Beyond Innocence

 

Nah, nah, nah ---- nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey,  goooood bye …. How many of you have ever heard that chant? When do we sing it, or if you are a little on the shy side when do others sing it? That chant belts out when the game is won. When the Vancouver Canucks vanquish the hated Leafs. When the BC Lions defeat the Calgary Stampeders or the Saskatchewan Roughriders. When the Soviet Union crumbled and the North American way of life seems so strongly victorious just a little over 20 years ago didn't we all want to stand up and sing "Nah, nah, nah --- nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey, GOOOODBYE?"

 

Now not everyone sings this song outwardly. But for many of us it's an inward reality. How we want to win! How we want to be #1, at school, at work, as a country even in our neighborhoods. It feels good to feel on top of the world. However doesn't "being on top" necessitate that others, perhaps even many others, would be below us, underneath us, in some sense bearing all our weight?

 

What happens then? What happened in 1994 when the Canucks almost won a Stanley Cup? How do people act even when they are "winners" and so many others are then at least in many peoples' eyes, "losers"? Yes, what happens when some of us have an incredibly rich lifestyle – and many other people's children don't even have crumbs to eat, or safe water to drink or any toilet to use? What happens in our world when 1000's of children die every day even as our children wrestle with which new fashion they should buy, or demand a new cell phone or blackberry? Isn't the result of such "top-downness" division, unrest, hatred and ultimately even terrorism? If the roles were somehow reversed and "our" children and grandchildren were starving and dying of preventable diseases while others had so much more than what they could ever need, well, how would we feel? What would we do then?

 

Jesus is teaching his disciples. Or at least he is trying to teach his disciples. But they aren't quick to understand. It's not that he is an incompetent teacher. It's not that he gives them the message only once, or merely a few times. He tries again and again and again to teach them. Nor does he employ only words. Like any excellent teacher he tries to teach employing many different approaches. Oh yes Jesus uses words: "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But the disciples don't get it. Mark tells us that they were afraid to ask him about it.

 

So Jesus tries again. He uses actions. He feeds a multitude. He cures a boy who is seriously ill, one who has what the people of that time described as a "demon". Jesus even takes his 3 closest disciples and shows them that those who were once dead, Elijah and Moses, are brought back to life.

 

Then, in one of Jesus' finest teaching moments, he places a child in their midst. Please understand - children in Jesus' time were dealt with very differently than children in Canada or the US today. Then children along with women had little or no rights. They couldn't own anything. Prior to reaching the age of puberty children were property of their fathers. They were at his beck and call, the mercy of any and all his decisions. This could often be a good thing if your father was wise, loving and benevolent. But on the other hand… To sum this up, children were extremely vulnerable on every level. Childhood diseases, infant mortality claimed many of their lives far too early.

 

Thus, when Jesus places a child in the midst of his disciples he isn't pointing to the child's innocence or natural beauty. Instead as Jesus takes that child up in his arms and says, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me", he is attempting to teach them some more about what it actually means to follow him.

 

Jesus deeply desires people to follow Him so that they may have life. Such life is rich, full of meaning, purpose and hope. Such life cannot be held captive by fear or death in any of its forms. Following Jesus leads through a death to oneself, to life, that in Biblical terms, "begets" life, leads to "more" life for others and yes, ultimately even for oneself.

 

In embracing this child and literally commanding all who follow him to so welcome such "children", Jesus is pointing to any and all who are vulnerable, hurting, in need of love and care. He is saying that those who follow Him will work, give of themselves, invest themselves in receiving and caring for and with those who are vulnerable.

 

Can you imagine what our world could be like if we all took this as our mandate? .

 

Please know that I am not saying that competition is always bad or destructive. There are times when we are pushed to learn more, to grow more, to care more because of competition. But so often, far too often, competition and our human rivalry, insecurity to try to be # 1 leads to division, to a false conviction that we are some how better or worse than others because of our performance. This is not true!

 

So, see Jesus. His love for us is before and beyond any of our performance. His love for us is because of God being God, of God wanting to deliver all people and all creation  from the power of evil and death. We can not have any greater worth than what God gives us as a gift through Jesus Christ's life, suffering, death and resurrection! 

 

Megan (the young child being baptized this morning) child of God… George, James, Michelle, Louise, Alex, Bente, Carrie, Elizabeth, Sarah – CHILD OF GOD! Nor is this love of God in Christ only words. Jesus embodies such love, what he actually is calling us to – in his suffering, death and resurrection.

 

I am not sure that we can ever fully understand this. After all Jesus was delivered into the hands of men, human hands and they, that is we human beings killed him! He who would care for all, calls us to care for all. In such active caring and sacrificing we are moved to learn, to grow, to give of ourselves, to absolutely refuse to sacrifice others for us. 

 

Even though we don't understand – Jesus keeps on loving, keeps on teaching.

 

Lord forgive us. Help us to know that we can ask you any and all kinds of questions. May God help us to follow God's own Son, this Son of Man – as we seek to embrace those who are most vulnerable, taking them into our arms and receiving them not merely with words but in the many ways we live our lives. Such action is, by God's grace, following Jesus. And then many, many, will be blessed to experience the very love of God. God help us so to live. Amen.   

Ephphatha

 

Mark 7:24-37), September 6, 2009,  14^th Pentecost)

 

I want to begin with a question: "What does Jesus mean to you?" Another way of thinking about this is asking, "Who is Jesus in your life?" I will give you about 15 seconds to think about this question – and then if you are willing I am going to ask you to talk to the person beside you or in front of you for about 15 or 30 seconds and share with them who Jesus is for you. As you speak to each other please employ words that you both can understand. Avoid words like redemption, salvation or even Saviour, unless you can describe in other, everyday words, what those terms mean for you. Please also listen to the other person's response to the question, so that you can hear about their experience and understanding of Jesus. (Pause)

 

What was that like?

 

Peter Marty, a Lutheran Pastor in our sister church in the U.S., the ELCA spoke in a published sermon some time ago of a research project done in his Church. According to the findings of this project 90% of the teenagers surveyed, active in their Church could not tell you what their parent or parents believed. 90%! They didn't know. Marty then raises the revealing question: If adults cannot meaningfully and regularly speak of their faith, how will our faith, our trust in God through Jesus Christ ever be passed on?

 

Now, we can and do speak about some things. I know that a number of men often speak passionately about sports, politics, business. Some of such discussion involves hypotheticals. We are speaking from a distance. We are not the ones actually making the decisions and living with the consequences of those decisions: of sending Canadian soldiers into Afghanistan or decreasing the social safety net to balance a budget. We are not the ones who call the parents or spouse of a soldier who has been killed. Nor are we frequently the ones who see people sleeping on the street because our mental health institutions have been closed to save money and people have been forced to try to cope against insurmountable odds.  Nor are many of us intensely training day after day to be a professional athlete, from the time we are only 14 or 15. Yes, someday such athletes may make millions of dollars. But for everyone who does 100's if not 1000's don't. But all would be professional athletes invest their lives in their pursuits. This involves great sacrifice. 

 

Now I suspect that women also have passionate conversations about a number of things but being male, I am not in a position to so speculate. My point is that we do not hesitate to speak about that which matters to us.

 

Yet when it comes to our faith, we Lutherans are often tongue-tied. Others may make comments about Christianity – and often we say nothing. Others may take stands about peace and justice issues, about homelessness, about economics – and we may simply keep our "point of view" to ourselves.

 

Why is that?

 

Are we aware of whom we trust? Do we actually experience God's presence in this world, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus? Is His presence good news for us? Does that reality, Christ's presence in our lives lead us to new beginnings with each other, with creation? Does God in Jesus not only show us, but move us to know that death and all its powers do not and cannot control us? Does Christ's presence lead us to a living freedom – being free to love, free to act with and for others- whatever the consequences? God is present. God will not abandon us!

 

If all of this is true and we know it, not just intellectually but are open to hearing God each and every day as God speaks through God's word, through the Sacraments, through other people and creation – then why are so reluctant to tell others, to show others, to be unashamed of our faith – not in arrogant but in natural ways ongoing ways?

 

Some people say that they do not want to force "their views" on someone else. But I ask, "aren't our views, our convictions, our experiences as followers of Jesus even in (especially in?) our Lutheran tradition very good news? Don't we realize that not everyone knows that they are important to God and to us? Don't we realize that not everyone knows that money and the economy are not God? Don't we and others need to know that we don't need to be paralyzed by fear or anyone or anything because God is God? Can we not see that in Jesus God is for us and for the well being of all others and all creation?

 

Now if we are to live out our faith in the everyday stuff of our lives, we ourselves will need to be articulate and honest about our faith and honest with ourselves. We will need to continually be learning, growing and open in our trust of God in life. This necessarily will involve discipline and vulnerability. We will need to read and reflect, to listen as we live and pray. This means that we will actually PRACTICE OUR FAITH, day by day, week by week, month by month, for as long as we live.

 

Our children, our grandchildren, our friends, our spouses know us. They know what matters to us, how we spend our money, how we treat all others, including family, friends, colleagues and people in business. They know how we treat our own bodies by what we eat and drink. They truly know us. So if we share who we are with them in terms of our faith, our convictions they will be able to see the integrity or lack thereof in both what we say and do. Our families and friends know when we don't live up to what we claim to believe.

 

I remember one of our daughters saying when she was merely 5 or 6, "But daddy you don't always love people." Unfortunately she was and is right! What else could I then say to her but, "That's why I need your forgiveness! And yes, my girl, daddy is trying to do better at loving each and every person." 

 

Living from our trust in Jesus and trying to do His will, necessitates the ongoing transformation of our lives, a transformation which God through the Holy Spirit alone can be working in us, through the means of grace, the Word and Sacraments. Word is a huge thing, meaning Jesus the Christ, the Scriptures and any ways that we hear God speaking to us. Such transformation in our lives is miraculous. Dying and rebirth are involved here and now! We need this miracle daily. And our world needs this miracle in and through us.

 

What we do what does matter. We all have our priorities. These may be conscious or unconscious. Whatever they are we live from our priorities. In our first Gospel story a non-Jewish woman refuses to obey the social taboos of her day. She refuses because her daughter is ill. Her daughter needs help. In asking for, demanding this help, this mother is not to be denied! It didn't matter to her that women were not to speak in public. It ultimately didn't matter to her that women like her, Gentiles, were forbidden to approach or touch Jewish men. What does matter to her is that her daughter is sick. She dares to hope, she believes that Jesus can help her daughter. From that faith, that hope, she approaches Jesus. She bows down at his feet. She begs him to make her daughter well.

 

And Jesus, this very human Jesus, raised in that particular milieu of Jewish culture says something that is offensive to me. He says to that woman begging for her child's well being,  "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Jesus is referring to this woman and to her sick child as dogs.   

 

But this mother moves beyond any such offense. She refuses to take this rebuff as a final answer. She is advocating for her daughter. Her love for her daughter is paramount. It will not be turned back by shame or embarrassment or even insult. So, this mother replies to Jesus, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

 

And Jesus' mind is changed. He is opened to a new way. Because of what comes out of her mouth, this mother's word, Jesus declares the child well. 

 

A second story quickly follows. Friends of a deaf man with an impediment in his speech bring him to Jesus. These friends love this man. Their love translates into action. They beg Jesus to lay his hand on him. If Jesus seems more than a bit removed from the Gentile woman in the first story, now he may seem a bit uncomfortably close and intimate to this deaf man. Jesus takes the deaf man aside. Jesus places his fingers in the man's ears (ooo!!!), spits and touches the man's tongue.  Then we are told that Jesus looks skyward, sighs or grunts and says, "Ephphatha!" which means, "be opened" or "open up". And then the man is able to speak clearly.

 

What will it take for us individually and for our Church as a whole to speak clearly of Jesus and his love with both our words and actions? What will it take for us to use a poker term, to be all in?

 

Our world desperately needs to experience the love of Christ through our lives, our words and our deeds! 

 

Christ is saying to us, OPEN UP! Are we open to the moving Spirit of Jesus Christ who so deeply loves the world? Will we dare to become more vulnerable, to not be deterred by shame or insult so that His love is enacted?

 

May God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, open us, move us and free us to reflect Christ's love in word and deed here and now, individually and together. Ephphatha! Amen..