|
PLAYTOE'S LIGHT, PART V: RECEIVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
It is with great joy, yet much grief and sadness, that I write to you.
Great joy, in that I know that in truth an answer is sent to us from
above. Yet much grief and sadness, in that I know that that answer
will be hard to receive because of the many false messages, and
misinterpretations of messages before me. As a result, I know that
many, if not most, will reject me...yet I shall not deny you at least
the opportunity to hear what I have to say.
First of all, before I begin, I want to say that I believe that there
is truth in the bible, but there has been some slight changes made when
it was translated (both from the Hebrew/Aramaic and the Greek), but
more than this, the truth has often been interpreted falsely...which I
have concluded causes more damage to the mind than the changes.
For you see, the power of "self fulfiling prophecy," which conditions
the mind against preceiving things another way, is harder to correct in
the mind, than if one were to correct the changes. You could more
easily adjust to the correction of a change, than the reinterpretation
of a false perception. It is harder for you to see the same thing in a
new way, for the old way of looking at it would ever be in the back of
the mind, whereras the error if corrected, the error would be removed
from sight, and soon forgotten...however, let me proceed.
In Luke, 3:2-4, it reads,
"Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word of God CAME UNTO
John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the
country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias
the prophet, saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths
(into your heart) straight." (parenthesis mine, of course)
You see, before the Word of God will be able to enter into you and
bring about the perfection of salvation in you, your sinful/carnal
ways/nature must be in "remission," you must be willing to "change your
ways" and do righteousness. John says to the multitudes in Luke 3:7,
"O generation of vipers, who hat warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not
to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father..." The Jews,
who considered themselves the "seed of Abraham," thought that because
of that this alone they were worthy of John's baptism. They, however,
had no intention of "changing their ways," they thought they were
already worthy and moreso were doing righteiousness. When in fact they
had been and were a wicked people, John calls them "O generation of
vipers/snakes."
However, he asks them "who has WARNED you to flee from the wrath to
come" or what have you come to know about carnalmindness/materialism/
worldly glory/lusts of the flesh/etc that makes you want to have
eternal life/spiritual oneness with God/salvation? For the Jew it was
a matter of the course of life to live and die and be buried with the
fathers, their attitude and belief of/in "Get it now, pass it to the
children, when you're dead you're gone." They did not believe in the
resurrection of life, immortality of the soul, or the power of God in
their personal life (as Christ taught it). Of course they praye, and
this a whole lot, but they prayed for God to support them in what they
did, or planned to do, and not for God to do for them, per se. They
didn't believe in "Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will care for
you," to mean that God will DO the caring for you/take control, but to
them this meant simply "God cares for you, if you care for him," which
is a lot different. They believed they were the "chosen of God", and
what they wanted, God would back them in getting. Thus, they prayed
much, showed care, thinking that God cared for them in all that they
thought to do...but Brothers and Sisters it doesn't work that way,
except if your will is atoned/in agreement with God's will...thus we
"let go, and let God", we pray "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not
want," which is hardly a Jewish characteristic.
You see, John, had been in the wilderness for a long time, he was
raised on "bread and honey", and the spirit of God or the Holy Spirit
was with him from birth. But it says that the "word of God CAME UNTO
him, just prior to his "shewing unto Israel." He was raised up in
wisdom and a good stature, prepared for the entrance of God's Word, in
a straight way, clean shot to the heart.
With Jesus, it was the same, except Jesus had been prepared better, he,
according to some records, had attended the mystery schools of Egypt
and India, thus was he "preferred before [John]" by God. John was
worthy of tieing up his shies, Jesus was so worthy. In Luke 3:22, it
says after Jesus was baptised of John, "And the Holy Ghost descended in
a BODILY SHAPE like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven,
which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased." Some
may interpret the "bodily shape" to be that of a dove, but it doesn't
say this, it says it descended "like a dove," but the shape was that of
a man, and angelice being, with a mission.
In Luke 4:1, it reads, "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned
from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty
days tempted of the devil...(Luke 4:3) And the Devil said unto him, "If
thou be the Son of God..." Two things we must note, 1)it is at this
point that the Word of God came to Jesus, making him the Son of
God/Christ, as signified by the questioning of Satan, 2)when we first
receive the Holy Ghost, this is the prime time when Satan seeks to
deceive you, because once you grow accustomed to its presence in you
you'll be safe, able to prosper in/with it. Thus, the need to be
prepared prior to receiving it. Supporting scripture for this is, "And
his Spirit shall bear witness with your spirit," "I will do nothing
without your mind/your conscious awareness," "Invite me (into your
heart) and I will come and sup with you," the purpose being to bring
YOU to the kingdom, not to change or exchange your spirit with his
Spirit...God wants YOU there. Also, as it is written in Revelations,
"And to those that overcome (the Devil), I will give you a name that
no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." And we see Jesus renaming
his disciples, and Saul becomes Paul, Jacob became Israel.
There was a change in the Bible. In St. John's gospel, it reads, (John
1:12), "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the Sons of God, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME. This "even to
them that believe on his name," is not true. Jesus himself said to
those who said to him, "Haven't we cast out demons, etc, IN THY NAME"
(thus they believed on his name), he said to them "Yes, but you never
knew me, get back ye workers of iniquity". So this is not true by
Jesus' own words. And the "thief on the cross," to whom it is said
Jesus told, "Today you shall be with me in paradise," NO, I don't think
so, and if so, only for a moment, to be judged and cast into the
pit...for it is written, "If you are punished for doing wrong this is
deservedly so, but if you are punished for doing righteousness, this is
the suffering of Christ," the thief wasn't being persecuted, had not
lived or prepared himself for a life in Christ, there's no way he made
it, brothers and sisters, without first spending a little time in pit.
Even King David says, Lord leave not my soul in hell," he expected to
go down for a while, he had "too much blood on his hands," as the
scriptures say, such that he was not worthy of building the temple of
God, but God loved David too, very much...but this thief? Also,
consider the Disciples, they had trouble believing though they lived
with and were taught directly by Jesus...but this thief? NO, he has
no relationship with God and will see the pit before he ever rests in
heaven...doubt what I say and wait til your dieing day to repent, like
the Catholic does, whose fathers were responsible for these changes,
and you'll find out for yourself...again, PREPARE YOURSELVES.
As a note in point, and the reason why I mentioned this, is because I
told some Christians/white men that I was baptised with water when I
was eight years old, but did not receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost
until the age of twenty-five, and they had a big problem with that.
This was two weeks ago. So, as I went back into the scriptures to
study this matter it brought these things to my attention. I never had
a problem with this. And as I think back over the years between age 8
and 25, I realize the truth in this. I was too young at age 8 to do
battle with Satan, and much of my time til age 25 was spent in study
and various churches, including time with Black Christian Nationalists.
I do not "fake/feign" the Holy Ghost in me, and it only has happened
one time in my life, at that time. But ever since then, and even
before that I believe, I felt I had a mission (though it still has not
been made fully manifest) or purpose from God to perform. I received
my name "Playtoe", which means "PLAYing, but TOEing the line", or "In
the Spirit of the Law", or "In the Spirit of Truth" after further
testing and growth, at the age of 28, in 1982...and know for a surety,
my brothers and sisters, it's HARD and I'll even say impossible to fool
or deceive me about the meaning, according to the Spirit of God, of the
Word of God, because I'm IN the Spirit of Truth, and know those things
which belong to the Spirit. I mean I can hear someone say something
about God's word and immediately know whether it CAN be found in the
Scripture, because I have also the gift of "Discerner of spirits" and
can tell what the spirit of a word is...don't judge me, test me!
So I realized that it is commonly believed that we don't need any
"prerequisite knowledge" before receiving the Holy Ghost, and this is
allegedly support in Acts by those who received Holy Ghost rather
shortly after hearing God's Word, but notice also WHO those were that
received it so quickly, were they not those who were prepared? The
Jews stood around marveling at them, they didn't receive it, nor
believed it, as they thought it was a "new wine", that they were on
drugs, highly intoxicated...and they were not.
In short, an "Initiation" process is necessary to receive the Holy
Ghost, the more extensive the better. One should be in a good moral
and ethical manner of being, a man of virtue, before receiving God's
Word, lest Satan deceive thee. The most renowned was that of the
Egyptian mysteries schools. I'd point out also, that the Tribe of
Joseph/Israelites, was given a "double portion" over that which was
given to the other tribes. I'd say this was because of their sojourn
in Egypt. Even as it is said of Moses, and Jesus, "Out of Egypt have I
called my son(s)."...Egypt the glory of heaven on earth, dwelling place
of the gods! The first teachings of the Egyptians, written over the
door of all the temples was "Man, know thyself," but then afterwards
they'd begin to teach you the knowledge of God..."when the student is
ready the master will appear" is another of their sayings.
May God add a blessing to those that receive his Son, the Word of God.
Playtoe, In the Spirit of Truth
|
| (This message follows the reading of the cleansing of the Temple passages
from John, chapter 2)
It has been said that there are 3 kinds of people: People who MAKE things
happen, people who WATCH things happen, and people who WONDER what happened.
A friend of mine used to say "You'll never know whether of not you can walk
on water unless you first step out of the boat." He was talking about
putting it on the line; putting one's faith on the line. He was talking
about extending oneself beyond the safe, sensible, and comfortable.
What example was Jesus providing for us by his actions at the Temple, the
Temple which would be utterly destroyed at the hands of the Roman in the
year 70 A.D.?
Can you imagine what went through the minds of the merchants and moneychangers?
"Who is this madman?"
"This misguided fool has no right to pick on us! Why doesn't he
mind his own business?"
"Yes, this Jesus of Nazareth may be popular, but he is a nuisance
and a troublemaker."
After all, here were these merchants, providing a valuable service, a
convenience for the many travelers who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The Passover observance provided an excellent opportunity for commercial
enterprise.
The merchants could sell their livestock for the sacrificial offerings. The
moneychangers, bankers really, could exchange foreign currencies for that
which could be used in the Temple, for a hefty commission, of course.
How they must have believed that what they were doing was sensible
and legitimate. And surely Jesus, the Prince of Peace, realized that by
disrupting the status quo he would incur the ire of those who benefit from
the status quo.
At the very core of this incident is something called "desecration";
that is, to take something that is set apart, that is holy, and then making
it unholy. According to the gospel of John, the incident at the temple
was a precursor to when Jesus prophesied that there would come a time when
God would be worshiped not in a location, not in a physical dimension,
but in Spirit and Truth.
Desecration is something we still live with, however. Last November, in
a Central American country, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and
her daughter were murdered by assassins procured with the consent and
knowledge of government officials. Countless others in this country have
been mutilated and murdered. Still others have disappeared without a
trace. It is not without a profane irony that this country is called
El Salvador, the Savior. The United States pours over a million dollars
per day into the government of El Salvador.
Ultimately, those American dollars are subsidizing the desecration
perpetrated by death squads in El Salvador. Lowery Air Force Base in
Denver has been designated as the logistical supply center for foreign
governments conducting low-intensity warfare, including El Salvador.
As some of you know, on June 30th of this year I was one of 58 people who
crossed over that blue line at the entrance of Lowery, and was consequently
arrested. Though officially it was called being "detained", I say any time
they put people in handcuffs it's being arrested.
Before we entered the base, the names of Salvadorans who have recently
disappeared or killed were read aloud. These names were as haunting and
disturbing to me; as haunting and disturbing as the names on the Viet Nam
Memorial wall, as haunting and disturbing as the names on the Names project
quilt of individuals who have died as a result of AIDS.
By crossing the line at Lowery, I was a part of a witness and outcry
against the merchants and moneychangers of death. I was proclaiming my
contempt for the unconscionable desecration of human life.
On June 6th, a tornado ripped through the town of Limon, Colorado. Limon
will receive zero dollars in federal relief. Limon, to the best of my
knowledge, does not employ the use of death squads. A government which
is known to employ death squads receives over 1 million dollars a day.
What's wrong with this picture??
I do not take risking arrest lightly. Going to Denver and being arrested
is not my idea of pleasant way to spend a summer Saturday afternoon.
Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: "For you have been give the
privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by
suffering for him." In spite of the near century mark temperatures, I
am almost ashamed that I suffered so little. Had I been in El Salvador, I
might not be here today.
As Christians, we're not always called to the pleasant, the comfortable,
and the sensible. Going to the cross is not a pleasant, comfortable and
sensible thing to do. I am not advocating that everyone should risk arrest.
However, I would challenge anyone who has not been called to the cross
recently to examine their life and prayerfully ask, "Why am I not being
called?" The warmth and love that permeates when we gather for worship
and fellowship is a wonderful part of the Christian experience. But, it
can't stop there. Christ expects more of us.
We Christians are in a precarious position. On the one hand, we believe
that God in Christ may speak directly to anyone, without an intermediary.
On the other hand, we question the sanity of people who say they hear voices,
especially the voice of God. But, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd," and,
"my sheep know my voice." And like sheep, we may know the voice of our
shepherd, but that doesn't mean we won't turn a deaf ear to it, or try to
ignore it when it doesn't suit us.
Erich Fromm wrote a marvelous book called, "The Art of Loving." The title
alone speaks volumes. Loving is truly an art. And, like playing the piano or
painting on canvas, our ability to love improves with practice. And, like
every art form, it requires that we practice, even when we don't feel like
it, even when we're not in the mood.
Jesus said, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself,
take up his cross every day, and follow me." This is what is known as
discipline. And it is up to us to follow Christ as closely as our
understanding will allow.
Christ calls us to servanthood.
Consider this from a collection of writings of 3rd century Egyptian monks:
"A brother asked a certain old man, saying, "There be two brothers, and
one of them is quiet in his cell and prolongs his fast for 6 days and
lays much travail upon himself, but the other tends the sick. Whose
work is more acceptable to God?" And the old man answered, "If that
brother who carries his fast for 6 days were to hang himself up by the
nostrils, he could not equal the other, who does service to the sick."
As emissaries and representatives of Christ in the world, we are called
to make love a verb instead of a noun, to make faith a verb instead of
a noun, to make mercy, hope, and compassion all verbs, not nouns.
The crucifixion was not simply an event that took place 2,000 years ago.
The Christ is crucified over and over and over again, everyday. In pain,
Christ hangs from the cross even today.
With every expression of love, joy, peace, and forgiveness his wounds
receive healing and Christ is resurrected again.
Another way of saying this may be found in Matthew 25. Jesus said
"I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me...." And 5 verses
later, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this
to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me."
Please, won't you join me in prayer?
God of love, God of glory, Lover of our very souls, fortify us with courage
to take that step out of the boat, to be willing to put our faith on the
line for your kingdom's sake. O Spirit dwelling within us, prod us when we
become too complacent and too comfortable. Create within us a capacity and
commitment to do the loving thing always, even when we don't feel very loving.
Allow us the incomparable honor of being your servants. Make of us an
expression of your holiness and your righteousness. This we ask in the name
of Christ Jesus. Amen, and amen!
|
| Sermon on July 25th based on *
Exodus 2:11-22 (Moses kills an Egyptian and hightails it to Midian)
Romans 8:9-17 (Pauline doctrine)
* Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (The parable of the sower)
In 1857, a gentleman by the name of Anthony Trollope wrote in Barchester
Towers: "There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present in civilised
and free countries, than the necessity of listening to sermons."
I'll be honest with you. I had a hard time coming up with a sermon
for today. This one just didn't want to gel for me.
But since it's summertime and since our gathering is typically a smaller
one in the summer, I decided to make this message something like a summer
salad -- informal, light, and hopefully refreshing without leaving anyone
with that overstuffed feeling.
The parable. Does anybody know what a parable is? An extended metaphor --
typically in narrative form. The parable was widely used by the rabbis of
Jesus' time. In the original language, the term carries with it a sense that
the parable is also something of an enigma, a riddle, a puzzle. The idea
is that if one can grasp the true meaning of a parable, one might gain a
deeper clarity and understanding of the truth than might otherwise be possible.
Let's consider the parable of the sower.
You've got to kind of wonder about this particular sower. Just about anybody
who's ever gotten their hands dirty in a garden can tell you that you don't
just go out and start scattering seeds all over the place! No! You first
prepare the ground. You clear away the debris. You work the soil. You get
rid of the rocks and the thorn bushes so you don't have to deal with them
later on! But the sower in the parable does none of this. And it is here
that we catch a glimpse of what God is like.
In an earlier chapter of Matthew, Jesus says, "God causes the sun to shine
on the good and the evil alike. God gives rain to those who do good and
to those who do evil."
When God scatters, God does so with a reckless abandon. God scatters
indiscriminately! This is something about the nature of God that many
who claim to be God's followers, especially in this region and in a few
other areas of the country, have failed to comprehend.
There's something else that's kind of disturbing about this parable of
Jesus'. In one instance, the hearers are the seed. In another, the
message, the good news of God in Christ, is the seed and the hearers
are the soil. And in the last the hearer is a plant that brings forth
an harvest of good things. We would do well to keep in mind that the
parable is not the same thing an allegory, where all the symbols are
supposed to parallel something else. And even allegories when examined
too closely tend to fall apart.
But do you know what bothers me most about this parable? I can see myself
in each one of the examples. There are times, like the seed that's fallen on
the path, I'm as thick and unreceptive as a concrete sidewalk. Then again,
everybody knows that all you really need for a vigorous, healthy growth of
grass is a crack in the sidewalk. So all I can say is, "Dear God, forgive
me for being so dense and please keep finding ways to get through to this
inattentive sinner!"
Other times, like the seed that's fallen on rocky soil, I worry that my
faith is not strong enough, and not rooted deeply enough to sustain me
when the going gets really rough. It's easy to be a Christian when
things are going smoothly. But, if Jesus were to come to me right now and
say, "Richard, I want you to go up on that cross with me this very day,"
I'm not certain I could tell him that I'd go through with it.
Furthermore, I have very low threshold of tolerance when I comes to
frustration. There are times when I'd like to say, "To Hell with everything."
It's a good thing I'm not God.
Like the seed that fell among the thorn bushes, I, too, suffer from human
insecurities and desires. I am not immune from the agenda the world seeks
to impose on me. I watch TV and I'm perfectly aware that if I smell at all
like a human being, it's over. My wallet's full of plastic cards. I
sometimes wonder if I possess my possessions or if my possessions possess
me. I have to keep reminding myself that my life is more than my work and
my work is more than my job. It's not easy to resist the barrage of
enticements the world teases us with.
I'd *like* to believe that my life most closely fits the example of the
seed sown in good soil. I *want* to believe that through the Spirit of
the Living God, I am in union with Christ. I'd like to believe that through
Christ I've managed to bring forth some small yield of goodness and light
into the world that wasn't there before. I find these kinds of thoughts
to be very comforting. But you know, I'm not always certain how truthful
or accurate they are.
If I may echo the words of Paul in his letter to the Romans, we have
an obligation, we are indebted to live by the Spirit. For it is by the
Spirit that we are in a new and mystical relationship with the Most Holy.
And it is by the Spirit that we've become joint heirs with Christ to the
Realm of God.
Charlie King, a contemporary folk singer who sang in this very auditorium
in a benefit concert last Spring, sings a song called: "God Bless the Grass."
Written by Malvina Reynolds, it's a song about fierce tenacity and indomitable
perseverance. The words speak of the very stuff of the Spirit.
God bless the grass that grows through the crack.
They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back;
The concrete gets tired of what it has to do.
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows through.
God bless the grass.
God bless the truth that fights toward the sun.
They roll the lies over it and think that it is done;
It moves through the ground and reaches for the air
and after a while it is growing everywhere.
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that grows through cement.
Its green and its tender and its easily bent;
But after a while it lifts up its head,
for the grass is living and the stone is dead.
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that's gentle and low;
Its roots they are deep and its will is to grow,
and God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,
and the wild grass growing at the poor soul's door.
God bless the grass.
And God bless you!
|
| Thanks for the prayers. It went well Tuesday evening. Cal Hoe, a former
noter here, was there. The sermon was one I had dusted off and was roughly
as follows:
Death is not Optional
=====================
The book of Ecclesiates is traditionally attributed to Solomon.
In describing himself, the author uses a Hebrew word which means to perform
some function in an assembly or gathering. The word can be translated
either the "Preacher" or the "Philosopher". These are some of this author's
observations:
Ecclesiates 2.9-17
Was this guy having a bad day, or what?
What an outpouring of disillusionment! What an articulate examination
of futility! No matter what we do, no matter what our achievements,
no matter how attached we are to life, no matter how much we love or are
loved, the same inevitable event, without exception, awaits every one of us.
A film star with a flair for humor once said, "I don't want to achieve
immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not
dying!"
He may have been the one to originally say, "It's not that I'm afraid of
dying. It's just that I'd rather not be there when it happens!"
Cerebrally, I think we all realize that we are mortal creatures. But,
let there be no mistake about it: Death is not optional.
My son, Ricky, once said to me what I also said as a child, "I don't see
why anybody has to die."
"It's not fair!" he says.
I remember one time as a child, waking in the night to hear my parents arguing.
They were arguing over me, their little boy. I had been diagnosed as having
Muscular Dystrophy, a fatal neuro-muscular disease. I can't remember their
words. I do remember the heartbreaking sound of frustration and outrage in
their voices.
I was a source of great emotional and financial distress for my mother and
father. Considerable time was spent in the company of doctors and nurses,
and even Christian Scientists, faith healers and charlatans. I had needles
poked into me for deposits, and needles poked into me for withdrawals.
There was a ceaseless barrage of pills and foul-tasting concoctions and
trips to the physical therapist.
I lived as a child with the idea that my life would be shorter than the other
children I knew. And most of the time I didn't think about it. But when I
did, it gave me a dark and empty feeling.
It all seemed so unfair. That night, I remember silently crying myself back to
sleep, wishing I had never been born.
Well, it turns out the diagnosis was wrong! I was re-diagnosed in my late
teens as having something called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a disabling, but
not necessarily fatal, neuro-muscular condition.
Now, I'm the father of 2 fine children. I'm married to a beautiful, sensitive
woman. Much to the chagrin of those who don't agree with my witness for
peace and social justice, I'm very much engaged with life and these times.
And, I'm glad was born after all!
Why hasn't God healed me completely? I don't know. But what's even more
phenomenal to me is that God has placed it on my heart to preach and proclaim
God's love, God's tenderness, and God's peace..........from a wheelchair!
Death is not optional. However, choosing to be truly alive is optional!
Living in the power and love of our Sovereign, Christ Jesus -- or not --
is a choice we all make.
I once saw a poster that made this profound declaration:
"Your life is God's gift to you. What you do with your life is your gift
to God."
Now, you might say to yourself, "Nothing I can do would make a difference."
But that's not true.
Can you share a kind word? Can you listen to someone's suffering, or
to someone's joy? Can you share the love of Christ by just being a caring
presence for someone?
Allow this story to wander your hearts and minds. A friend of mine (I'll
call her Pat) told me a story about her foster daughter, Megan. Megan
was the youngest of 4 children and was the scapegoat of her biological
family. Every frustration and disappointment in life was taken out on her.
One day one of Pat's older daughters came to her with the fear that Megan
might be emotionally unstable. It seems that sometime in the past, when
she and her brothers and sisters went out to play by Fountain Creek, it was
Megan's habit to wander off by herself. On several occasions she had been
spotted in a secluded area sitting on the ground, her arms folded across her
knees, talking to a white dog.
Now this story didn't sound all that unusual to Pat until until she
learned that the dog was dead. And even after Megan had been told that
the dog was dead, she continued to visit him.
Pat found a quiet time to ask Megan about the white dog. Megan
said to her, "I knew all the time that dog was dead! But he was the
only person (and she used the word person), he was the only person who
never picked on me or called me names!"
There's a lot of hurt in this world. And as you see, it sometimes doesn't
take very much to demonstrate compassion, to affirm someone, to quench
a thirst for kindness.
Death is not optional, but we can choose what we do with the precious time
we've been given. Is there something you've been putting off? Perhaps
something you've left unsaid to someone? Something like "Forgive me", or
"Thank you," or "I love you," or "I'm glad you were born." Is God nudging
you for some reason? Perhaps there's something you've been meaning to do,
but managed to avoid? Is it something you could do this week? Or even yet
tonight?
Let each one of us take a moment and lift up these questions, asking
the Holy Spirit to guide us in determining our priorities and acting upon
them.
|
| Our gospel reading for today presents us with a very interesting
scenario. Christ has been crucified and has risen from the grave. Here
are seven of Jesus' disciples out on Lake Tiberias, which incidentally,
is the very same lake as Lake Galilee. They've been out on this lake
fishing all night. At sunrise, a figure on the lakeshore calls
out to them.
Nobody immediately recognizes who this is! I think this is kind of
extraordinary. I mean, Jesus was no stranger to these guys. Okay - perhaps,
we can explain some of this away. It was just barely dawn and maybe Jesus'
back was to the sun so that all they could see was his silhouette. And
according to John the disciples were about 100 yards out on the lake - about
the length of a football field - and yes, I can understand how one might not
recognize someone at this distance.
However, this was not an isolated instance. A couple chapters
earlier in John, Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Christ for the gardener.
And Luke records that 2 pilgrims inexplicably failed to recognize Christ on
the road to Emmaus. In fact, Jesus was not revealed to them until he
broke bread with them. Mark is equally vague.
Later on in today's gospel reading it says none of the disciples
dared ask "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. But if they
truly recognized him, it seems to me that this question would have never
even entered their minds!
How incredibly strange is this phenomenon! I mean, was it that Jesus
appeared out of focus or kind of blurry? Couldn't somebody have simply
adjusted the fine tuning control?
But what about today? Has our vision improved with time? Are we
more likely or less like to recognize Christ?
When I was growing up there was a boy who lived across the street
and down a few houses from me. Barry was the third eldest of the four
children in his family and a year or two younger than me. Even as early
as his primary school years he was generally regarded as repulsively
effeminate. He was mildly retarded, skinny, limp-wristed, with coarse, but
thin, reddish straight hair. His voice was always high, breathy and he spoke
with a slight, but irritating lisp. His hands were always clammy. He never
played any team games. Neither was he ever invited to play in any team games.
I knew Barry and his family for years, but I befriended him for only
a short time. In that time I learned that Barry's favorite actress was
Dorothy Provine, who was a regular then on the TV show "The Roaring Twenties."
He had pictures of her all over the wall on his portion of the bedroom and
also spilling out from a bulging scrapbook.
I wasn't Barry's best friend. For a few weeks I was his *only*
friend. But I eventually yielded to the pressure of others to disassociate
myself from Barry. Nobody wanted to be around anybody who was a friend of
his. Barry was labeled almost universally as a "queer," a "faggot" and a
"sissy."
He didn't seem to mind or resent me when I started avoiding making eye-
contact with him. He was probably accustomed to it.
For a while as a teen, Barry united with the Jehovah's Witnesses. As
far as I know they were very good to him and very good for him. Barry's step
seemed a little brighter, a little more energetic when he was swinging a Bible
under one arm and a brief case full of Watchtower and Awake magazines under
the other.
Many years later, after I'd grown up and left home, I learned that
the burden of life had become too great for Barry. He committed suicide.
I do not know what all led to his fatal decision. But I can't help but
believe that the way he was treated and the way he was regarded contributed
to that decision.
In our society, it is shameful to be a male, yet not manly. Ironically,
shame is what I feel for a society infected with such poisonous pedagogy and
abusive gender paradigms.
How often by our actions have we failed to recognize Jesus? How many
times have we turned our backs to injustice or unkindness?
Mother Theresa, who lives among and serves and cares for the poorest
of the world's poor, has said that when she looks into their faces she sees
the face of Jesus.
You know, I've been asked on more than one occasion why a straight
guy like me would leave the United Methodist Church and join MCC. For a long
time I really couldn't answer that question. Then a friend of mine sent me
a note in which she shared a rather amazing piece of insight. Her note said:
> It came to me at some point that you must have aligned yourself
> with gay causes and the MCC church because they, like you, experience
> living in a world of people-not-like-me, and it is a world from which
> you can never completely escape. In that *one* respect, they
> *are* people-like-you!
> Finally, your leaving the UMC for MCC made sense...
I found contained in these words an uncommon and undeniable truth.
Yet, it is not the complete truth. There's more.
I want each one of you - right now - to look at the face of each
person around you. Try not to glance away too quickly. Carefully search
each face. Do you see what I see? Do you see the resemblance? Do you
see the face of Jesus? If you do not, would you consider adjusting your
fine tuning control?
I found the words to a song I learned at this year's EXCEL experience
particularly meaningful. The words are:
How could anyone ever tell you
that you're anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you
that you're anything less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice
that your loving is a miracle?
How deeply you're connected to my soul.
In the 25th chapter of Matthew Jesus says, "I tell you solemnly,
in so far as you did this to one of the least of these sister and brothers
of mine, you did it to me...." And 5 verses later, "I tell you solemnly, in
so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these sisters and
brothers of mine, you neglected to do it to me."
The crucifixion was not simply an event that took place some 2,000
years ago. With every act of cruelty, with every injustice that goes
unchallenged Christ is crucified again. In pain, Christ hangs from the
cross even today. But with every act of mercy and kindness and unselfish
love, Christ's wounds receive healing and Christ is resurrected again!
Hallelujah! Praise be to our Sovereign!
|