August 9, 2015: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
What a week – the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. The beginning of debate season for the 2016 Presidential election. Deaths in New York City due to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. North Korea decides they want their own time zone. The hunter who killed Cecil the lion is now the hunted. And the Mets are in first place! (okay, maybe that last one is the one that would be the answer to “which of these does not belong”). But it was a week, well, as so many weeks, where the human condition was an array of pain, anger, joy, humor, and absurdity. I’ll let you decide which of the events this week match those descriptions. What does that have to do with all of us? Well…a lot.
In the letter to the Ephesians read this morning, we are given a framework for how to live as followers of Christ. The author writes: “Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another… Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear… Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us…”
If ever we needed an answer to how we are to live, it is summed up in this single passage.
“…be kind to one another…be imitators of God…live in love as Christ loved us”
Now, a smart preacher would leave it there – what else needs to be said, right? But, never let it be said that I am a smart preacher.
The truth the author of Ephesians would want us to speak today is that there is a great deal of unkindness around the world. The 70th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a reminder of that – the devestation was beyond anything one could imagine – much like the holocaust was when it was discovered what was happening under Hitler’s rule. And in 70 years, while we have managed to prevent thus far the use of nuclear weapons, we have not stopped the wars, the genocides, the hate and violence. It makes me angry, and it should make all of us angry – that is why the Epistle tells us to “be angry,” because the reality is, that “there are times when not being angry would be a sin. There should be anger against all the effects of injustice and oppression, both inside and outside the church.”[1]
Yet, “it may not be a coincidence that this call to speak truth is followed by a call not to let anger become the occasion for sin.” [I was justified in being angry about the senseless killing of Cecil the Lion by an American Dentist who pays money to have the joy of killing. And,] “the church ought to be the place where the truth can be spoken: the difficult truths about our world and about ourselves, and the gracious truth about the God who has redeemed us.”[2] But anger about injustices can sometimes cross into injustice itself. I found myself enjoying that the hunter had become the hunted by people here at home – I wanted retribution for what he had done to the beautiful creature of God. This is the anger turned to sin. And just as a reminder, sin is not what we may have been beaten up with when we were younger. Sin is turning away from God, coming out of relationship with God and one another. Redemption is turning back – it is reconciliation.
There are other examples of this sin at work too. Just look at what happens during elections, from both sides of political spectrum. People posting things on Facebook or tweeting or emailing the most horrific comments about those running for office – the same folks who on Sunday come to church and claim an identity as Christians. Now, I know that sometimes, most times, politicians say things that for the life of me makes me question the idea that humans are the smartest of God’s creation. But that isn’t what is sinful here. Where we go wrong is not when we disagree, but when that disagreement becomes personal. When the anger over what someone says or does becomes vitriol launched at that person. Then we have crossed a line. Then we have sinned. Think it’s not all that bad? In 2008, Hillary Clinton was called a bitch, Barack Obama names I won’t repeat from this pulpit, and Sarah Palin was hung in effigy. It was unbelievable, and it is still going on today.
What about speaking truth to power, as we learned we need to do from last week’s scripture? Are we not to stand up boldly and stand against what is wrong – be a “Nathan Nation”? Yes, of course. But speaking truth isn’t without its own slippery slope too. We all know of folks who are “rather skilled in using a self-justifying excuse of “speaking the truth” as a cover for […] efforts to manipulate, retaliate, and tear down others.” The truth, about truth, is that sometimes it is not meant to be said at all.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” – whoever first uttered those words was probably crying to himself in some dark closet at the time — “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart,” [would be more accurate.] If words weren’t capable of hurting us more deeply and more permanently than any weapon of metal or wood, then there would be a lot of therapists out looking for other careers.”[3]
The thing is, our words can be a potent instrument of love, and peace, and justice…and also of hate, and abuse, and oppression. It is an unfortunate thing that in this age of technology, what we say can often happen without filter in a moment of reaction, and often we feel empowered to say it even more from the anonymous bully pulpit of the internet. And yet, far too often we so wish we could undo the moment we hit send on a tirade filled email or tweet… So many would like to remove the shoe that invariably fills our mouths from time to time. It is most especially now, when things happen so quickly, that we need to remember the old adage: “Before you speak, stop and think -Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Will it hurt anyone? Will it improve on the silence?” And, if you still answer that it is okay to attack a person, rather than their words or actions, go back to step one and think again. Or, perhaps think this way – insert the name of a person you like into your words – does it still sound right to you?
It reminds me of a middle school teacher who handed out different products (toothpaste, styling gel, ketchup, etc.) to all her students and asked them to squeeze out all of the contents onto some tables she had set up in the gym. Once everything was out of each container the teacher asked the students to put the contents back into the containers. As hard as the students tried, they just couldn’t do it. The teacher said “In the moment, you were so consumed with what you were doing that you didn’t realize the mess you were making. Then, after it was so quickly and easily poured out, you realized it was impossible to put it all back in. Remember this for the rest of your lives when it comes to words that come out of your mouth.”
We need to speak truth, and be angry at injustice, but we also need to understand our role as healers in a broken world to ensure we speak and act in a way that allows us to live as we should. We are called to a higher standard, but we so often find it hard to live into. Think about it for a moment. Picture in your minds someone, perhaps a political figure, or a family member, or a co-worker, with whom you really disagree…now…cast them in your mind as a beloved child of God. Try it… not easy is it.
No one said Christianity was a walk in the park. But does that mean we are destined to fail always at this imitators of God stuff?
“Brian McLaren tells of hearing scientist and business-management expert Peter Senge address a gathering of Christian pastors and leaders. Senge posed a question: “Why are books on Buddhism so popular, and not books on Christianity?” Senge’s answer was this: “I think it’s because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, and Christianity presents itself as a system of belief.”[4]
Senge had a point, but he was wrong. Christianity is a way of life, we just haven’t always lived it the way we should. So, how do we live this life? How do we “be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us…”? We practice.
There’s an old story about golf champion Ben Hogan. After Hogan had won a major tournament, a reporter asked him: “How is it that, under pressure, you’re able to hit so many miraculous shots?” After reflecting for a moment, Hogan answered, “I guess I’m just lucky.” “But, Mr. Hogan,” the reporter came back, “you practice more than any golfer who ever lived.” “Well,” Hogan said, “the more I practice, the luckier I get.”
Now, the thing about golf that is as true for Ben Hogan as it is for the amateur – no matter much you practice, it doesn’t make perfect as the adage alleges – just watch a PGA or LPGA tournament on TV – you’ll see loads of golf balls going where they really shouldn’t. But see, the idea of perfection is a mirage…and it isn’t what God expects of us. If it were, we wouldn’t speak so much about forgiveness and mercy.
Practice for a Christian isn’t about achieving perfection, but about living into the journey. The theologian Martin Luther once said, “This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.”
Our lives as Christians are to continue to imitate God. Imitators are never the real thing, but strive always to fool people into seeing the person they are imitating right? What if we were to try every day to fool people into believing we are God?” No, not the way some folks THINK they are God, but what would we have to do for people to feel they had encountered love, forgiveness, mercy, gentleness, kindness…all that God is and gives to us? What would that require of us? It would mean that we would “live in love as Christ loved us.”
Jesus tells us in the gospel readings these past two weeks that he is the bread of life. His very life is life giving to others. We are the body of Christ alive today, and we must ask ourselves – are we life giving to others, or do we leave people feeling hungry in our wake? We need to practice every day at being imitators of God. And, how do we practice being this bread of life? How do we practice being imitators of God, where those who see us, see Christ? Well, perhaps this story will help:
There was a monastic community to whom nobody came to retreat or to join the order. As the monks grew old, they became more and more disheartened because they couldn’t understand why their community was not attractive to other people. Now in the woods outside the monastery there lived an old rabbi. People came from all over to talk to him about the presence of God in creation. The abbot decided to go speak with the rabbi. The abbot asked the rabbi if he had any insight into the work of God in their lives, that their monastery might thrive. The rabbi replied, “I have the secret and I will tell you once. You may tell each monk and then none of you is ever to repeat it to one another.”[5]
The abbot agreed, and the rabbi looked at him long and hard and said, “The secret is that among you, in one of your order, is the Messiah!” The abbot went back to this community and told each monk the secret. And then…it happened! As they began to search for the Messiah in one another they grew, they loved, they became very strong, very prophetic. “From that day on, the community saw Christ in one another and flourished!”
For us to live as imitators of God, we must see God in one another, and in all of creation. That is living as Christ lived, loving and healing in this broken world. It isn’t something to be done only with those we like, but most especially with those we don’t. And for that to happen, it can’t be something to be practiced only on Sundays, but every day. We all need to practice being the bread of life for others with the folks we are least able to love. It is the only way we will grow into our life as imitators of God. If you are a republican, kiss a democrat – a democrat, kiss a republican (no not literally). But, if you find loving that person as a child of God hard to do – practice, practice, practice. Because if you think it is hard to love a person who disagrees with you politically, how possibly will you be able to imitate the one who said “love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you.” And no, we can’t resort to our childhood, point to other Christians and say “well, they’re not doing it, so why do I have to.” When we stop to think about it, treating someone whose opinions we dislike is not nearly has hard as what the Amish parents of children killed at their school in 2006 did – forgiving the shooter and caring for his widow. It isn’t as hard as what the brothers of Taize did when their beloved founder, Br. Roger, was knifed to death during Evening Prayer – they took care of the perpetrator, praying for her and visiting her with flowers in prison. My God, can we not then see our brother or sister on the other side of the political aisle with as much grace? How can we claim to be Christians and do otherwise?
To be sure, it isn’t always the big gestures of forgiving someone who has killed a loved one. Usually, it is about responding to hate with anything but.
Now, I may be a Mets fan, but there’s a story I want to share about something that happend at Yankee Stadium. See, up there with the democrat/republican animosity is one that folks in this area know well – The Red Soxs/Yankees. The story goes that when “Boston Red Sox player Wade Boggs played third base at Yankee Stadium, one of the Yankee fans made it a personal mission to harass him. The man had a box seat close to the field and would torment Boggs with obscenities and insults for the duration of every game. Finally, Boggs decided he’d had enough. As the man began his typical insult routine at the next game, Boggs walked directly over to the man, who was sitting with a group of friends. “Are you the guy who’s always yelling at me?” Boggs asked. “Yeah, it’s me. Whatcha gonna do about it?” responded the man belligerently. Wade took a new baseball out of his pocket, autographed it, tossed it to the man, and went back to the field to continue his pre-game routine. The man became one of Wade’s biggest fans at Yankee Stadium.
Boggs had a choice – he could have met anger with anger, but chose to meet anger with generosity. We have a choice – we can respond to our brothers and sisters in the world from a place of love, or a place of hate. One will feed, the other will starve. Which do you want to be?
If we think of it that way – if we consider that our practice, our daily quest to imitate God, can feed others who hunger for love, mercy, and justice…then maybe practicing won’t seem such a big thing. And maybe, just maybe, as each day goes by, as we become better imitators of God, it also won’t be so hard either. We just might get as lucky at being a Christian as Ben Hogan was at golf.
Amen.
[1] Commentator Brian Peterson, Prof. of NT, Lutheran Southern Seminary.
[2] Ibid.
[3] homileticsonline.com
[4] Brian McLaren, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices (Nelson, 2008), 2-4.
[5] Common story known as “The Rabbi’s Gift” as told by Joan Chittister.
[Sermons as written may not be as delivered on any given Sunday]The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
August 9, 2015
Pentecost 11 – Year B – Track 1
1st Reading – 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
2nd Reading – Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Gospel – John 6:35, 41-51
