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

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-------- Original message --------
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> 
Date:09/05/2015  8:10 PM  (GMT-06:00) 
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> 
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 18B 

Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Our Country- Breaking the Chains of Racism” or “The Ground Is Always Level at the Foot of the Cross” or “Don’t Let Our Culture Dilute the Message” and deals with all the lessons.  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:

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.)
People who have wronged us in the past.  (See James 2:13.) 
People of a different race, nationality, or sex;       (Galatians 3:28 and the episode in Mark [7:24-29] just before today’s gospel)
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, gay or straight or transgendered, 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 or struggling, 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.  Do you remember how Fr. Bill & I went on a cruise every year at a healthy point in his life? Well, this happened 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.”  (You know I don’t give up easily!)  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 are posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan

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