Sticks and Stones

 Matthew 18:15-20

 August 30, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            What do you think when you hear the name “Jose Canseco”?

            For those of you who don’t follow professional baseball, Jose Canseco is the former Oakland A’s outfielder.  Throughout his career Canseco has been reported in the media as receiving traffic tickets for driving expensive cars too fast.  He is reported to have been disrespectful to the police.  He has carried loaded guns in his car.  Jose Canseco says he will live as a woman for one week to show support for Caitlyn Jenner (SJ Mercury News, Jul 30, 2015).   He is volunteering to be Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate.

            At least that is what has been communicated about him in the press.

            Bill Mandel, a San Francisco Examiner columnist, a man who has never met Jose Canseco, called him a “schmuck”.

            But did you know that at the Miami Youth club, Canseco plays hours of basketball with the kids, attends their spaghetti dinners and donates hundreds of pairs of sneakers at a time?

            Did you know that he is deeply involved with the “Make A Wish Foundation”, which fulfills the fantasies of dying children?   He has raised money for children with leukemia and paralysis.

            Those kinds of stories don’t get into the papers about Jose Canseco as much as the other kind.

            Words are powerful instruments to do good or evil.  They can build up or tear down.

            Jose Canseco may indeed by a “schmuck” but how can we determine that if we only know the man by what is written about him in the papers?  Much of which may be gossip and rumor.

            The same can be said for just about anyone we judge from secondhand knowledge.

            Such negative communications happens all the time in human relations.  It happens even in the Bible.

            In Exodus, as Moses leads the children of Israel out of bondage into freedom through their wanderings in the desert, they “murmured” against him, saying “why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us with thirst?” (17:1-17)

            They find fault with their leader.  They even whisper to each other, “Is God with us or not?!”

            Imagine!

            YHWH God brings seven plagues upon Pharaoh, splits the Red Sea for the Israelites escape, provides manna when they are hungry for bread, quail when they get bored with manna and will give them water from a rock to quench their thirst.

            What more need God do to prove whether God is with them or not?!

            And yet they gossip and rumor among themselves, “well, who is this Moses anyway…at least in slavery we had things to eat…is God with us or not…”

            What a stiff necked and stubborn people.

            Do you know any body like that?  [Don’t raise your hands, please!]

            In the New Testament (Mark 9:33-37, Luke 9:46-48) Jesus has to break up arguments with his disciples over who is the most important. 

            Paul writes to the Corinthian church, urging that there be no “dissension” between them (I Corinthians 1:10-f).  He expresses fear of finding them slandering, backbiting and gossiping about each other (II Corinthians 12:20).

            Negative and harmful communication has been a problem for the church since the beginning because truth is rarely as much fun as a rumor…or a juicy bit of gossip.

            Let me give you an example.

            In a previous church where I served, I took the Bible off the altar.

            It is my opinion that the Bible is not an ornament.  Its power and meaning is when we read it and live by it, not when we display it on our coffee tables…or…altars.

            With that in mind, one day, I put it away.

            I didn’t tell anyone.  And that is where the problem began.

            I didn’t communicate.  No one knew what was going on with the Bible.  I left everyone in the dark.  It was a mistake, one of many I have made in the ministry [more of which will probably come along because I am anything but perfect].       

            Well, after a few weeks, Nellie finally let me have it.

            Nellie and I had gotent to know each other during a surgery.  We prayed together in the hospital.  At the time, Nellie as 92, had survived two world wars, the Depression, the death of her beloved daughter and two husbands.  She was tough as nails.  She was also the kind of person to go to the heart of the matter.

            One Sunday Nellie accosted me in the back of the church after a worship service and minced no words.

            “Where is our Bible?!  We want it back where it belongs!!”

            In the days following, I was to learn that there had been a raging debate among a number of people in the church about the “Bible on the altar”.  Folks were concerned.  People were talking among themselves, wondering what was going on, what kind of Pastor would do such a thing.  They were talking about it in the parking lot, at brunch, over the telephone lines and at choir practice.

            But no one, until Nellie, spoke to the source of the problem.

Me!

And I thank God she did.  She didn’t put me down or patronize my intelligence, she just told me what was important to her and what she wanted.

I should have known better.  Most people in the Central Valley have a Bible on their coffee table in their homes as a family heirloom.  I had “disappeared” the collective family heirloom, donated to the church one hundred years before by the founding saint of the congregation.

I put that Bible back on the altar, and it is still there today!  Although I would take it off for communion Sundays every now and then…

We can work out differing views about altar Bibles…or how we take Holy Communion…or which hymns we ought to sing.

Pastors don’t have to get their way all of the time.  And some changes aren’t only for change sake.  But the only way we can insure that change is good is if we talk about it, with each other, not around each other.

In numerous places, biblical writers suggest how we might love each other with open and honest communication (Luke 17:3, I Cor 6:1-6, Gal 6:1, James 5:19-20).  They are based on these four principals:

Make your words plain and simple.

The Apostle James encourages Christians to “let your yes be yes and your no, no” (James 5:12).  Peter is praised by Jesus for simply and clearly confessing “You are the Christ”, while the disciples hedged their theological bets at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew16:13-20).

Jesus teaches “do not swear at all, either by heaven…or by the earth…or by Jerusalem…and do not swear by your head.  Let your words be ‘yes, yes’ or ‘no, no’, anything else comes the evil one” (Matthew 5:34-37).

When we make our needs and opinions plainly known with simple language, few people object.

 

Let rumors and gossip stop with you.

Rumors and gossip seem to have lives of their own.  No one ever admits to starting them but everyone encounters them daily.  Where rumors and gossip gain power is when we pass them on.

You know those chain letters or emails or Facebook posts we get every now and then from some well meaning friends or distant relatives, promising fortune or blessings if we pass them on to five other folks?  Sometimes they come with a threat that if the chain is broken, something bad is going to happen to you.

I love to get those kind.  I delete them right away.  I tear them up and throw them away.  If you every get them and are afraid, just give them to me.  Such threats will stop with me.

The same is true for rumor and gossip.  When you hear accusations and innuendo about someone or thing, you don’t have to condemn the person sharing with you but you don’t have to give such talk any power either.

Let the rumors and gossip stop with you.

 

Go directly to the source of your concern.

Jesus says, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone…” (Matthew 18:5)  What a novel idea!

If we hear things that trouble us or see changes that concern us, the best route to go is always direct to the source.  All too often we talk to everybody but the people in question.

Of course, chatting and socializing about events is one of the ways we build friendships and make alliances.  But problems are rarely solved and often exaggerated in the parking lot, at brunch, over the internet.

If you’ve got a problem with something or someone in the church go and talk to them about it in Christian love and try to work it out.  If having done so, you are still at odds with each other, bring along some other loving church leader or members and talk with each other.

Unless we communicate directly with the source of our concerns very little will be accomplished but to increase our frustration and ultimately to alienate others.

 

            Be care-full not care-less with words.

            Sister Helen P. Mrosla of St. Mary’s School in Morris, Minnesota writes this story of the power of care-full words.*

            Many years ago, one Friday in her High School math class the kids were unusually rambunctious and fidgety.  It was obvious they weren’t going to be able to accomplish anything in mathematics.  And so, Sister Mrosla stopped the verbal crankiness of the class before it got out of hand with a special assignment.  She asked each of the thirty students to write down the nicest thing they could say about each of their class mates.  It took the remainder of the period to finish the assignment and as the students left the room each one handed the papers to their teacher.

            That Saturday, she wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of notebook paper and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.  On Monday, she gave each student his or her list.  Before long the entire class was smiling.

            “Really?” she heard whispered.  “I never knew that meant anything to anyone!”  “I didn’t know others liked me so much!”  “What a nice thing to say”.  The class of thirty students had written many wonderful and positive things about each other.  The exercise had accomplished much more than quieting a grumpy group of kids on a Friday afternoon.  The students were happy with themselves and with one another.  And they shared it through the gift of their teacher.

            Several years later, Sister Mrosla’s parents picked her up at the airport after a vacation with terrible news.  Mark Eklund, a former student, has been killed in action in Vietnam.  The family had called and asked for Sister Mrosla to attend the service the next day.  She says to this day that she can point to the exact spot on the highway where her Dad told her about Mark, the impact of his death was so great.

           After the funeral, family and friends gathered at the Eklund’s house.  Most of Mark’s former classmates from St. Mary’s were there.  Mark’s father approached Sister Mrosla.  “We want to show you something”, his father said.  “They found this on Mark when he was killed.  We thought you might recognize it.”  Opening the billfold, he care-fullly removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.  Sister knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which the class had listed all the good things they could say about their classmate, Mark.   His mother said, “As you can see, Mark treasured it”.  His old friends gathered around and said, “I still have my list in the top drawer of my desk at home”  “I have mine too, it’s in my wedding album”   “Mine is in my diary”.

          Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group, “I carry this with me at all times.”

           Sister Mrosla sat down and cried.  She cried for Mark and the friends who would never see him again.  And she quietly thanked God for the power of kind words.

          When Jesus describes the Judgement Day, he says when we stand before the heavenly throne of Almighty God (Matthew 12:36-37), we will be held accountable for every “careless word” we have uttered in this life.

Every careless word.

Christian communication is marked by the care-full, loving use of words which don’t condemn or judge, but declare openness and concern.  “Sticks and stones can break our bones”, but care-full words can build and heal and empower.

 

            Amen.

 

*(from Snopes.com, http://www.snopes.com/glurge/allgood.asp.)

 

 

 

Not Just Any God

 Matthew 13:44-52

August 16, 2015

 Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            Protestants and Roman Catholics in Ireland believe in God.

            Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq say they believe in God.

            According to the Gallup Poll, 95% of Americans say they believe in God. Over 71% of the American people say they have never doubted God’s existence (SF Chronicle, 12/22/97).

But what can such faith mean, when on an average day in America, according to Tom Heymann’s book entitled On An Average Day In America, 93,474 crimes are committed?   41,096 phone calls are made to dial-a-porn and 875 calls are made to dial-a-prayer.

            If all of us really do believe in God, as we say we do, how can we commit five bank robberies a day in Los Angeles?   How can an American teenager commit suicide every 90 minutes?

            Is there a correlation between faith in God and the way we live?  In Ireland, Iraq, Carmel?

            And if behavior describes best what we really believe, what divinity are we really worshiping?

Our parables this morning from the gospel of Matthew all use metaphors to describe the treasure that is the “Kingdom of God” or the “Reign of God”.  Jesus uses the term to describe the personal relationship one can have with God that moves us to healing and wholeness.  It describes the dynamic and vital reality of God in the midst of history moving society to a future of love, peace and justice.

            For Jesus, understanding of, and dedication to, this Reign of God is worth all risk, worth all cost.  When an individual or a society invests itself in the Reign of God they shall inherit nothing less than God’s future.

            His generation longed for the glory of the past when Israel was powerful and prosperous.  For them the “kingdom of God” would be like King David’s reign a thousand years before, free of the Roman occupation of their nation.  Their worship center in Jerusalem would be restored.   Jesus had to use parables to explain the Reign of God, because the people he was serving were convinced that faith is measured by success and achievement, power and profit.  They wanted the “god of the good old days”. 

I wonder if we are so different.

            Let’s be honest we worship the god of Achievement.

            Public opinion polls show most of us hold a vague and romantic notion of God as a wise and powerful male, dispensing blessings from Heaven on those who are good.  Our prayers to this God are often a list of the things we want; health for a loved one, comfort for those in pain, a new job for the unemployed.  It is very good to ask exactly what is on our hearts from the God of the Bible, but we struggle when we don’t get what we ask for.

            In the religion of the god of Achievement, prosperity, health and success are how we measure faith.   Many large and busy churches have been built on a message preached about the pie-in-the-sky prosperity.   For them, and many of us, God must be with the successful.  Thus, if you don’t have it, then you just don’t have enough faith.

            Even Jesus’ disciples had the same notion when the Lord explained to them that it would be harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  They responded, “Who then can be saved?!” (Mark 10:26)

            A man was walking through a forest pondering life.  He walked, pondered, walked and pondered.  He felt very close to nature and for the first time very close to God.  So he asked out loud, “God, are you listening?”

            And God replied, “Yes, my son, I am here, I am always with you”.

            The man stopped and looked toward the sky and said, “God, what is a million years to you?”  God replied, “Well my son, a second to me is like a million years to you.”

            So the man looked at the sky again and said, “God, what is a million dollars to you?”  And God replied, “My son, my son, a million dollars to me is like a penny to you.  It means almost nothing to me.”

            The man looked down, pondered a bit and asked, “God, can I have a million dollars?”

            And God replied, “In a second”.

            Neither is the God of Jesus the god of the past.  Certainly we can learn about and be inspired by God’s interactions with history but “the pearl of great price” is about the promises of God’s future.   

As a reaction to the failures of modern society, fundamentalist movements in Christianity, Islam and Judaism argue that we should return to an idealized piety of the past.  Recreating the glory of “the good old days” is not what the Kingdom of God is about.   Nowhere do we see this more than is how we use and misuse the Bible.

Protestants like us first go to the Bible for guidance, and we should.   Although most answers lie within, discovering and applying them is not as simple as quoting a few verses out of our favorite passages.   Anyone can quote from the Bible; even Satan can quote from the Bible (Luke 4:9-11).

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement made a brilliant contribution to our faith by insisting that although the Bible is the primary source of God’s revelation it is not the only source.   Personal experience, human reason and the traditions of the church are also places in which the individual can encounter the reality of God.   In fact these four resources…the Bible, personal experience, reason and tradition…interact with one another, instruct, form and guide one another, in the life of the faithful (United Methodist Book of Discipline, Abingdon, TN, 2004, “Our Theological Task” pp. 76-83). 

Methodists reject the notion of a “wooden-headed” literalism suggesting the words of the Bible must be taken literally without human interpretation.   The Bible itself doesn’t suggest that.   As we hear in our scripture verses today, over and over again the Bible records how God’s inspiration is expressed in and through very human poetry, narrative, history and theology;

 

 “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…”(Isaiah 2:4)

“…beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears…” (Joel 3:10)

 

If you are a Biblical literalist, what do you do with your plowshares and hooks?

 

“…the wicked [God] will destroy…”(Psalm 145:20)

“…[God] is kind to … the wicked.” (Luke 6:35)

Whose side is God really on?    

The Bible is the sacred record of one people’s journey with God; from their origins as nomadic tribes to the formation of a nation out of which will come the hope and redemption of all nations.    But by its nature the Bible describes that God’s inspiration is expressed through very human terms and in very human ways.

Reasonable and faithful people can read the same Bible and come to different conclusions; the pacifist will oppose war, reading about Jesus “turning the other cheek” (Mathew 5:39) and telling Peter to put away his sword warning, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52), while the Christian warrior committed to the ethic of self-defense will put on a military or police uniform having read Jesus’ saying “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13).

To the Pharisees who object to Jesus healing the sick on the Sabbath, Jesus says, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.  Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”  (John 5:39-40).  

Jesus is the word of God (John 1:1-18).    We read and follow the scripture through the “lens” of the living, dynamic presence of God in our lives.  

This has meant that although the Bible codifies and regulates slavery, Methodists found in the same Bible and their relationship to the living God something new and worked to abolish slavery in England.   Although the Bible relegates women to a second-class citizenship as the property of the male head of household, because they read the Bible in relation to the living God, Methodists found something new and led the struggle for women’s voting rights and ordination in our church here in North America.

God didn’t stop speaking when this book was compiled in the 4th century AD.   Our faith demands that we listen to what life and love God is calling us to next.  God is found in the past, to be sure, but the One we find in the past is always calling us into the future.

When Moses encounters this divinity at the burning bush God’s name is revealed; I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:13-20).   In the original language, YHWH, or as mispronounced in the German, Jehovah.  Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  This is the God of Creation, the Author of the Commandments, the “still, small voice” in each of our hearts that calls us towards faith and love.

Our God hears the cry of those oppressed and suffering.

Our God acts, often through people just like us, to bring freedom and faith into the future.

Our God asks that we live our lives in the light of the commandment to love God and one another.

YHWH is a God of compassion, One who shares our struggles and pain so much that God would even come as one of us, to take on death and defeat it that we might live.

Is there a correlation between faith in God and the way we live?  There is if we worship YHWH, the God of Jesus’ parables.

One of my favorite sermons to preach when I was a missionary among the Ibans in Northern Borneo was “Tuhan Isa Ukai Orang Pute!” which means in English, “Jesus Christ Was Not a White Man”.

            When I would start the sermon our Iban brothers and sisters would be shocked.  I would point to the Sallman picture of Jesus usually hanging near by…you all know the painting, becoming popular during World War II, it depicts a handsome Anglo-Saxon Jesus, just out of the hair dressers…and I would say “Tuhan Isa Ukai Orang Pute!” and their jaws would drop.

            It was shocking for them to learn that Jesus was closer in their color and traditions than to the British and American missionaries that first brought them the gospel.  Along with that message came hospitals, and schools and church buildings.  Missionaries lived in great houses and drove what cars there were.  Of course, in the thinking of the Iban, this new Christian god must be a white man!

            Let me proclaim the same shocking message to you.

            God is not an American.

            God is not a Republican…or a Democrat.

            God isn’t an Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

            God isn’t a male…or a female.

            God’s power cannot be measured by what this world calls success.  Some of the most faithful people in the world live in terrible conditions of poverty and oppression.  For some of us it isn’t until the cancer comes or our spouse dies that we finally open our hearts to the reality of God.

            In the end we discover what we really believe about God by the way we live our live.   And we call the God of Jesus “love” (I John 4).

Relationship with this God is worth all investment, every risk.  It is the treasure that makes life worth living.

That’s the God I believe in.

How about you?

 

            Amen.

The Score Doesn’t Count ‘til the Bottom of the Ninth

Matthew 15:21-28

August 9, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

            August 10^th, 1987.  San Francisco Candlestick Park.  Giants vs. the Houston Astros.  The Giants were in first place by one game over the Astros.  The score was 5-6 with the Astros leading when the Giants came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning.

            The pinch hitter struck out.  Robby Thompson grounded out to the short stop.  The Astros were only one out away from a win, taking a share of first place in their Division, when right fielder Candy Maldonado hit a home run to tie the game.

            The crowd of 35,000 went wild as first baseman Will Clark came to bat with the scored tied, two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Baseball was designed for just such moments of exquisite tension.

            Will Clark the Giants’ young, brash superstar, took the first pitch looking at a strike.  The next one was in the dirt for a ball; the count 1-1.  Eric Greg, the umpire, then called the next pitch a strike, even though it was up around the batter’s head.  The crowd booed.  Clark wheeled around in anger, shouting to his team mates in the dugout, “oh, nuts!” [or something to that affect].

            Furious over the umpire’s bad call, Clark dug into the batter’s box, peered at the Astros pitcher, and sent the 1-2 pitch almost out of the ballpark for a home run.  Clark dropped his bat and just stood there looking at the ball land in the 14^th row of the upper deck, which only has 20 rows.  The crowd was silent in awe of his blast.  Then as he began to run the bases, the thousands exploded with cheers of “Go, Giants!  Go, Giants!”

            The Giants won the game 6-5.  They would go on to win their first Division title in years.

            My sons Matthew, then age 7, and Daniel, then age 10, and I were caught up in it all, chanting with the other fans, “Go, Giants!” as we went through the parking lot to our cars.  It’s a moment I will never forget.

            Protestant theologian Paul Tillich defines God as that which has “ultimate meaning”.  With such a broad definition one could say that baseball is an American religion.  No one can deny that it encourages passion, heroic effort, loyalty and all sorts of ritual; all elements of the religious.  Some, like my wife Bonnie, would accuse me of confusing baseball with religion.  But then I can find God just about anywhere.

            I coached Little League baseball for four years in Reno, Nevada.  Each year I had anxious and excited players and parents, bugging me throughout the game, “what’s the score…what’s the score?”  Well, the score hardly matters in Little League games that often end up 26-24, or 31-17.  So I would simply and patiently reply, over and over again, “The score doesn’t count ‘til the bottom of the ninth”.

            Now think about that for a moment.  It points to the beauty in the game of baseball. The phrase also contains a religious truth. 

Please indulge me for a moment:

            Baseball as a game is inherently fair.

            Each side must send nine players to bat in order.  Not just the best one or the strongest one each time the pitcher throws.  Even the slow, fat, short, skinny or weak player gets a chance at the plate.  Each side gets to score or defend equally.  Each side gets nine turns.  If it’s a tie at the end of nine innings, the game could literally go on into eternity until one team scores.  Baseball has no clocks.   It is time-less.

            Baseball as a game teaches perseverance, character and hope.  A good coach tells his or her players, “Don’t give up!”, “Hang in there!”, “The score doesn’t count ‘til the bottom of the ninth!”  [Or other words to that affect].

            Now, I am talking about the game of baseball itself, whether played by the Will Clarks or the 40 million children, teenagers and adolescent grown-ups who play each summer in organized leagues, and the millions of kids who play ‘sun-up-to-sun-down’ in sandlots and playgrounds.  I am not talking about the Major Leagues or the politics and economics that go along with today’s professional players.

            Justice, fairness and equality are ideals inherent in the game of baseball, but its institutions…just as the church has done with its own ideals…have failed to live up to those standards many times.

            In 1908, the Ohio Weslyian University baseball team played a series of games in Indiana.  Charles Marshall, a black man, was denied a hotel room with his Ohio teammates because of racial segregation in Indiana at the time.  One night, he stayed on a cot in his coach’s room and wept at the indignity of being treated less than a human being.   His coach, a young man by the name of Branch Rickey said, “I promise you, one day…one day…you’ll be treated as a man”.

            That day didn’t arrive in the world of baseball until the Depression increased African-American employment in the North.  Until a World War demanded the inclusion of American-Americans as full citizens in defending their country.  That day didn’t arrive until 1947, when then General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, selected Jackie Robinson to be the first African-American major leaguer.

            Rickey selected Robinson not only for his talent, which was legendary, but for his character was well.  They made a personal agreement between each other.  For three years, Robinson would take the abuse, profanity and insults expected and not give it back.  He did just that at great cost but in so doing, Robinson made an enormous contribution to the end of segregation, not just in baseball but throughout the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave”.

            In spite of the strikes against them, Rickey and Robinson would not give up.  They believed in the ideals of their game and of this nation.  Through perseverance and sacrifice they endured.  I’d like to think that both men being committed Methodists also played a part. 

            Professional baseball still has a long way to go to reach its full ideals.    Some use the privilege of being in professional sports to raise money for the victims of illnesses and call attention to the needs of the dispossessed.  Some of its players and owners seem to care more about money and media attention than the game.  Yet the game itself still demands fairness and requires the character to persevere.  There in lies its ultimate meaning.

             Now consider our scripture lesson this morning from the gospel of Matthew.  Our text is the enigmatic and embarrassing story of the healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter.

            While Jesus and his disciples are on the road, a Gentile woman approaches them crying out that Jesus is the “Son of David”.  Only the Messiah was to have that title.  It is rather startling that a non-Jewish woman would make such a claim.  Remember that in that time for men like Jesus and his disciples, women were considered less than full citizens.  In fact they were considered the property of the first born male head of household.  On top of that, for pious Jews, Gentiles were to be avoided as un-clean.

            At first they ignore her.  Then the disciples scorn her.  Finally, Jesus himself says the bewildering words, “I was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel.”  Such a Biblical scene contradicts many others where Jesus welcomes the outcast, Gentiles and women in particular.  But what Jesus did or did not say to the Canaanite woman is not Matthew’s real interest here.  It is what she, and then Jesus, do that really counts.

            The woman falls on her knees to the Lord, pleading for help.  Jesus infers that she has only the status of a dog.  Never-the-less, she says then in effect, “Well, then treat me like a dog”.   Finally, she has reached the Lord, who sees the totality of her faith in him as the Christ.  He publicly commends her and her daughter is healed instantly.

            Commentators try to ignore or rationalize this story which is so odd.  Yet one thing it does emphasize is the power in Jesus for the believer who is persistent, faithful and with hope that will not be denied.

            The Canaanite woman didn’t give up.  She kept on trying to get through to them in spite of their silence, scorn and insults.

            Matthew clearly uses the story to emphasize that the gospel in fact is not only for the “lost sheep of Israel” but that is inherently fair.   It is intended for all people, even Canaanite women, even the likes of us.

            We are not supposed to count somebody out just because of the way they look, dress, their gender, religion or ethnic background. 

            August 8^th, 1987.  Day game at Candlestick.  Giants are playing Houston.  The boys and I are sitting in Upper Box seats, right behind home plate.

            The weather is beautiful.  It’s a perfect day for a game, except for the loud, foul mouth bum sitting behind us.  This guy looks like he just got off of a ship.  He is drinking beer after beer.  He colors the air blue with profanity about the umpire, the opposing team, the Giant’s mascot.  It’s embarrassing for me to have my sons hearing this stuff, so I tell them not to listen.  They tell me that they have already heard all of those words on the play ground at school!

            In the fourth inning, Harry Spilman is called in as a pinch hitter for the Giants.  He faces Nolan Ryan of the Astros, now a Hall of Famer.  It just happens that Spilman and Ryan were next door neighbors in Texas and best of friends.  Never-the-less, Ryan tries his best to get his buddy out, who keeps fouling pitches off in all directions.

            Just then, Spilman fouls off a Nolan Ryan fastball, directly at our section.  The ball arches right towards us.  My boys and I stand up, mitts in hand and reach as high as we can for the speeding ball.

            We miss it by inches, while it lands in the lap of the foul mouthed bum sitting behind us.  Wouldn’t you know!

            Everybody sits down to watch Spilman strike out and end the inning.  Then I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to find that the foul mouth, beer swilling bum wants to give the ball to one of my boys as a souvenir of the game.

            We have kept that ball in a special place since that day.   Not only because it was thrown by Nolan Ryan, not only because it reminds us of a special day between a father and sons, but because someone who we had counted out as a “no good bum” turned out to have kindness and generosity in his heart.

            Our gospel lesson this morning teaches us to never give up on people.  To never give up on ourselves.  Jesus teaches us that the power of our faith is unleashed for those who persevere and live by hope…because the score doesn’t count ‘til the bottom of the ninth.

 

             Amen.

Use It Or Lose It

Matthew 16:24-26

August 2, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

The vision that you glorify in your Mind,

the Ideal that you enthrone in your Heart…

this you will build your Life by, this you will become.

James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

We will become those ideas and values we hold most dear to our hearts.

This is why the Apostle Paul spends the first eleven chapters of his letter to the church in Rome talking about theology. 

Over and over again, he hammers at the center of the Gospel.  “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…” (5:8)

With majestic and intellectual language, Paul spends eleven chapters describing God’s unconditional and liberating love for each one of us and the world.  And then comes chapter 12.

Having said all these beautiful and profound words, he concludes, “Now do it!”

 

“…present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed

by the renewal of your mind….

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us,

let us use them…”  (12:1-2,6)

It is not enough to be intellectually convinced of the power and beauty of the Good News in Jesus Christ.  It must also be lived.  And so the last five chapters of Paul’s letter describe what Gospel living looks like.

The vision that you glorify in your Mind,

the Ideal that you enthrone in Hearth...

this you will build your Life by, this you will become.   

It is a scary thought, really, when we consider the visions and ideals that predominate today.  You’ve seen these bumper stickers?

            “The More People I Meet, the More I Like My Dog”

            “The One with The Most Toys Wins”

            “Women Who Seek to be Equal to Men Lack Ambition”

Or how about these ads?

“Pepsi Makes You Come Alive”

“Be All That You Can Be; Join the Army”

“Life Just Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This”

One of the first things Paul insists about the Gospel is, “…do not be conformed to this world…”

Pressure to conform is great.  Look at our kids.  There is no written dress code for teenagers, but there are profound expectations that have adolescents wearing the same shoes, same hats, same blue jeans if they would fit into a certain social grouping.  It’s even more pronounced for adults.  We can identify one’s profession from their dress.

The danger of conforming to the values of the world is that we mix our faith in God with our secular expectations.  We equate America as God’s chosen people.  We think of God as a white middle-class male.  We assume that our material prosperity is a sure sign of our right religion.

This cultural assimilation is nothing new.  In Soest, Germany, is a 15^th century church with a stained glass window depicting the Last Supper.  On the table are pumpernickel bread, Westphalian ham and steins of beer.

Pressure to conform to the world around us is great.

The Kairos Prison ministry is a national program bringing spiritual renewal and support to prisoners.  Bonnie and I participated in Kairos throughout our seven years in Nevada, working with prisoners at the Medium Security Prison in Carson City.  The pressure to conform to the world of a prison can be a matter of life and death.

During our weekend workshops, it was necessary for the organizing team to have hundreds of dozens of fresh baked cookies in sandwich bags ready for the participating inmates to take back to the cells with them at the end of the day.  If they didn’t share some of the benefits they were experiencing during the weekend workshops with the rest of the inmates, they were often beaten up.  So the cookies were shared all around.

During one such weekend we witnessed a great faith.  Jerry was a leader in the Aryan Warriors, the white prison gang.  Jose was an officer in Nuestra Familia, one of the most feared Hispanic gangs.  They were both sent to the workshop to “check out” what was happening at the ministry as it was affecting members of their gangs.

By the end of the three days both men had sung songs, prayed, taken Holy Communion and sat in dialogue with outsiders who gently and openly shared their faith.  At the closing worship service Jose stood up and said, “My enemy has been in this same room all weekend”, pointing to Jerry.  “You outsiders have no idea that we are being watched.  Everyone in the prison knows that we are in this same room.   They are waiting to hear what we will do and say because we came here.  We can never be friends.  In the Yard we will not even speak.  But in here, in this room, this weekend, I have learned that he is my brother in Christ”.

And then both men, huge, strong and fierce embraced and hugged each other. They said “God bless you” to each other, knowing full well that by evening everyone in the prison would know that, even for a minute, these two warriors had broken the code of prison conformity in the spirit of Christ.

The issue may not be so dramatic for us comfortable, well educated, middle-class Christians.  We are surrounded by material comfort and powerful voices which seduce us not to rock the boat.  What would non-conformist Christians look like in Carmel?   It’s not easy being counter-cultural.   Paul knew this to be true for the people in Rome.  So he leaves them, and us, a list of what to do if they would follow Jesus…(Paul was great at lists…);

 

“Having gifts which differ according to grace, use them…

let love be genuine;

hold fast to what is good;

love one another with mutual affection;

outdo one another in showing honor;

rejoice in hope;

be patient in suffering; persevere in prayer;

contribute to the needs of the saints;

extend hospitality;

bless those who persecute you;

weep with those who weep;

live in harmony with one another;

do not be haughty;

live peaceably with all;

 if your enemies are hungry, feed them,

if they are thirsty, give them something to drink;

do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good…” (12:9-21)

 

 Now he doesn’t say, “Wait until you get the right thinking to do the Gospel”. He says do the right thing and your heart will follow.  Much like the behavioral psychologists of today, Paul would argue that we change our exterior behavior to influence our internal health.

If you act like you love your boss, your heart will follow.

When in times of marital stress and difficulty, when things have grown cold and distant, silent and resentful, change the pattern of your behavior.

If the romance is gone, remember what it was like when it was there.  Remember how you courted?  Flowers.  Dinner.  Dancing.  Attention?  Put the arguments aside for a while and break the pattern of your behavior.

If you act like you have a romance with your wife or husband, your heart will follow.

The same is true with God.

How many of us are missing something, spiritually.  The fire, passion and assurance of faith is just not there.  We go to church twice a year.  We don’t pray or read the scripture regularly.  We give little to our church of time, talent and money.   Then we wonder why we don’t feel anything for God?!

In every other endeavor in life we fully understand that the more we invest ourselves, the more we will receive in return.  Why is it that we don’t apply that same truth to our faith?

Consider Paul’s lists; act mercifully, love, lavish affection, outdo one another giving honor, rejoice, pray, practice hospitality.

Act like you love God and your heart will follow.

Medical doctors will tell us today that if we don’t exercise our muscles or our minds, we will gradually lose our faculties.  This is especially true as we age.  They have the phrase, “Use it or lose it!”

It may also be true for our spiritual life as well.

In our gospel lesson Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples that to be Messiah he was to suffer and die on the cross.  They are having a hard time accepting this about their beloved Master and his call for them to follow his way by carrying their own crosses.  He says to them, in effect, “If you want to save your life, lose it…if you want to be full, empty yourself…if you want to be rich in the spirit, give yourself away…”

Put it this way:  Imagine that you had a “no carry over” bank account in which was deposited every day, $86,400 that you had to spend in that day or it would be lost.

Well, we’ve got 86,400 seconds of time each day which we will never have again.   There is no time to waste investing ourselves in the empty illusions of this world.  The one with the most toys doesn’t win a thing!  Acquiring material and professional success, social power and status can be used as tools for spiritual investment, certainly.  But if they cost us our marriages, children, physical health or souls, they are empty illusions indeed.

Counter-cultural, non-conformist Christians may dress and look just the same as everybody else, but their living will be defined by the gift of love, compassion and humility from their God. 

It’s a gift we are to use or lose.

Amen.