[Propertalk] Proper 21 b rcl

[Robert P Morrison]

The sermon will not be quite as silent as I just sent out - or didn't! Here it is!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES, LINCOLN CITY      			                           THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
ESTHER 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22                                                          		         				         PROPER 21 B RCL
JAMES 5:13-20   					  				27th SEPTEMBER, 2009
MARK 9:38-40					                     				                   PSALM 124

	 Would someone please get me a glass if Buddhist water? What if I asked that? What if I said that today we’re celebrating the Mysteries of the Holy Sacrament of Jesus’ sacrificial Presence using Hindu wine? What if I said that at least lying behind our prayers this morning, if not actually perceptible in them, was an ancient Jewish conversation with God designed to “warm the universe”? 1
	I don’t know if these sorts of questions are uppermost in the minds of many of the good folk of Lincoln City, but this past week I’ve encountered little bits and pieces of something like them within a good stone’s-throw of this building, and they continue to exercise many spiritual alert people in The Episcopal Church and beyond.
	What ABOUT Buddhism? Or Hinduism? Or Judaism? Or any other “ism” you care to name? What’s their relationship with Christianity, specifically our own personal belief? Having made previously a profession of faith in Jesus as Son of God, and so on; preparing to repeat in a few minutes, once again, the Nicene Creed, one of the two principal statements of our corporate belief, does that mean that we should shudder, mentally, at least, whenever someone talks about or discusses Buddhism, or any other religious system?
	These are very real questions. Again, perhaps not quite so pressing in Lincoln City. You could get by, in Kenny’s, or Bi-Mart, or a gas station, possibly even that wonderful multi-cultural mall of interaction which is the Post Office – you could get by in most businesses and residences in Lincoln City without having to worry about how to respond to people of other traditions. Yet even here, whether we know it or not, we DO meet people whose lives are governed and informed by different systems. Certainly if we move around Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, we’ll sit next to and be expected to relate to people of a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. So we SHOULD be aware of what our own Christian faith expects of us.
	How do we approach our neighbours, though? Someone moves in next door or down the street. Do you go to meet them right away? What do you say about your faith – your OWN faith? Do you bring it up? Why not?
	What do you say, or think, when someone unknown comes to your front door – or the door of the Church – or your favourite latte establishment? Do you wait, then when the person or people have gone, do you start to make fun or turn highly critical of what they said, or how they dressed , how they ate and drank – WHAT they ate and drank – how they received Jesus in the Bread and the Wine?
	“Imagine a world where the Devil might be hiding in Smurfs or yard sales, where dancing and holidays are considered the work of Satan, and where one wrong move can damn you to hell for eternity. …
	“Kyria Abrahams spent her childhood as a Jehovah's Witness, taking all the rules to heart and becoming even more fanatical than her parents. ‘When you're a fundamentalist kid, it's cool to be a zealot. If you can't be bad, you might as well be very, very good. So me and my JW homies had our own crew. After the meetings, we'd hang out in the Kingdom Hall parking lot, not smoking, and brag about how totally unrebellious we were. Then we'd put down a square of cardboard and not break-dance.’” 2
	Funny, isn’t it? One reviewer called the book from which these sentences were taken, “The funniest book I’ve ever read by a disfellowshipped Jehovah’s Witness from Pawtucket.”  3  Abrahams – interesting name she has; did you catch it? – Abrahams writes, “To pass the time, Lisa and I had a game we would play called ‘That’s gonna be my house after Armageddon.’ The burning question was: Once God judged these people, what would happen to their postwar bungalows? We imagined a fundamentalist Trading Spaces, in which we’d get a chance to knock down a wall for Jesus, then move on it. For example, would Jehovah destroy the adorable white ranch with turquoise shutters? The people who lived there were Jewish, but on the other hand, Jehovah did create turquoise.”
	“’I definitely consider myself very spiritual... [though] I have not found a specific religion... I probably identify most as Buddhist,’ Abrahams mused, as she is no longer a Jehovah's Witness.” 4
	O.K. – it’s probably better to stop here. We might be enjoying ourselves too much. It IS fun to point out others’ foibles and quirks, though, isn’t it. It’s even more devastating to pick on the things which they take most seriously. And yet we still do it.
	Why? Is it nervousness on our part? The other individual, or that gathering, or that ethnic group – if we don’t watch out, they may take over, and our jobs, or our financial stability may be compromised. They may end up taking over City Council, or State Government, and forcing their customs and beliefs and patterns of doing things on us, and make us uncomfortable, if not angry. God forbid, they may even make us sing hymns we don’t like!
	 What IS it about Buddhist water? There’s no such thing, of course. There’s water, yes, but it belongs to everyone. It’s not Christian, not yours, not mine; it’s water – it’s GOD’S water; it’s God’s daughter; it’s God’s son; it’s God’s creation – every last particle – and so when we happen to hold it in our hands, when we come into contact with it, or her or him, we’re responsible to make sure that it’s not abused, it’s not refused.
	Once again, the disciples got all hot under the collar. They saw folks running around healing. People were actually being made whole. The disciples were pulling their union cards out to check to see whether or not they had the corner on the healing market, and on using Jesus’ name. Imagine someone from  Baptist Churches here starting up something called a Diocese of Oregon. Think of the confusion if some other congregation started up another meal programme in Lincoln City.
	The whole point of what we’re about as Christians is that this is GOD’S outfit to which we’ve made a commitment, and if God wants to send Jesus to a village in a small, but strategically located, occupied territory, good for God! If God wants to see people get their thirst quenched; if God wants people to be made whole in body, mind and spirit; if God wants all those ridiculous laws erased that prevent seeing-, and walking-, and holding-impaired folk from worshipping, and meeting, and eating with everyone else, then bully for God! Who are we to stop this?
	Take this a little further, though. If God wants that next-door neighbor to be the one to bring water to your house when your source has been shut off, who are we to complain? If God wanted the fires out around Ashland and Medford last week, why NOT send an engine from Lincoln City?
	And if God wants the homeless, or the transportation-less, or the friend-less woman or man in Lincoln City to have her or his needs tended to, what’s to stop an Adventist, and a Baptist, and a Lutheran -  hey, did you hear the one about the Adventist, and the Baptist, and the Lutheran? If God wants the Jehovah’s Witness to – Naw! God wouldn’t do that! Would God?
	The problem is, in God’s world, anything can happen. In God’s world, Buddhists, and Hindus, and Jews, and Muslims, even Christians, CAN work together to make sure that there’s healing, that there’s a peaceful solution that can be produced. And if WE don’t or won’t get with the programme, the work WILL go on.
	This past week, I received an e-mail that began “	Dear Friend and Fellow Intelligent Optimist, …..” It was a great start. It seemed to describe me perfectly – or so I thought! Seriously, though, what if I was – a friend, an optimist? How far could I go? How far would I need to go to serve Jesus, to bring healing and reconciliation? Just think what I might accomplish! Just think what you, as individuals, might accomplish. Just think – imagine – all the possibilities if we actually started working together; not just this congregation; not just the congregations of Lincoln City; not just the Living unChurched in Lincoln City – if EVERYONE began to take some water to the thirsty, brought healing to those whose lives were being possessed by economic and medical worries, no matter what name we used – just THINK about the smile on Jesus’ face. The point is, as Phil Knight’s advertising minions are wont to say, “Just Do It!” Stop running checks on who else is working the other side of the pew, or the street, or even down in Newport. You, and you, and you, and you, and you, and me – ALL of us are called to emulate Jesus, even if some of us haven’t heard of, or don’t particularly care for, Jesus’ Name.
	One of the hot topics that surfaces from time to time in theological debates is whether or not Buddhists are any good; or Hindus. Are they going to be in some sort of eternal heavy coastal fog when they shuffle off from here? Does God really like them as they are, or is it our duty to make sure that they get baptised and, better yet, start tithing to the Episcopal Church?
	Tonight, as the sun sets, Jews around the world enter into Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the culmination of Days of Judgement. Often, on this day the whole Jewish community confesses its corporate as well as personal sins. Whom have WE wronged? With whom did WE refuse to work? Whose characteristics have WE belittled or frustrated?
	The point is we believe that God has placed us all within creation, and that ALL are invited to participate in making sure that God’s reign is as glorious as God wishes. There’s no time for squabbling, for one-up-person-ship, for hanging back because of who else is in the room.
	The verses read from the Letter of James begin very directly. “Is anyone among you in trouble?” The gruesome tale from the Book of Esther talks about Haman, literally, being hoist on his own petard – perhaps bearing a warning that what we do – avoiding someone’s company; tearing into someone’s reputation; refusing to participate; and so on – what we do may backfire on us – and we may find ourselves at the receiving end of Jesus’ Judgement.
	One little local story with which to conclude, Vera Russell, whom some of you may remember, was housebound a fair bit of the time. She’d trouble getting supplies. Even worse, for Vera, she missed being able to talk to people. One day, a woman in her late twenties-early thirties showed up on her doorstep with a girl of about ten. They were Jehovah’s Witnesses! Vera explained her commitment to The Episcopal Church and our congregation. “Good,” replied the woman. “Can I leave you this magazine? May I come back?”
	That woman and her daughter visited about every two weeks or so. Sometimes they talked religion and Church. Sometimes they talked about school and the girl’s progress. Sometimes they talked about what was going on in politics.
	The point about this is that neither tried to beat up on the other. Both insisted on being hospitable, on bringing healing, on listening to what pleased or distressed the other. The water wasn’t Episcopalian, or Jehovah’s Witness, or even Buddhist. The water was water – give as a gift from the Creator, by whatever name.
	May God help is to value ALL in Creation, to warm everything in Creation, and to allow it to testify to God’s compassionate goodness.

NOTES:

1	Baal Shem Tov, quoted in “Kabbalah: Inspirations” by Jeremy Rosen. Duncan Baird Publishers, London © 2005. Pages 142-3. 
2	“I'm Perfect, You're Doomed (Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing)“ by Kyria Abrahams. Simon & Schuster, as reviewed in the New York Post www.nypost.com/.../im_perfect__youre_doomed_155319.htm
3	Janeane Garofalo found at books.simonandschuster.com/I'm-Perfect-You're-Doomed/.../9781416556848 - 
4	www.canyon-news.com/.../Book_Review_I_m_Perfect_You_re_Doomed.php

--
Robert P. Morrison
The Episcopal Parish of St James,
PO Box 789
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-994-2426 (Church)


---- Robert P Morrison <robertpmorrison at charterinternet.com> wrote: 
> I put this down on Wednesday evening, and have been on the run ever since. It'll get read off and on tomorrow, in between getting ready for a wedding.
> 
> Peace!
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Robert P. Morrison
> The Episcopal Parish of St James,
> PO Box 789
> Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367
> 
> 541-994-2426 (Church)
> 
> 
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