As you can probably
imagine -I tend to go to church while on vacation. Now when I am on vacation, I don’t show up at
church in my full clergy regalia- white collar, black shirt, the whole nine
yards-- that stuff stays home. -- Usually
I show up with shorts, tee shirt and almost always with some thick stubble on
my face.
Now the first Sunday
of my vacation –I believe it or not went church. There were so many great things this church-
the worship was inspiring and wonderful-
they did a great job incorporating children into the service, the sermon I can
still remember the sermon-- That’s
always a positive. At announcement time,
there was a concerted effort to welcome new folks- they were particularly intentional about
inviting newcomers to coffee hour and making sure newcomers grabbed a welcome
packet. They sang a beautiful rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.
After the service
ended, I went to coffee hour at this church—in fact you couldn’t escape
it. Coffee hour was by the front
door. . - - there was an incredible
spread- pastries, sandwiches- fresh fruit.
I grabbed a few things- stepped away from the table and began to nimble
on my coffee cake— while I was standing there eating for about five minutes not a soul spoke
with me. A few polite smiles as people
passed by, but not a word like have we me I felt terrible- invisible and
uncared for.
After a few more
minutes of being ignored, I decided to try to make it more obvious that I was a
visitor--so I held my newcomer packet that I had across my chest kind of like
this. Now right on the front of the packet in big
letters it said newcomer packet- for another five minutes people swirled about
the room but sadly not a thing. A few
polite smiles, but no- one willing to stop and introduce themselves, no one
willing to say hello. I left church feeling invisible.
But the story
doesn’t end there. As I was driving
home, I pulled up to a stop light I saw a woman sitting on the grass holding a
sign that said something like “hungry, can you help?” She looked in pretty rough shape- dirty-
probably hadn’t bathed in few days- sunburned. My first thought was to just drive off, but I
had just had this moment where I knew what it was like to be invisible, to be
uncared for- I knew that I couldn’t just drive away.
As the light changed
to green- I was still processing how to respond when I
saw a farmer’s market just a little ways
up the road—the proverbial light bulb went off-- I knew that I had to get her
some food from the market. I purchase a
loaf of bread and a quart of blueberries. With food in hand- I went to deliver
the food.
I found out that the
woman’s name was Barbara and that she had recently left an abusive
relationship- and she told me that she was safer out on the streets with
nothing. Barbara was making her way to
Connecticut- to try to connect with her daughter.
Maybe she was lying
but what if she wasn’t- what if she needed to know that someone cared enough to
stop- that someone cared enough to recognize that she in fact had value- value regardless
of whether or not she was an addict or mentally ill or something else.
One of unwritten rules
we live with here in the US tells us that it’s ok to walk right by a stranger-to
treat them as if they are invisible-- and particularly if that stranger looks like
Barbara. The unwritten rules tell us
it’s ok not acknowledge Barbara’s
presence. The rules also tell us to be careful she might be trying to play the
system- she might just be an addict looking to score some money to find her
next fix. She might just be lazy not
wanting to get a job.
But the Jesus we
follow doesn’t always play by the rules that we govern our lives by. When
Jesus saw the crippled woman in the synagogue that Sabbath day - a woman bent
over for eighteen years- he could have played by the rules-- he could have
easily said- you know what it’s the Sabbath-
my hands are tied not allowed to work- I
can’t help. He also could have easily
said this woman- her being crippled was probably her own doing. Remember that in Jesus day- people believed
that physical ailments or impairments were the work of a God who was punishing
someone for some sort of sin.
But the story tells
us Jesus doesn’t play by the rules that the religious establishment of the day
were playing by –he doesn’t the even play by
the rules that you and I we play by- Jesus actions are governed by deep love and compassion and because of that Jesus
stretches out his hands on the Sabbath and
heals the crippled woman.
Bishop Michael Curry
the bishop of North Carolina, product of St. Philip’s Church right here in
Buffalo- in his sermon to the General Convention last year said this ----“We
need some Christians who are as crazy as the Lord. Crazy enough to love like
Jesus, to give like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus, to do justice, love mercy,
walk humbly with God— [just] like Jesus. [We need some Christians] crazy enough to dare
to change the world from the nightmare it often is---- into something close to
the dream that God dreams for it...”
If you want to see that
sermon google Bishop Curry Sermon General Convention-
Now Bishop Curry
didn’t read it – “we need some Christians who are as crazy as Jesus” ---Bishop
Curry was fired up- he was bringing it.
Because he knows the urgency of the situation he knows that the world
needs Crazy Christians –who aren’t going
to play by the rules- he knows that- we need to be those Christians-who love like Jesus, who give
like Jesus, who forgive like Jesus- who to do justice- love mercy and walk humbly with
God.
Today, we will be
baptizing two beautiful babies and that is the Christianity we called to raise
them in. Not some sanitized- white
gloved- prim and proper Christianity- not polite smile Christianity- We will
baptize two babies into a Christianity that doesn’t ignore the stranger whether they are standing
in the corner of a parish hall or are standing on the street corner with sign
that “Reads, I’m hungry.” We need a Christianity that governed by acts of love, by compassion-- a Christianity
that dares us to change the nightmare that the world often is. We need a Christianity that respects the
dignity of human being- that respects even
someone like Barbara- whether she scamming us or not.
We are called
craziness. Can we go there? Will we go there? Will we teach our children about this
Christianity?
God’s dream depends
on it.
AMEN
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