In the name of God, source of all being, eternal Word, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bill Pronzini is a mystery writer. He says there are only two stories in the world: some one goes on a journey; and a stranger comes to town. Some one goes on a journey; a stranger comes to town. In fact, there is only one story: just with two points of view.
Strangers came to our village: a pair of them. Fishermen, from Galilee, by the looks of them. Andrew, and the big quiet one, Peter. Rough hands. Rough voices. Rough manners…. They told us straight out – in fact, they blurted it, like bad news: the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. God’s rule is about to begin. Here. On earth.
In this village? I don’t think so, I said. The temple guards come and take their tax. The Romans come and take theirs. And then the tax collectors come again, for theirs.
But they had something to show us. Something to offer us. They healed the sick, they raised the dead – raised the dead! – and all in the name of one Jesus, of Nazareth.
He is the one, they said. The messiah. The one every body has been waiting for, to put things to rights. To put the temple people in their place – and send the Romans back to theirs.
No, no, no. Not yet: already, but not yet.
What’s that supposed to mean?
The kingdom of God is breaking in – like a thief in the night. The Romans cannot even see it; the temple proudies won’t know it until it’s right on top of them.
For now, prepare. Get ready. Tell the word – show the deed. The reign of God: it’s coming. Look sharp – starting acting like it. Start acting like God is in charge of the world. Start acting like the creator is the redeemer, the one who will bring us peace. The one we can rely on. To make us right with God, to make us free of our chains – our chains of misery and of hate and of fear, of suspicion and jealousy. The disease of human weakness, greed, power-hunger, lust, all its many symptoms: he will cure us.
He is curing us. Through these disciples he sent to us he is sending the word – the news. They act as his agents. They bring his message. And they show us the power – the power only the people of God could have.
They want us to join them. To carry the message beyond our village, beyond our borders, beyond our comfort zones – beyond any familiar territory. And they want us to begin by telling our neighbors, people like ourselves, as they have done, telling us.
They were Jews, like us. People who worked with their hands. People who prayed, too, with their hands – hands uplifted to God.
He sent them to us, first, the ‘lost sheep of the tribe of Israel’. For a season, we heard the message. And then they moved on, across the world, finding among us those who would travel with them, work with them, spreading the news and living the word.
Come with us, now: into the new world, the new millennium, the new age. Come into the kingdom of Heaven.
Because there are only two stories in the world – and really, there is only one: it is only a matter of perspective.
There are two kinds of people in the world – aren’t there? Jew and Gentile? Maybe, but maybe not: as Jesus taught us, as he showed us, all are welcome at God’s table.
AProper6 2008
The Readings for June 15th, the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6):
Genesis 18:1-15 * Psalm 116: 1, 10-17 * Romans 5:1-8 * Matthew 9:35-10:8
"There are only two kinds of people in the world - people who like oregano on their spaghetti and people who don't."--attributed to James Shelby
Showing posts with label Psalm 116. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 116. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
a simple act of service
First let me acknowledge that none of what I am about to tell you is original. I owe it all to three of my brothers in Christ, Paul, Stan, and Jerry.
Jerry was the bishop who saw me through from my first tentative expression of a desire to serve as a priest, to my ordination to the diaconate, my ordination to the priesthood, and most importantly to my marriage with Sarah. He showed me how to serve, and to aspire to be the servant of many. So, thanks to Jerry.
Stan I last saw at his wedding, in the Mount Hermon chapel at a summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he served as leader of outdoor education programs. When I first met him, he was organizing a Sierra Club chapter at our high school, and getting us together to celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 1970. He showed me the importance of Christian faith in the stewardship of the earth and showed ways to be of service there. So, thanks to Stan.
Paul – whom I will speak about for a bit longer than I did of the others – I last saw when I was a seminarian at St. Anselm’s, Lafayette, California, where he belonged. And when I realized who he was, I told him two stories – about himself. Which I will tell you now, he shrugged off – but which were great teaching moments for me. I had seen him first on New Year’s Eve 1968 when he was regional administrator of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (FWPCA) in the San Francisco area; he’d pulled together a conference that brought into one room people from all sides concerned with conservation of natural resources, and, a new word – ecology. There they were polluters and protesters alike – complete with jerks from the home office and guerilla theater acts. There was room for all of us under that one roof, and we got a chance to talk, and to learn. (I was a Boy Scout – so conservation was the word that got me in the room.)
I met Paul again – after high school and before seminary – when I was working for a summer in a U.S. civil service job, as file boy for the EPA office in San Francisco.
One day at the end of summer there was an unusual amount of activity among my senior clerks & typists: it was the end of the fiscal year and so the deadlines for getting out some grant letters.
They were all working feverishly against the deadline, as was the head of our division and her assistant. The middle managers all left at 5 – leaving the clerical staff and the senior managers to finish the job by midnight, when a postal clerk would meet us outside the post office to take our mail in just before the deadline.
We worked away, typing and photocopying, and addressing and labeling, into the hours of the evening – until all the copy machines on the floor gave up the ghost.
I know what to do! someone said. We can use the big machine in the copy room downstairs.
Usually it had a team of operators running it full time, but they had gone home, at 5, too. And the door was now locked.
I know what to do! someone said. We can break in through the regional administrator’s office next door.
And so they went downstairs –
-- and the door was open, and the light was on, and there, working late, was the head of the whole agency for the Western United States. The big boss. Paul.
What’s going on? He found out – and got up from behind his desk and ran the copy machine himself until the work was all done and the letters were in the mail and the deadline was met.
I told him, when I saw him those years later in Lafayette, that he had set an example of leadership for me, twice. Gathering the people together under one roof, so they could talk to each other. And getting in there and doing what needed to be done, setting an example and pitching in.
Aaaah, he waved it away. No big deal.
But still I think of Paul when I think of servant leadership.
Maybe there is some one you think of, too.
Of course. We turn from these modest examples of service to a story, a dramatic enactment, of true humility.
It had been a pretty good week, so far, for the disciples. They’d seen last Sunday the Romans shown up at their own game – as Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg told us in their book, The Last Week, the imperial progress of Pilate and his soldiers into Jerusalem was easily made ironic by the same-time scene of their Jesus entering the City on a donkey’s colt, saluted with palm branches, his path paved by overcoats.
This is real leadership, they seemed to say: to come not as judge but as savior, to be one of the people not their overlord.
And then he’d shown them up again, taking up a whip of cords and driving the moneychangers from the Temple. All that, and now, a gathering in an upper room, a meal together – a celebration of the passing over of Israel in Egypt and a hope for similar deliverance in the very near future, from Rome.
More than Rome was at stake, however. And the triumph would not be of this world: it would come only at the end of a long hard road that led to a cross – and only then beyond.
Jesus – the Messiah, as they had begun to think of him; Christ, the King of Kings – now we were at table with him; surely now we were in our element.
And then, he shows them what real leadership means: before he even takes the bread to give thanks and break it, before he takes the cup and shares it, he takes upon himself something that would surprise Moses, shepherd as he was, and even Abraham, the host of the angels. He gets up from his place at the table, and takes on the role of a servant. He does what only the lowest slave in the household would ordinarily do: he washes their feet.
They’d come a long way from Galilee, on foot mostly likely, on dusty roads, through crowds and countryside, village and town. This was no mere demonstration – it was real work. And Jesus does it. He washes their feet.
And so before he takes on that deeper humiliation we will recall tomorrow, he did what was ordinary, and uncelebrated: he served. And he still does.
And he invites us to join him, in his service.
JRL+
Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
May I speak in the Name of the Son,
in the Power of the Holy Spirit,
to the Glory of God the Father. AMEN.
Jerry was the bishop who saw me through from my first tentative expression of a desire to serve as a priest, to my ordination to the diaconate, my ordination to the priesthood, and most importantly to my marriage with Sarah. He showed me how to serve, and to aspire to be the servant of many. So, thanks to Jerry.
Stan I last saw at his wedding, in the Mount Hermon chapel at a summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he served as leader of outdoor education programs. When I first met him, he was organizing a Sierra Club chapter at our high school, and getting us together to celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 1970. He showed me the importance of Christian faith in the stewardship of the earth and showed ways to be of service there. So, thanks to Stan.
Paul – whom I will speak about for a bit longer than I did of the others – I last saw when I was a seminarian at St. Anselm’s, Lafayette, California, where he belonged. And when I realized who he was, I told him two stories – about himself. Which I will tell you now, he shrugged off – but which were great teaching moments for me. I had seen him first on New Year’s Eve 1968 when he was regional administrator of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (FWPCA) in the San Francisco area; he’d pulled together a conference that brought into one room people from all sides concerned with conservation of natural resources, and, a new word – ecology. There they were polluters and protesters alike – complete with jerks from the home office and guerilla theater acts. There was room for all of us under that one roof, and we got a chance to talk, and to learn. (I was a Boy Scout – so conservation was the word that got me in the room.)
I met Paul again – after high school and before seminary – when I was working for a summer in a U.S. civil service job, as file boy for the EPA office in San Francisco.
One day at the end of summer there was an unusual amount of activity among my senior clerks & typists: it was the end of the fiscal year and so the deadlines for getting out some grant letters.
They were all working feverishly against the deadline, as was the head of our division and her assistant. The middle managers all left at 5 – leaving the clerical staff and the senior managers to finish the job by midnight, when a postal clerk would meet us outside the post office to take our mail in just before the deadline.
We worked away, typing and photocopying, and addressing and labeling, into the hours of the evening – until all the copy machines on the floor gave up the ghost.
I know what to do! someone said. We can use the big machine in the copy room downstairs.
Usually it had a team of operators running it full time, but they had gone home, at 5, too. And the door was now locked.
I know what to do! someone said. We can break in through the regional administrator’s office next door.
And so they went downstairs –
-- and the door was open, and the light was on, and there, working late, was the head of the whole agency for the Western United States. The big boss. Paul.
What’s going on? He found out – and got up from behind his desk and ran the copy machine himself until the work was all done and the letters were in the mail and the deadline was met.
I told him, when I saw him those years later in Lafayette, that he had set an example of leadership for me, twice. Gathering the people together under one roof, so they could talk to each other. And getting in there and doing what needed to be done, setting an example and pitching in.
Aaaah, he waved it away. No big deal.
But still I think of Paul when I think of servant leadership.
Maybe there is some one you think of, too.
Of course. We turn from these modest examples of service to a story, a dramatic enactment, of true humility.
It had been a pretty good week, so far, for the disciples. They’d seen last Sunday the Romans shown up at their own game – as Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg told us in their book, The Last Week, the imperial progress of Pilate and his soldiers into Jerusalem was easily made ironic by the same-time scene of their Jesus entering the City on a donkey’s colt, saluted with palm branches, his path paved by overcoats.
This is real leadership, they seemed to say: to come not as judge but as savior, to be one of the people not their overlord.
And then he’d shown them up again, taking up a whip of cords and driving the moneychangers from the Temple. All that, and now, a gathering in an upper room, a meal together – a celebration of the passing over of Israel in Egypt and a hope for similar deliverance in the very near future, from Rome.
More than Rome was at stake, however. And the triumph would not be of this world: it would come only at the end of a long hard road that led to a cross – and only then beyond.
Jesus – the Messiah, as they had begun to think of him; Christ, the King of Kings – now we were at table with him; surely now we were in our element.
And then, he shows them what real leadership means: before he even takes the bread to give thanks and break it, before he takes the cup and shares it, he takes upon himself something that would surprise Moses, shepherd as he was, and even Abraham, the host of the angels. He gets up from his place at the table, and takes on the role of a servant. He does what only the lowest slave in the household would ordinarily do: he washes their feet.
They’d come a long way from Galilee, on foot mostly likely, on dusty roads, through crowds and countryside, village and town. This was no mere demonstration – it was real work. And Jesus does it. He washes their feet.
And so before he takes on that deeper humiliation we will recall tomorrow, he did what was ordinary, and uncelebrated: he served. And he still does.
And he invites us to join him, in his service.
JRL+
Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
May I speak in the Name of the Son,
in the Power of the Holy Spirit,
to the Glory of God the Father. AMEN.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Man Who Fell Among Thieves
CProper10 BCP
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 25 or 25:3-9
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy." (Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala, a prayer for peace, 1914)
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Then, neither is the man who was robbed.
As we begin to listen to the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask him or ourselves: Who are you? Responses could include, I am an individual, a person, a human being, a child of God; – or, we are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy: that the man who was robbed was Adam – any one of us, Augustine, you, or me; that the Samaritan – the outsider – was Jesus, and the inn, providing shelter for healing, was the home of the Holy Comforter, the Church.
What however was Jesus’ response to the lawyer, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the Good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
As preacher Fred Craddock points out, this is the first of two stories about the reign of God, about hearing, but not really listening, to the good news of what the reign of God means, who Jesus is, and who we are called to become. In this week’s story we learn about a lawyer who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Next week, we will hear about a woman named Martha who was anxious and distracted about many things, so busy doing that she forgot to be – just to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and listen to what he is saying.
Action – going and doing – and contemplation – sitting and listening – are both important in the life of the faithful, but either one points beyond itself to the call to conversion, the change of heart, that comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior and begin to take our place under the reign of God. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is part of a process, a transformation that is a continuing action of grace throughout the whole of your life. Hearing who Jesus is and what the reign of God is, and being changed by that Good News, whether you personally need to “go and do” or to “sit and listen”, is what matters.
The lawyer wanted to ‘get it right’, but getting it right is not the point: whether we need to become clearer in what we know of God, or whether we need to become better at doing God’s will, or whether we need to learn better how just to be in God’s presence – listening with an open heart; the point is to become transformed by the Good News into the people of the kingdom of God.
The lawyer didn’t get it – he thought he could ‘justify himself’ by getting it right: by winning an argument about what God really wants. Jesus was more concerned with – the coming into being of what God really wants – the work of grace in creation, in the lawyer, in you and me. This is not a game about winning, the prize ‘eternal life’: this is reality.
God really does want you to love your neighbor as yourself. And when you begin to see with God’s eyes, when you begin to live into the kingdom of God, you see who your neighbor really is. Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, the parable of a man who fell among thieves and the stranger who rescued him, which ends with the famous admonition, “Go and do likewise.” But before we go, he has already revealed to us something uncomfortable: our condition and the condition of our neighbor are in some ways interchangeable.
Who is my neighbor? Who was neighbor to the man who was robbed? The one who showed him mercy: your neighbor is the one who shows you mercy. If we could find ourselves in the place of the man who was robbed, before we cast ourselves in the role of the Good Samaritan, we might begin to understand what the kingdom is, and what God really wants. And what it is to inherit eternal life.
As pastor Barbara Crafton teaches us, faith is not subscribing to a list of propositions: it is a living relationship with God and with the world. It is a living relationship of love. Eternal life is not something locked away that you need a key or a secret entry code to gain access to – it is freely available. It is the opportunity to love, to live as a lover of God and neighbor. “And the Christ, who lives in you, also lives in each of them.”
The opportunity to love actually is all around.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away… No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe… Choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14, 19)
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
When did we find you by the side of the road, naked, beaten and bleeding, and treated your wounds and carried you to a safe place where you could be healed? When did we find you wandering through the desert, abandoned and alone and dying of thirst, and give you water and a way home to the homes of men?
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord, •
and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what the Lord God will say, •
for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful,
that they turn not again to folly.
Truly, his salvation is near to those who fear him, •
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together, •
righteousness and peace have kissed each other;
Truth shall spring up from the earth •
and righteousness look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give all that is good, •
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him •
and direct his steps in the way.
Psalm 85:7-13 (Common Worship)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 25 or 25:3-9
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy." (Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala, a prayer for peace, 1914)
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Then, neither is the man who was robbed.
As we begin to listen to the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask him or ourselves: Who are you? Responses could include, I am an individual, a person, a human being, a child of God; – or, we are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy: that the man who was robbed was Adam – any one of us, Augustine, you, or me; that the Samaritan – the outsider – was Jesus, and the inn, providing shelter for healing, was the home of the Holy Comforter, the Church.
What however was Jesus’ response to the lawyer, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the Good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
As preacher Fred Craddock points out, this is the first of two stories about the reign of God, about hearing, but not really listening, to the good news of what the reign of God means, who Jesus is, and who we are called to become. In this week’s story we learn about a lawyer who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Next week, we will hear about a woman named Martha who was anxious and distracted about many things, so busy doing that she forgot to be – just to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and listen to what he is saying.
Action – going and doing – and contemplation – sitting and listening – are both important in the life of the faithful, but either one points beyond itself to the call to conversion, the change of heart, that comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior and begin to take our place under the reign of God. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is part of a process, a transformation that is a continuing action of grace throughout the whole of your life. Hearing who Jesus is and what the reign of God is, and being changed by that Good News, whether you personally need to “go and do” or to “sit and listen”, is what matters.
The lawyer wanted to ‘get it right’, but getting it right is not the point: whether we need to become clearer in what we know of God, or whether we need to become better at doing God’s will, or whether we need to learn better how just to be in God’s presence – listening with an open heart; the point is to become transformed by the Good News into the people of the kingdom of God.
The lawyer didn’t get it – he thought he could ‘justify himself’ by getting it right: by winning an argument about what God really wants. Jesus was more concerned with – the coming into being of what God really wants – the work of grace in creation, in the lawyer, in you and me. This is not a game about winning, the prize ‘eternal life’: this is reality.
God really does want you to love your neighbor as yourself. And when you begin to see with God’s eyes, when you begin to live into the kingdom of God, you see who your neighbor really is. Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, the parable of a man who fell among thieves and the stranger who rescued him, which ends with the famous admonition, “Go and do likewise.” But before we go, he has already revealed to us something uncomfortable: our condition and the condition of our neighbor are in some ways interchangeable.
Who is my neighbor? Who was neighbor to the man who was robbed? The one who showed him mercy: your neighbor is the one who shows you mercy. If we could find ourselves in the place of the man who was robbed, before we cast ourselves in the role of the Good Samaritan, we might begin to understand what the kingdom is, and what God really wants. And what it is to inherit eternal life.
As pastor Barbara Crafton teaches us, faith is not subscribing to a list of propositions: it is a living relationship with God and with the world. It is a living relationship of love. Eternal life is not something locked away that you need a key or a secret entry code to gain access to – it is freely available. It is the opportunity to love, to live as a lover of God and neighbor. “And the Christ, who lives in you, also lives in each of them.”
The opportunity to love actually is all around.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away… No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe… Choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14, 19)
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
When did we find you by the side of the road, naked, beaten and bleeding, and treated your wounds and carried you to a safe place where you could be healed? When did we find you wandering through the desert, abandoned and alone and dying of thirst, and give you water and a way home to the homes of men?
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord, •
and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what the Lord God will say, •
for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful,
that they turn not again to folly.
Truly, his salvation is near to those who fear him, •
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together, •
righteousness and peace have kissed each other;
Truth shall spring up from the earth •
and righteousness look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give all that is good, •
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him •
and direct his steps in the way.
Psalm 85:7-13 (Common Worship)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Nathan Söderblom and the Good Samaritan
Today we remember the life and work of Nathan Söderblom, architect of the ecumenical movement of the 20th century, founder of the Life and Work movement that led to the World Council of Churches, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Swedish, born in 1866 and living until this date in 1931. Early in his life, at the age of 24, he visited the United States, and began to form his future ecumenical work through this prayer, recorded in his diary:
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy."
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus' response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy."
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus' response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
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