[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 18B

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Sep 8, 2012 12:09 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 18B


Dear Friends,

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “The Ground Is Always Level at the
Foot of the Cross” or “Don’t Let Our Culture Dilute the Message” and
deals with the epistle (James 2: 1-17).  Here it is:

Good morning!  Starting last week and continuing for a few more weeks,
we’ll be reading from the New Testament book of James.  As many of you
know, this is one of my very favorite books, because it’s a practical
book; it shows us how to put our faith in action- to live what we
believe.  Last week, we heard how important it is to do just this- not
simply listen to God’s word, but put it into action in our lives.  Now
this week, we hear James tell how God expects us to treat everyone
with respect, and not play favorites.  In Galatians (3:28), Paul
reminds us of the same thing.  He says: “Faith in Christ Jesus is what
makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a
Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman.”  Since James (who
was very possibly Jesus’ younger brother- so surely knew how he felt
about important things- is teaching us this same truth) it’s obvious
that this is not an optional behavior, it is expected of all
Christians, and to thumb our noses at this teaching is to thumb our
noses at God himself who created us all.  We have no right to treat
some people better than others- no matter how our culture or friends
or even our families try to teach us.

If we examine these lessons carefully, we can see what kinds of people
our culture tries to teach us to treat unequally:
1.	Those who have less money than we do, especially those who are
really “down on their luck”- the Bible calls them the poor.  (Both the
Proverbs and James lessons are really clear about this.)
2.	People who have wronged us in the past.  (See James 2:13.)
3.	People of a different race, nationality, or sex;  (Galatians 3:28
and the episode in Mark [7:24-29] just before today’s gospel)
4.	Those with a handicapping condition and those who are different
from the norm, whose difference makes them seem strange to us.  I
still recall how hard it was to relate to the deaf people who came to
Wednesday Mass some years ago.  Yet Jesus found the deaf man worthy of
his time and healing energy.

What’s the “therefore”?  What’s it to us?  Simply- we’ve got to follow
Jesus and not our culture.  We’ve got to avoid the cultural
brainwashing and live as Jesus, not as our friends, would have us
live.  We have absolutely no right to treat another of God’s children
(therefore our sister or brother) unfairly or unkindly.  Tall or
short, dark or light, fat or thin, male or female, deaf or blind or
lame or handicapped in some other way, rich or poor, foreign or
American- remember the old children’s song “Red and yellow, black and
white- all are precious in His sight.”  All God’s children are
precious in God’s sight, and they’d better be precious in ours also.

One last reminder:  remember how Jesus said we are to love our
neighbor as much as we love ourselves?  Too many of us don’t love
ourselves enough.  We’ve allowed our culture or families or friends to
weaken our self-confidence, because we are not what our culture says
is the perfect person.  How God expects us to treat others surely
applies to ourselves.  Do you consider yourself too tall or short,
dark or light, fat or thin, male or female, deaf or blind or lame or
handicapped in some other way, rich or poor?  I still remember that
awful feeling as a kid when I was chosen last on the playground
because I couldn’t catch the ball or hit it.  What would anyone
expect- I could barely see it!  You and I- we are most certainly part
of the “all” in “all are precious in His sight,” so live what you
believe.  When people criticize, they are really showing their own
shortcomings; it’s not about you- it’s about them.  Pray for them, but
don’t take them seriously.

In closing, I’m going to remind you of an embarrassing incident I got
myself into a number of years ago on a cruise.  This incident is about
a cell phone and the magnetic strip on a room key.  You know that I am
diabetic, and it helps keep my blood sugar even throughout the night
if I have some skim milk and cereal just before I go to bed.  Sunday
evening was formal night on board ship- yes- I actually did dress up!
Anyway, after dinner, Bill+ went to the piano bar to sing and I went
to our room on the main deck (i.e. 4th floor) to read.  You know I
wasn’t going to keep my fancy clothes on, so I changed into my flannel
lounging pants and t-shirt to get comfortable.  At about 11 PM I
decided to have my cereal and get ready for bed so I could get up
early to see sunrise over the ocean.  What did I find?  Our cabin
steward had taken the bowl and spoon I had carefully stashed to use
for my bedtime snack, so I had nothing to use for my cereal and milk!
“Ah-ha!”  I thought- “there’s a solution for everything.”  There was a
buffet (now closed, because it was so late) on the 9th deck, and the
elevator was just around the corner from our room.  I figured I could
ride up to the now-closed buffet and get a bowl and spoon, because I
knew where they were kept.  You KNOW I wasn’t about to change back
into my dressy clothes; besides I figured I had a good chance of
getting up and back without anyone seeing me.  All went well- I got my
bowl and spoon (actually got 3 of each just-in-case!) and got all the
way back to our room without anyone seeing me (I was really feeling
slick!); put my magnetic key into the lock to open our cabin room
door- nothing.  My magnetic card wouldn’t open the lock, no matter how
hard I tried.  There was nothing else to do but go downstairs to the
pursers’ desk in the lobby and get help.  As you can guess, everyone
in the lobby was still dressed formally- and here I was in my t-shirt
and lounging pants- waiting in a L-O-N-G line to get my key fixed.
When I finally got to the front of the line, the clerk behind the desk
remagnetized my key-card and asked if I had placed it by my cell
phone.  Of course I had!  She reminded me to keep the new one away
from the electricity in the cell phone, because it would destroy the
magnetic strip.  Lesson learned- and that’s what I’d like us to
remember from this morning.  Almost all of our Bible lessons were
about how to treat our neighbor, especially the neighbor who is
different or less fortunate than ourselves.  God’s way, as clearly
defined in these Bible lessons, is very different than the way our
culture teaches us to treat others.  If we’re not careful, our
culture- like my cell phone- will destroy God’s magnetic pull on our
lives, and our consciences won’t even bother us when we treat our
neighbor in an unChristlike manner.

So- that cell phone and that magnetic strip…  May God bless us as we
struggle to keep God’s magnetic pull on our lives pure and holy so we
may be worthy to be called his children.

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

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

 
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