[Propertalk] FW: Sermon for Proper 5B

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded: 

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy [mailto:judy_boli at ecunet.org] 
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2012 7:29 PM
To: SERMONSHOP SERMONS
Subject: Sermon for Proper 5B

Dear Friends,

This Sunday's sermon is one I try to preach once a year.  We have had two
children shot in Saginaw, Michigan, this week (a recovering 4-year- old girl
and a dead 12 year old boy- sleeping in his grandfather's house), so now is
a good time to repeat it.  My goal is that our congregation works at
memorizing the concepts about dealing with evil and maybe adds to them.  The
sermon is entitled "Terrible Times- Don't Waste Them!" or "God can take your
mess and make it into your message." (Joel Osteen) or "Don't let evil defeat
you, but defeat evil with good." (Romans 12:19) and deals the Old Testament
lesson (Genesis
3: 1-15) and the Gospel (Mark 3: 20- 35).  Here it is:

As I've shared with you many times, my thinking about the presence of evil
in the world and how we deal with it as God's people got serious after
watching the awful events of 9-11.  I've shared the teachings in this sermon
with you at least every year since then (last year on 9/11/11), and today's
Bible lessons raise the question of evil once again.  In the Old Testament
lesson (Genesis 3: 1-15) we heard how sin (disobedience to God) started in
the first place.  As you heard this ancient Bible story- I'll bet you could
find yourself in this story!
Then in the gospel (Mark 3: 20-35), we heard Jesus teach about evil and give
us needed insights if we are going to overcome, especially in difficult,
painful times.

Guess what- difficult, painful times are present right now!  After an
epidemic of gun violence in the last few weeks, this last week we have had
two children shot: little 4-year-old Miyona Alexander (shot in the arm and
recovering) and 12-year-old Tamaris Steward (shot and killed in his sleep).
We have members struggling with cancer and other illnesses.  Last Monday we
buried Ms. JoAnn Washington (daughter of Mrs. Bernice Morris) and one year
and fourteen days ago we buried Mrs. Susie Cummings.  I'll bet I'm not the
only person in this church who still misses her!  We have people with money
problems, health problems, court and jail problems, moving problems, life
problems, relationship problems, etc.  In other words- join the human race.
This kind of pain is part of the human condition.  As I reminded you last
year, St. Paul has advice for us when we face situations like these.  In
Romans 12: 19 he says, "Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with
good."  I know how devoted you are to your Lord, so I'm sure that this is
how you intend to live your life.  Me too!  The problem is, in frustrating,
confusing times like these- how do you know how to defeat evil with good?
We'd be glad to do as God wants, but how do we know what that is?  For me,
one of the blessings of having lived through pain and suffering (as well as
wonderful times) is the chance to think through and refine my own personal
theology of evil based on scripture, and especially on Gospel.  I'd like to
share it with you again this morning.  As you may remember, I see five basic
principles in our dealing with evil.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: We mustn't delude ourselves about the power of the enemy.
Some years ago, I asked our Sunday school youngsters to tell me what Satan
looked like.  You know what they said: a little man in a red jump suit with
a tail, a pitchfork, fire coming out of his fingernails (too many video
games!), and horns- either red or black- couldn't decide which.  Wouldn't
that be nice- if we could always recognize him and his greatest desire was
to get us to swear or tell a
lie- don't we all wish it were that simple.  The devil (or Satan) is just
the name we give "the evil powers of this world that seek to corrupt and
destroy the creatures of God"- i.e. US!  ("Book of Common
Prayer"- Service of Holy Baptism, p. 302)  Satan's purpose is to close our
open minds; turn our loving hearts into cold, hateful hearts of stone; make
us suspicious of everyone and everything; divide us; enslave us by fear; and
diminish our spirit.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: Evil is highly contagious- look how evil spreads, worse
than smallpox or tuberculosis.  At the checkout line, a lady said, "I just
can't see why they (the terrorists) hate us so!"  I know.  Among other
reasons, one of them goes back to the Jewish holocaust in World War II.
When the war was over, our side- the winning side- officially established a
homeland for the Jews in Palestine and empowered them to become a nation.  I
have to be suspicious that one of the reasons this happened was plain and
simple anti-Semitism....they didn't want all those Jewish people in their
land.  I remember, as a little girl growing up in Detroit, seeing ad after
ad in the classified section of the Detroit News: "Apartment for
rent- no pets, no children, no Jews."  The problem of giving them a homeland
in Palestine was that someone else already lived there- the Palestinians.
The Jews said God promised the land to them through their ancestor Abraham
(God did, but the Palestinians are also Abraham's descendants.)  The
Palestinians said it was their land; hatred festered; and Satan sowed the
seed for the poisonous harvest that after all these years we are now
reaping.  Unfortunately, it's not just God's Kingdom that can start with a
mustard seed and grow into a mighty tree- if we water and inflame the
hatred, Satan's can also.  Unless we take preventative measures, what we sow
is what we get.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: Jesus' teachings, especially those in the Sermon on the
Mount, are the vaccination against being destroyed when evil is thrown at
us.  I was talking to a Bible teacher- definitely someone who should know
better, who said he thought we should just go in and bomb the you-know-what
out of any nation that allows terrorists to live within their borders.  He
justified his opinion by saying that the Bible is full of war- just look at
the Old Testament.  True, but Jesus came to fulfill the old covenant.  The
Old Testament was written for the people of God when they were just
beginning their journey.
"An eye for an eye" was a necessity to limit violence- so a whole family
couldn't be wiped out for the sin of one member.  You don't give a toddler
and a fifty-five year old grandmother or grandfather the same rules.  Jesus
said he had come to fulfill the law.  In fact, he said, "You have heard it
said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I tell you- love
(i.e. want what is best for) your enemy."  Remember, he's not talking about
love- a feeling, but love- an action, a choice.  St. Paul reminds us that
God says: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay."  One question I have for you-
actually, how committed are you to obeying Jesus?  Period, exclamation mark-
or only when it's not too hard?

FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Looked at through God's eyes, the power for who wins this
round- God or Satan, is not in the hands of the evil person or group, even
though they think and act as if they are in charge.  Power is in the hands
of the VICTIM.  It is the victim who allows God to take charge of the
encounter.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that.
Why?  Because it is the victim who determines the response to the evil.
Satan can do nothing if the victim responds as a Christian and refuses to
spread anger and hate, but instead works to solve the initial problem that
the devil used to start the whole evil mess.
Look how this principle works.  Since Satan counts on being able to spread
his evil by using one evil person (or a group of evil people) to get
something going, he must pick his person carefully.  The more negatives
emotionally and physically this person or group can cause the better.  The
first incident only gets the ball going.  The power for good or evil is in
the hands of the victim.  Look- if an evil person throws a ball of nasty
garbage at me, I have a choice.  If I can't dodge it, the instinctual human
choice is to catch it and start
throwing it back, letting it splatter at everyone within range.    In
fact, I might even miss and get a whole lot of innocent people.  What
happens next?  Those on the other side do the same.  Before long, following
our natural tendencies, we are all a filthy stinking mess.
However, we are not called to follow our natural tendencies- we are much
more than the highest biological entity on this planet.  We are called to be
children of God, and there is a better way.  Instead, we might catch the
nasty ball and hold it until we figure out how to dispose of it with a
minimum of damage- I might even use it to fertilize our church garden. thus
taking care of the problem, but not spreading the filth.  If we are strong
enough, courageous enough, have enough Spirit power, the contamination stops
before it corrupts us or spreads to anybody else.

Bringing it down to the nitty-gritty of life, how do we do this?  Do we let
evil people walk all over us?  Of course not.  As Christians, our motivation
for an action is what is most important.  If a crazed gunman started
shooting children at our neighborhood school, what should law-enforcement
do?  They should stop him- using as much force as necessary, even if it
meant killing him.  Why?  To get revenge?
No- to stop the violence, the killing of innocent children.
Christians have no business getting revenge- only stopping evil and bringing
the guilty to justice.  If we try to get revenge, we will participate with
Satan in destroying our own spirit.  The Rt. Rev.
Nathan Baxter, former dean of the National Cathedral in Washington DC and
now bishop of Central Pennsylvania, expresses this idea well when he stated,
"As we act, we must not become the evil we deplore."

FIFTH PRINCIPLE: Don't waste terrible times!  When someone does something
terrible to you, or when encountering a ghastly life
tragedy- don't waste it!  What do I mean?  Think about it.  Think about the
huge negative energy generated by evil experience.  That energy can be
redirected, by your skill and obedience to our Lord, as positive power for
God and for good.  You don't believe me?  The best example of this is the
cross.  What worse catastrophe could Satan throw at us than having people
execute God's son naked on a garbage heap?  And yet, through Jesus'
obedience- came the glorious resurrection, eternal life, salvation,
fullness-of-living for all who would accept it.  The Chinese character for
calamity is a combination of characters- crisis and opportunity- same idea.
So my challenge to us today is, since we've already lived through the crisis
(I hope), find the opportunity.  What opportunities can we ferret out of the
messes of our lives?  Terrible times encourage us to reexamine our
priorities.  In 9-11, do you remember the three passengers who became heroes
(Jeremy Glick, Tom Burnett, and Mark Bingham) on United Airlines Flight 93
that crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside?
They prevented the terrorists from using the plane as a bomb against a
heavily-populated target by trying to take back the plane.  What did they do
as their crisis became apparent?  They used their cell phones to call family
and friends, they asked their listeners to say the Lord's Prayer with them,
and they made the decision to make their lives count- they knew they could
make a difference.  At that point, talking on their cell phones- all the
little disagreements, irritations didn't matter at all.  What are your
priorities?  When is the last time you told your family and friends that you
love them?  If you don't do it today, how do you know you'll get another
chance?  Are you making your life count- making a difference?  Are you
really spending your time and money on your true priorities?  Are you using
all your energy and problem-solving talent to work for God?  At the
beginning of this sermon, I said that we'd be glad to do what God
wants- I hope that's true!  Actually, in real life, how committed are you to
Jesus?  What about when the chips are down and you are mad as H---?!!  Will
you obey him then?  Saginaw's future depends on your answer as well as the
answer of other Christians.  Will you:
.	Snitch?  (To every mother or father, grandmother or grandfather,
aunt or uncle, Godparent, wife or significant other, pastor or friend- how
about stepping up to the plate and turning them in (anonymously if
necessary) when they do violence?)
.	Talk with beloved children, grand/Godchildren, other relatives,
friends about the evils of violence and remove their support- food, housing,
sex, money, transportation, etc. if they continue in their destructive,
terrorist ways?
.	Bring EVERYONE YOU CAN to church to be saved, and then help us
disciple them to erase Satan's values from their lives and replace them with
Jesus' values?
.	In other words, will you pray and PUT YOUR PRAYERS IN ACTION

I'm going to close with a very familiar story- almost a parable- that I use
at just about every funeral- just used it at Ms. JoAnn Washington's funeral
last Monday, but it's worth repeating.  This story illustrates using crises
and mistakes for positives.  Before I retired from teaching, Mr. Spencer
Porter was often the art teacher assigned to work with my fifth grade
students.  He was one of the best art teachers I have ever seen.  If the
youngsters were doing art on paper, he would start passing out the supplies,
and you could bet that by the time the last student got a paper, some of the
first students were already waving their hands.  "Mr. Porter," they would
say- "Mr.
Porter, I messed up my paper.  I need a new one."  Mr. Porter would answer,
"Turn it over and use the back."  Within a few minutes, the hands would
start to wave again.  "Mr. Porter, Mr. Porter, I messed up the back too!"
they would lament.  Spencer Porter's answer- "I'm not giving you another
paper.  Now is your chance to become an artist and really do art.  Look at
your paper on the front, and look at your paper on the back, and figure out
what you can turn your mistakes into."  My friends, some of the most amazing
artwork came from those students, because their "mistakes" forced them to
think outside the box, be creative, and try new solutions to what they
thought were impossible problems.  I only hope they are continuing to apply
that kind of thinking to their lives today, and I hope we learn from their
example.  The crises we face in our world today, plus those we face every
day in the normal demands of living, require fresh, Godly, Gospel solutions
and the sure knowledge that with God as our guide, mistakes are simply
lessons- lessons to be learned and used for the Kingdom.

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements are posted on our parish web site. The address is:
http://www.stpaulsepisag.com .

Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan