Trinity Episcopal Church-July 2007

July 2007

Luke 9:51-62

One New Years Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The funny thing, strange but true, was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. Running out of gas couldn't have happened to a better float.

I want to talk about the gospel message of following Jesus.

As Christians we are called to think out of the box; If we are going to live out the kingdom of God, if we're going to seize the day, Christians, we need to out believe the world; out live the world; and out love the world.

Jesus' message is about peace, hope, and love!

In the gospel we see the guys going through a dangerous neighborhood, and the attitude of James and John who said, ...let us command fire to come down from heaven and consume them-- they wanted to scorch those annoying Samaritans. The Samaritans were once like all the other Jews, but long ago they separated, and intermarried with other people from other countries, and set up a new capitol in Samaria. They even had their own Scriptures and beliefs, differing from the Jews.

Each despised the other. They rejected Jesus and His message because He was a pompous Jew, and the Jews saw the Samaritans as mongrels, impure and unclean law breakers.

Have you ever wanted to call down fire on somebody? I have. I want to scorch people who throw old mattresses and tires in the woods. I want to scorch people who run leaf blowers at 7:30 on Sunday morning, who drive too fast down our street, who leave a dog chained to a tree its whole life, or people who automatically say "Have a nice day" and don't mean it, to which I reply, "No thanks, I have other plans."

I went to Barnes and Noble during vacation, and again I saw another "I hate religion book" sitting on the new release shelf right in front of the door.

These atheistic authors write books like "The God Delusion" or "God is not Great: how Religion Poisoned the World."

I want to scorch them; they who reject Christianity and its message of peace, hope, and love because of some life-long tension the author may of had with organized religion.

They are writers who seem to enjoy tearing things down, telling us we're deluded and poisoned, rather than build things up. Their philosophy in this difficult world is, "I'm only going to dread one day at a time."

Those books, incidentally, have everything to do with all the wrong things, like the Crusades and the Medieval hell fire preachers, and flamboyant TV evangelists, or a domineering dad, or bad experiences at summer bible camp, or with a Nun and a ruler in grammar school--- but those books have nothing to do with my simple, yet profound daily relationship with God.

You don't like organized religion? Come to our church, we're very disorganized. This isn't the church, (pointing to the building) you are. Yes, we make mistakes, and no, we aren't perfect, nor do we have all the answers...

but here you have a community...of friendship, and fellow pilgrims; a place where I belong to you, and you belong to me, and together we belong to God.

Up in Oscoda, I had a fundamentalist friend, Glen, and we used to get into arguments about religion, and I remember wanting to scorch him too. But I've come to realize, the same thing that made me want to scorch Glen is the same evil thing that caused countries throughout history to bomb and brutalize and want to scorch other countries.

Jesus says we are not to scorch, but to be messengers of peace and hope and love. I remember a little boy in church saying, "Christians are mild, quiet, gentle people who never fight or talk back or yell." Then he added, "Dad is a Christian, but Mom isn't!"

Spending time in the gardens and starring at the river last week and working on our Noah's Ark float for yesterday's parade caused me to think of the old black and white Alfred Hitchcock movie called Lifeboat.

It's good to watch an old B & W movie when the mood strikes. This movie was about survivors of a torpedoed ship, adrift at sea on a lifeboat, with few provisions, accusing each other and defending themselves, and everybody trying not to get thrown out of the boat.

The movie was pretty boring---a lot of Tallulah Bankhead hangin' on to her mink and keeping her lipstick fresh, but it did cause me want to explain to everyone else why I shouldn't be thrown overboard.

Then I thought about how people in society, in general, can feel that way---in their lives, at home or at work, in the doctor's office, in their church, or in line at the grocery store---always feeling like they have to explain why they shouldn't be thrown overboard, why they deserve a place in the lifeboat.

Living in our world can be like sitting in that lifeboat.

I think some people feel they want to be good or right or religious or important because they want to stay in the lifeboat. They're afraid of getting tossed, afraid of not being of any value, always trying to prove themselves, trying to survive in the lifeboat.

Jesus teaches us over and over again that this isn't the way the kingdom of heaven works. To think of myself as a Christian, and in a lifeboat comparing myself to everyone else, is inappropriate. We don't play by the world's rules! Our rules; Love our neighbor.

James and John wanted to scorch those who didn't accept their religion---but Jesus rebuked them. It's easy to dislike and condemn others, but following Jesus isn't taking the easy way.

I was part of the dog-eat-dog, live in the lifeboat world. doing well, till I started drifting away from my family---away from church---till something went wrong---to stop a person dead in their tracks with nothing to hold on to.

People have invented the lifeboat theory because the human race is fallen, because it is sinful in heart, desiring to bite and devour one another. Jesus tells us God is more important than finding a safe place in the lifeboat.

I see this world more like a Noah's Ark, and we are all Noahs, gathering people into community, two by two, into the local church, where they don't need to act important or perfect or feel threatened, or prove themselves worthy.

A better movie, in my opinion, would be to have Jesus in A. Hitchcock's Lifeboat. Jesus would act and think completely different---then the others in the boat.

He would act and think like somebody whose needs were met by God, who had little regard for what the others in the boat thought was right and important and valuable.

He would see things backward. Jesus would see all people as equal in God's eyes. He would offer reconciliation with God, because he's God's Son, and maybe to some people, like pessimistic authors or famous actors, Jesus' offer doesn't seem like much.

But for those who have nothing, who are being threatened by others in this world (ie., in the lifeboat), who don't feel valued, who feel they can stay dry much longer--- Jesus offers everything.

And that is precisely what our gospel calls you and me to do; To follow Jesus 24/7, and to spread His message of peace, hope, and love to all people!

---and the gospel calls us to fail in the lifeboat game!---because it isn't worth winning in the first place.

Trinity Episcopal Church

Navigation

July 2007