Another shooting. Now what do we do?

Psalms 112: 1-10      Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16

Luke 14: 7-147 

When Jesus noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I always wonder, as a pastor, how and if I should speak to events in our world directly. Should I bring up the latest tragedy or should I just move on with the lectionary. Often I find I can do both. 

Here we are with another school shooting, just as our own children head back to school. How do we bear it? For the sake of our spiritual and mental health, I have decided that to ignore the events around us only makes them simmer and become harder to bear. God made us a community because he knew we must encourage one another and speak truth.

And of course while the incident taking place in the midst of a church service does not make the tragedy any more horrific, it does, as we sit here in church, seem even more hauntingly real.

What do we do?  Too often as I watch world events I become so overwhelmed I want to just quit. I want to pull the covers over my head and pretend it will all go away. Does any one else find yourself sucked into this quick sand of despair and hopelessness and inactivity?

I would like to share a story with you that I read years ago that left a lasting impression on me. It may not seem to immediately speak to my opening statements but please bear with me.  I pray the Spirit will speak if I can’t.

There were three travelers that had set out to cross the desert together. It was hot. They were thirsty and weary. They saw just ahead of them an oasis. It was an absolutely beautiful sight! With the promise of rest and water in front of them they traveled on with a little more gusto. 

When the first traveler arrived the caretaker of the oasis came out to greet him and offer him a drink of cool water. The traveler readily agreed to it but as the caretaker held out the ladle of water the traveler noticed leprosy on the caretaker’s hand. He immediately pushed the ladle away in disgust and left in a huff. 

The second traveler also arrived at the oasis, and as he gladly reached out for the ladle the caretaker offered, he too became appalled and left without drinking.

The third traveler came to the oasis thirsty and tired. Once again the caretaker came out to serve the weary traveler. He dipped the ladle into the cool water from the well and offered it to the traveler. The traveler’s eyes settled on the caretaker’s hand and arm. The leprosy was apparent. But out of need, the traveler took the ladle to drink. As the traveler reached out for the ladle, his eyes fell upon his own flesh and he saw his own leprosy. Still, he was able to drink, rest, and be revived.

Our third traveler set once again on the journey. As he walked, he came upon the other two travelers lying in the sand. Their canteens still carried water. Truly, it was not thirst that had killed them but….well you guess.

Ultimately, the story finishes, we are all but lepers offering another leper a cool cup of water. Or receiving one.

It struck me that Jesus came to bring wholeness to our world. But even with all they he did, too often we refuse what he offers. Still, knowing the heart of humanity did not stop Jesus from doing what he was sent to do.  And so, in the name of Jesus we keep on doing all that we are able. All that we are called to do. And in fact, today’s scripture readings give us a wonderful road map of what that looks like.

We read:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. They might be angels.

Remember those in prison, those being tortured as if it were you in their place. Do what you can. Pray, minister and speak up. Just as you would hope someone would if it was you.

Live lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. That’s how we begin to save the environment.

Do good. Share what you have.

Throw a party for those who cannot repay you. For those in need. 

Keep your hearts humble. Don’t be too quick to judge.

Will these things stop mass shootings? Probably not. But you never know. That stranger you showed Christ’s love to may just have been on the brink of breaking. They say we are all just one step away from our own breaking points. The prisoner you visited or wrote a note to may find that there is more than anger and judgement in this world. And the money you offer the beggar may keep him from mugging another out of desperation. We just can’t know how it will all work out. Perhaps that one traveler went on to change the world!

In humility the caretaker of the oasis accepted his own leprosy, his own humanity, and was thus able to care for others who were also lepers, also very human. How can one truly condemn another, turn away from another, when one’s own sins are acknowledged. True and honest humility (not self deprecation) will not disable but rather empower.

Will this change the world? I don’t know. I like to think of the ripples a single stone thrown in the middle of a pond can make. Reaching ever outward. Wider and wider.

And the psalmist says that person who is generous and just will be happy and blessed. The one who delights in the words of the Lord.

I guess what I am saying is that there is so much in our world that breaks our hearts. It can make us not want to know. Not want to have hope and believe in the goodness of God’s creation. It can leave us in despair.

But in fact, what God has called us to do is all that needs to be done. It is what Jesus did. It is how, we as the body of Christ together, can change first our corner of the world and then onward. It seems too simple.

Stay focused on God’s call. Hear the Spirit’s prompting. Let go of pride and greed and fear. “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Or as Micah so succinctly put it:

God has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

    And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

    and to walk humbly with your God.

Although many may refuse what we offer, God’s love for this world, we can still have the opportunity to bring hope to one leper at a time. And you may one day be that leper in need of a cup of water. I pray another will be there for you.

Thanks be to God.

Would you pause now with me for a moment of silence to hear what the Spirit may be speaking to our hearts?

Hallelujah! Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.

“you must believe, boy. You must….believe.” (Sean Connery) August 9&10 @ Zion Clinton

And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Gen 15:7

The only thing that I can imagine more important to our walk with God than faith, is of course love. As Paul writes to the Corinthians:  “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” 

I try to imagine Abram, living in the place he had grown up, in very comfortable and familiar surroundings,  and then packing up all his things and leaving simply on faith that God had spoken and would be faithful. Not even knowing where God was sending him. No road map, no GPS, no guide, other than pure faith.

Yes, Bruce and I packed up and moved across the country to a little church on an island in Iowa. But I knew exactly where I was being called. And you bet I had my GPS. In fact for the first year, almost everywhere I went was via GPS. 

Abram had no home ready for him to move into, no address to which to forward his mail, not even a dot on a map to point to. I just can’t imagine.

There is a scene in a movie that always comes to mind when I think about what this kind of faith looks like. Does anybody else like the Indiana Jones movies? You know if I was really any good at this I would have more contemporary examples than last week’s Harry Chapin and this week’s Indiana Jones.  But alas, here I am.

So it was in the 1989 movie, “The Last Crusade.”  Man that was a long time ago!

On the hunt for the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus had used at the Last Supper, Indie’s father, played by Sean Connery (be still my heart), had been shot by the Nazis and lay on the cave floor dying. In order to save his father Indie had to retrieve the cup. The last of the three tasks Indie was to face was: "Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth." 

The scene is burned in my memory, it left such an impression on me. He stands at the entrance of the cavern looking down into a rather massive abyss. On the other side of this chasm is the doorway to the cave where the cup is believed to be. 

Indie closes his eyes and says “It’s a leap of faith.” And his father (sigh Sean) breathes “you must believe, boy. You must….believe.” The music plays, Indie takes a deep breath, lifts his foot, holding it for a moment over the canyon, and steps out, or more accurately falls forward into what would seem to be a fast plummet to his death. And of course, his foot lands on an invisible bridge. Cautiously, suggesting he still could not see where each step would land, he goes to the cave across the way and retrieves the Holy Grail. Thus saving the life of Sean Connery, oh I mean Indie’s father!

Indie had to believe the risk was worth it, that the cup would be where he was told and it would heal his father. He had to believe in the cup (that it would bring healing), the map to the cup( that it knew where to go) and that stepping out wouldn’t be his demise. 

I can think of no better picture of what faith looks like than that scene. Either of Abram’s faith to travel to an unknown destination or of our faith to believe that “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God’s delight is to give you the same power that raised Christ from the grave. 

Or in fact the faith to simply believe that God is. I can close my eyes and breathe in, “knowing” God as the psalmist calls us to. But in the physical world, well God can’t be proven only believed.

This is the faith we are called to no matter what the chasm before us looks like. No matter how deep or how hopeless it appears.

And what exactly is it that such faith gets us? Probably not the very cup that Jesus used at the last supper. Something, in fact, far greater than that. Righteousness. Abram’s faith was counted to him as righteousness.

To better appreciate this let’s consider this word righteousness. Too often the idea of following all the rules is attributed to righteousness. Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. Daily devotions, long prayers, tithing, and showing up at church every time the doors open. I would say that these things may issue from righteousness, but righteousness is not these things.

Righteousness is simply having a right relationship with God. My old testament  professor gave a wonderful lecture on this and I have never seen righteousness the same. A right relationship with God.

There is little else I desire as much as I desire a relationship with my Lord God. To know that love and that presence deeply within. To know that God walks next to me, holds me, and desires to give me the kingdom. Wow!

That takes faith. That takes stepping out and trusting that spending time interacting with God, speaking with God, and even more importantly listening to God is not a waste of time but rather a true act of righteousness. An act of right relationship with the Almighty Lover of our Souls!

Perhaps you have heard it said, the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. If you read Abrams' story, you will see he frequently doubted. If you are certain that a chair is strong enough to hold you, then no faith is needed to sit down. But even a slight question of its strength requires faith to try it. 

Like Indie, we may not see where the path is leading, or what we must do to walk it. But faith accesses the power of the kingdom for each step. And it will count as righteousness, right relationship with God Almighty.

In our place in time, we are and will be called to acts of faith. To go places and do things that feel risky.  God has mapped the path, we just need faith.

Hear Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians:

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.  (chapter 3)

Mr. Tanner-----(Luke 12:13-21 NRSV)

Please listen to the prompting of the Spirit as I read the text.

Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus,] “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”  (Luke 12:13-21 NRSV)

What word or thought did the Spirit speak to you?

(Silence)

God's word is always lush in messages for us. This passage alone brings up so many wonderful points. 

For instance, notice the man speaks these words of worldly comfort to his soul. This really struck me. This isn’t just a mental thought, not just a retirement dream, but a consideration at the heart's level. The love of his wealth, the dependence on his bounty is spiritual. How do we commune with our God when that place where God meets us is filled with stuff?

And it seems, at least to me, that even at this moment, when his life will be demanded of him, God is not condemning him but asking him to stop and think of where his legacy will go. He has worked hard to build up his storehouse of wealth, and now it will simply be left for others to do with as they please. What will our legacy to our world, our church, our family be when we are gone? I love that God simply reasons with this man. God speaks through Isaiah using the words: “come let us reason together.” The New Revised Standard version says “come let us argue this out.”

What a loving God we worship. Never lose sight of that.

But having given you a couple of sidebars up front, I would like to consider this parable a little differently. There is a story that came to mind as I was praying about today’s message. So let me start with that.

Who remembers Harry Chapin? For those who don’t, he was a folk singer. Perhaps you remember his song, Cats in A Cradle. The songs he wrote were often stories. And the one that came to mind as I was thinking about this parable was “Mr Tanner.” Anyone familiar with it?

The story goes, there was a man, Mr Tanner, who was a cleaner, as in laundry. Throughout the day he cleaned, ironed, hung the clothes of his customers. And all the while he sang. His friends and customers all commented on his magnificent baritone voice and told him he should be on stage. 

But Chapin writes “Music was his life, not his livelihood.”

Nonetheless, after much persuasion, Mr. Tanner decided to give it a try. He found a concert agent in New York who would make the arrangements. Again Chapin writes: 

        And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul

        He did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole.

You probably know how it goes. Whenever you pour yourself into something that is precious to you there are always critics sitting in the aisles. Vulnerability is never easy. And so it was for Mr. Tanner. The critics so lovingly wrote in the local paper:

        Mr. Martin Tanner, baritone of Dayton, Ohio

        Made his town hall debut last night

        He came well prepared, but unfortunately his presentation

        Was not up to contemporary professional standards

        His voice lacks the range of tonal color

        Necessary to make it consistently interesting

        Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.

Mr Tanner went home, and when asked how it went he only smiled. But he never again sang where others would hear him. Late at night, in the cleaners shop, he would sing quietly to himself. The amazing gift God had given him, was never again shared.

I could stand up here and preach about sharing our treasures (Possessions and talents). But my guess is we all know this message very well. And I would also venture to say that based on what I know of this church, most of us try. But sometimes something gets in the way.

Maybe Mr Tanner’s story can help us see.

For instance, we might step out and do what the Spirit is calling us to do. Something that comes from deep in our own souls. Something that makes us happy. Makes us feel whole. But then a critic comes along.

You know the critics. They might be a friend, a stranger, or, even worse, ourselves. 

What are you doing? Don’t give them that money! You need to put it in the bank. You need to save it. They should get a job. They’ll just use it for booze or drugs. Lots of other people give to that, you don’t need to. You are foolish.

And so in fear, out of self preservation, we stop giving what God has given us.

Or perhaps we tried to sing, to dance, to read poetry we had written, or publish a story or book. And it bombed. 

And so in fear, out of self preservation, we stop trying.

Probably the worse thing, however, is when we make ourselves vulnerable to another person, when we trust them with our heart, and they let us down. Betray us. Laugh at us. Tell others about our secrets. Maybe even nail us to a proverbial cross. Jesus knows how it feels!

And so in fear, self preservation, we build bigger, stronger barns, walls, fortresses, to hide our talents, our money, our selves. God might ask us, what is the legacy we are leaving behind for generations who follow? What are we teaching them? What are we giving them?

What will become of the gifts God has given you?

Chapin wrote this song based on an article he had read in the NY Times. Martin Tubridy was the real Mr Tanner. Harry Chapin invited Tubridy to come to a concert and sing the song “Mr. Tanner.” Tubridy did not want to make himself vulnerable again but because Chapin had written this song about him, he felt he should try. And with the backing of the Chapin family and Chapin’s loyal fans, it went very well. He found healing.

I get why we want to hide in our little fortresses. I get why we want to build bigger barns and keep all our memories, our possessions, our vulnerabilities locked away. 

Soon after this parable Jesus says “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  Or as Peterson says in the Message: “Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.”

It is sad but true that there are those whose hearts are so hardened they do not care about others nor how sharing their treasures, their gifts, themselves might bless the world. For them my prayer is simply that God would break their hearts enough that God’s love might yet soak in the cracks.

But for the rest of us who are simply afraid, who have been hurt, judged, and taken advantage of, I remind us that the most repeated command in scripture is “fear not.” God is with us always. Even when we can’t feel God, God is there. I have never counted it myself but I read once that Fear Not is repeated 365 times. One for each day.

        Music was his life, it was not his livelihood

        And it made him feel so happy, it made him feel so good

        And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul

        And he did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole.

Give out of whatever God has given you. Give freely, without fear. Trusting the one who gave it to you. You may never know how it helps another, but it will make you whole.

Amen.

(Silence)