus told Peter that he was to forgive as many as seventy-sevenfold times, Jesus was saying, as much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much you are to forgive.  

A total reversal of vengeance upon vengeance.  A total reversal of keeping a record of wrongs and demanding punishment or repayment of the debt of those wrongs.  A letting go of vengeance and restitution and seeking instead healing and restoration.  

Love is the idea that Jesus gives, not keeping a record of wrongs.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:5 that love keeps no record of wrongs.  Now, in the New Revised Standard Version, it reads love is not resentful.  That’s a nice summation of “keeps no record of wrongs.”  Resentment is just that, keeping a record of wrongs.   

Resentment says, “I will not let this go; I will not forgive the wrong done to me until it has been avenged seventy-sevenfold.”  Then, after waiting for a seventy-sevenfold vengeance, our hearts have been turned dark, and we find we are no longer able to forgive.  All we can really do at that point is to continue in anger and resentment, the burden having grown more than we can bear, but the burden also having wrapped itself around us like a cloak so tight that we cannot escape its grasp.  

Instead of vengeance seventy-sevenfold, Jesus tells us to forgive seventy-sevenfold.  As much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much we are to forgive.  In doing so, we unburden ourselves.  The cloak of anger and resentment loosens its grip, until we can eventually let that heavy cloak fall to the ground and be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak forgiveness, healing, and love.   

Forgiving others is not about what is owed or what is deserved.  Forgiving others is about unburdening ourselves and unburdening them.

  

I should note that unburdening is not the same as continuing to go back for abuse.  “I keep going back and they keep on hurting me.”  Stop going back.  Forgiveness does not mean keep going back.  Forgiveness is release, letting go of the debt, erasing the record of wrongs.  Forgiveness is letting go of the hurt, knowing it can’t be fully restored, and out of love (for self and for the other), releasing the debt, erasing the record of wrongs.  You can also stop lending to that person so to speak.  With forgiveness, you may need to say, “I can’t be around you anymore,” or “here are the boundaries I need to be able to be around you.”  That’s ok.  I doubt the king in Jesus’ story continued to lend to the servant from whom he had forgiven all that debt.  

Forgiveness is letting go of the hurt and the desires for vengeance.  Remember that love is the idea, love of self and love of the other, and love as forgiveness releases us and each other from the dark, heavy cloak of vengeance.  Then love lets us be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak of forgiveness, healing, and love.   

  

Love keeps no record of wrongs, but our brains do, don’t they?  Our brains keep a record of wrongs; our emotions keep a record of wrongs.  They keep these records in our bodies, in our neural pathways, in our senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing, sound.  The record of wrongs is written all over, in, and through our bodies, and so it takes work to erase that record.  It takes work to unburden ourselves and to truly forgive.  

Now, back to the idea of forgiving someone 490 times, back to the idea of using a prayer bracelet to pray forgiveness over someone 14 times a day for 35 days.  Doing so would go a long way to help me actually forgive someone and release the burden of anger and resentment.  As I pray to forgive someone over and over, I start to rewire those neural pathways so that they are no longer focused on vengeance and resentment.  They become focused instead on love.  As I pray to forgive someone over and over, I begin to see that person as a broken and sick individual who needs love and healing just as I do.  So, forgiving someone 490 times, or 14 times a day for 35 days is probably a good start toward actually being able to forgive that person.  We pray over and over to forgive the person who has wronged us, and then we pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”  We pray this day after day, month after month, year after year, until our bodies no longer hold the records of wrongs done to us, for love keeps no record of wrongs.  

How often are we to forgive?  We are to forgive seventy-sevenfold.  As much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much we are to forgive.  We work daily at forgiveness, over and over again, and as we work at forgiveness the grip of the cloak of resentment begins to loosen and eventually falls off, and then, unburdened, we can be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak of forgiveness, healing, and love. 

When We Serve Others, They Are the Messiah to Us

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
August 23, 2020
Proper 16, A
Exodus 1:8-2:10

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

When We Serve Others, They Are the Messiah to Us

Y’all may have heard that there’s some sort of national presidential election thing coming up?  A presidential election is always an important event, but there seems to be almost messianic fervor in this election, either for Trump/Pence or for Biden/Harris.  This messianic fervor makes sense in a way; there’s a lot that is less than wonderful going on in our world right now:  COVID-19, hurricanes, economic downturn, murder hornets.  It’s little wonder that we want a messiah.  

Neither Trump/Pence nor Biden/Harrisis, however, is that messiah, and as a side note, those who support either one of them are neither evil incarnate nor stupidity incarnate.  

In our messianic fervor, however, we tend to view people that way.  We tend to see some as the messiah and others therefore as the anti-messiah, or the little “c” anti-christ.  We have a lot of deep and strong ire for those who support the one’s we don’t see as messiah, and unfortunately, we tend to act out of that ire and make the situation even worse.  In our desires to fix everything, we can end up breaking things even more.  Further, none of our little “m” messiah’s are going to actually save us all or fix everything, and deep down, we know this, and yet in the midst of chaotic and uncertain times, in our messianic fervor, we still want a messiah who will come and fix everything.

So, in the midst of our messianic fervor, who do we say the messiah is?  Who do we way Jesus is?  We say Jesus is messiah, and yet even Jesus did not fix everything the way we would want all of our little “m” messiah’s to do.    There are still problems in the world and challenges for us to overcome.  

Like us, the disciples wanted a messiah who would fix everything from their point of view, make everything the way they thought it should be.  They probably wanted a messiah who would bring about and rule over a physical kingdom, squashing their enemies and ruling with them on top, always bringing about what they knew to be right.  There would be winners and losers, those with power and those without power.  

That’s not the kind of Messiah Jesus was or is.

An illustration of the kind of messiah Jesus is came in a picture I saw on a friend’s Facebook page last week.  It was a picture of a sign posted in a church.  The sign read:

“Warning:  Articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy Communion.”

There were a variety of reactions to this church sign, and there were a couple of comments of, “Sad,” and “Well, that is kind of sad.”

The idea was, “How terrible that this would happen in a church.”  “We’re supposed to be better than that.”  “How could people who would steal be in a church?”  Is a church in which, “articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy communion,” the kind of church of a messiah.  Is that the kind of church Jesus had in mind when he said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it?”  Why yes, I believe it is.

A couple of other comments on that picture of “Warning:  Articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy Communion,” were:

We [the church] are a collection of screw ups...slowly transformed by walking together with Jesus...and we’re still a bunch of screw ups.

Another wrote:

I only want to be in a church where there’s a sign like this. It means all sorts and conditions of people are there to hear the gospel!!!

Still another wrote:

Too many times we want everyone else around us to be perfect.

We forget that a church is supposed to be a place where people come for healing, for hope, for redemption, for restoration, for love, [and] for grace

Sad? Absolutely not! …That church with that [warning] sign…[is] doing exactly what Jesus is doing: meeting people in their mess, in their imperfection and still loving them and giving them room to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Room to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ, that’s what we need from our messiah, and that’s what Peter had in his walk with Jesus.  He was transformed over years from a fisherman who kept on screwing up in his walk with Jesus, to the rock on which Jesus founded the church, who still screwed up from time to time.  Peter learned that having a messiah didn’t mean he was going to rule or to be served, but that he was going to be healed and strengthened so that he could serve, so that he could be a blessing. 

Who do we say Jesus is?  Is Jesus the one who makes us perfect so that we can be around other perfect people?  Nah.  That’s not who Jesus is, and that’s not what the church is.  The church is the broken, the beaten, the blessed, and the damned, people who need healing, gathering together for strength and support.  The church is people who are imperfectly following Jesus and receiving his love and grace, to be healed and blessed in order to bless others.

Neither presidential candidate is going to do that.  Neither is going to fix everything, and doing so is not what the messiah is in the first place.

You want to see the Messiah?  Don’t look to the one who is going to fix everything for you.  Look to those who help heal people in order that they may be a blessing to others.  There are all kinds of ways we can heal each other.  A kind word, a gentle touch.  Having compassion on and sticking with people in their challenges.  Sometimes it is helping others with their physical needs, or letting someone else help us with ours.  Sometimes people are blessings to us when they help us see our own faults so that we stop viewing others as the problem. 

If you want to see the Messiah, look to the helpers, as Mr. Rogers said, and if you want to see the Messiah, look to the ones whom you can help.  Matthew 25:31-46 tells us that we encounter Jesus in the hungry when we help feed them.  We encounter Jesus in the lonely and imprisoned when we visit them.  We encounter Jesus in the sick when we help care for them.  Being of service to others doesn’t make us the messiah.  When we are of service to others, we encounter them as the messiah.  When we are of service to others, we get out of our own minds, out of our own troubles and worries, and instead of being overwhelmed by our own challenges, we get to be a blessing.  Blessing others helps save us.  

Who do we say Jesus is?  Who do we say the messiah is?  The messiah is the one or the ones who heal us and save us often from ourselves, by drawing out of us the power we have with God to be a blessing to others.  The messiah helps heal us and helps us to see each other as fellow messed up people in need of healing.  The messiah helps us not to fix or change each other, but with God’s help to heal and bless each other, giving each other room and time to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus.

Love Is Our Religion

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

July 19, 2020

Proper 11, A

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

“Love Is Our Religion”

I spent last week at Camp Allen for Jr. High camp, and it was a great week.  There was lots of physical distancing, masks worn by all, and activities done outside which had previously been inside.  They did a great job of safety while still making it feel like camp; it was really wonderful, and kids who had spent years away from or largely ignoring their faith were brought back to their faith in powerful ways.

Our theme for the week was The Way of Love, which is Presiding Bishop Curry’s way of talking about they way of Jesus.  Our teachings at camp were about turning back to the way of Jesus when we realize we’ve been living in a way that isn’t really about love.  We talked about how we can continue to earn together the ways of Jesus, and how we can bless others and share with others the healing we have found through the way of Jesus, the Way of Love.

I taught on how we can be a blessing to others, and noted that the first thing we need to do is to recognize our own blessings.  In order to be a blessing to others, we can ask ourselves every day, for what am I grateful?  These daily gratitudes can be grand in scale or very small and simple, and if we write them down and then make a practice of sharing these gratitudes with others we begin each day by blessing others and being blessed by them.  

Then we also get to work daily on what we’re wrestling with.  What’s got us upset, angry, anxious, resentful, afraid?  Then, rather than focusing on some other person or situation that’s got us upset, we look inward to understand “What’s going on inside of me that I’m so bothered by whatever it is.”  We work on healing ourselves so that we can then bless others with peace in our hearts.  Otherwise, acting out of our anger and our hurt, we tend to fight against someone or something and bring more harm and hurt into the world.  In the Way of Love, we’re called to recognize our blessings, find peace within ourselves, and then be a blessing to others.  

The campers seemed to really dig that idea and seeking to be healed within oneself before trying to be a blessing to others, and one night, one of the boys cabins asked me to do “priest on a hot seat,” where they asked me any questions they wanted so they could learn more about the faith and hear some thoughts on issues they were wrestling with.  

What do I think about Christians who are against various groups of people?  I said, “I believe they are faithful in their beliefs, faithful to what they’ve been taught, faithful to their understanding of scripture.  I may disagree with them and often do, but I am not going to condemn them or declare them not to be Christian.  I will say that while I think they are wrong, they are also striving to be faithful.”  Now, that response goes against my initial instincts which are to fight against them and start a ruckus over how wrong they are. 

It is easy to feel righteous and even to feel like we’re doing good by fighting and speaking against those whom we feel are wrong and those we perceive as being hateful to others.  Speaking against those others and spending all our time fighting against them however, is not the way of Jesus, the way of love.  

If I’m spending all my time fighting folks who are against people that I claim to love, then I’m not spending that time loving those whom I claim to be defending.  

So, back to the question I was asked at Camp, rather than spend my time condemning the groups of Christians whom I felt were wrong, I spoke out for those people who were condemned by other Christians.  That was a loving response which may have helped some of the campers themselves realize they belonged to Jesus and weren’t condemned or cast out.

Let the weeds grow along with the wheat, Jesus said, so that we don’t all get damaged by pulling the weeds out.  Imagine if everyone who wanted to pull the weeds out of society or out of the church was able to do so.  There wouldn’t be any wheat left.  Everyone would be pulled up and cast out because everyone is a weed in someone’s eyes.  So, Jesus said to let them grow together, and leave the weeding to God at the end of the age.

We’re God’s garden after all, and rather than leave the weeding to us who are tossed about by our emotions and our brokenness, we leave the weeding to God who is not only loving, but who is love itself.  I can trust love to do the weeding.  There are parts in me that need to be weeded out.  There are parts in all of us that need weeding.  There are certainly parts of society that need weeding, so we leave the weeding to God who is love, and we follow in the way of Love, focusing on loving and blessing, rather than constantly fighting against others.  

So, in that vein, one final story from camp.  For one of our prayer activities, we taught the campers about and had them walk a labyrinth.  Now, many of the campers walked the labyrinth in a slow, fairly contemplative way, traditional of a labyrinth walk.  Some of the Jr. High boys, however, kind of skipped through it, walked backwards, shuffled, and goofed their way through it.  

My initial reaction was, “Well, they’re doing it wrong; they’re not taking it seriously, and I should correct that.”  Thankfully, I didn’t.  Rather than see them as weeds in the Labyrinth walk, I pointed out that for some of them, goofing and enjoying their was through the labyrinth was prayer.  I realized that the traditional ways and structures of prayer in the church don’t work for everybody.  Some of these kids needed to have fun, and that fun with their friends was prayer.  What those kids then heard was not, “we’re weeds and doing it wrong.”  Instead, they heard that they are wheat, and they belong just as much as their friends who could walk more contemplatively.  

Later that night, one of the boys talked with his counselor, his cabin mates, and me about how he had felt God walking along side him during the Labyrinth walk.  His full group of cabin mates all got to be there with him in that.  They all got to be wheat together with him.  If I had declared some of them as weeds?  How much would have been missed, how broken would that cabin had been with some of them feeling like they didn’t belong when their friend told that he had walked with God?  

We’ve all got weeds within us.  We are also all wheat.  God, who is loving and who is love itself will sort that all out.  We are not weed pullers; that is not our religion.  As disciples of Jesus, (and quoting Ziggy Marley), “love is [our] religion.”  Our place is to love one another, both the weeds and the wheat, and to grow together in the Way of Jesus, the Way of Love.