Experiment

"EXTREME MAKEOVER"
Text: Philippians 2:1-13
Faith United
September 28, 2009


Tony Campolo tells the story of a friend of his
who had joined a support group for people who had loved ones
dying of AIDS
One woman in the group was especially negative
toward the church and pointed out that she didn't go to church
anymore because the people in her congregation
were so condemning of her son
and so judgmental of her for raising a boy
that turned out to be gay
She'd reached a point at which she could honestly say
She hated the church
In the course of her tirades,
she happened to mention that the only person
who had ever given her any help
was an elderly man who had recently
moved in next door to her
"Every morning," she said,
"he comes over and has coffee with me
and listens to me unburden myself.
He holds my hand and comforts me as a I cry.
If it wasn't for him,
I don't know what I would do
Why can't church people be like that?"
What the woman didn't know was that that man
was a retired Presbyterian minister
He didn't tell her about his previous vocation
because he knew that, more than anything else
she needed a friend who would listen
He knew that if she knew he was a clergyperson
she might not trust him
Telling her about his past vocation would come later,
but for now, she just needed a shoulder to cry on
and a trustworthy friend to listen….

Many of you perhaps read the article
in yesterday's Kearney Hub
about a journalist named Julia Duin
who has a new book called "Quitting Church"
It's a book about all the people she interviewed
who are, as the title says, quitting church
Who leave out of disillusionment, exhaustion,
or just plain disinterest
Most of the people she interviewed
were not people who just tried it and didn't like it
but were people who had been churchgoers
for many years
and THEN after being frustrated for years
decided to walk away from it all
It's not about liberal churches or conservative churches, either
but the statistics run the gamut of churches
People basically weren't finding church to be relevant
to their lives anymore
They weren't finding a safe place to come
to be themselves
and to ask the questions that burned on their hearts

It was strange that that article showed up yesterday
because last week
I came across a book that intrigued me
called, "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore"
by two former pastors
It's a novel,
but it's a novel based on the author's own experiences
as well as those of people he's met in his life
It, too, expresses a deep hunger for God in people
but a hunger that doesn't seem to get fed in church
He tells about people who are tired of meetings
that serve no purpose
but it would seem to them that people feel like we've done church
if we have a meeting
or attend a service
The general feeling was that people were tired of attending meetings
to talk about everything BUT
what is foremost in their hearts
The day to day struggles of trying to get by
Of trying to make a living,
to live a good life, a meaningful life
He told about clergy who are burnt out on church
and who feel like being a pastor
gets in the way of being a follower of Christ
I was intrigued, disturbed
and fascinated by both the article
and the book
and the timing of them both

Today we're supposed to have a Nominations Committee Meeting
to recruit people to be on our committees
for the coming year
Nobody really wants to be on the Nominations Committee
because we generally have to call and beg people
to take a position
so we can fill out our forms
All too often, people don't show up for this meeting
The last couple of years
we've had trouble getting the people who agreed to be
on these committees to come to the meetings
As I've said before,
someone wise once said that
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results
Last year our list of people on committees
turned out to be a mess
and this year, the list is really messed up
Partly because some people were put on committees
who didn't want to be
and then, the very real problem we've had,
is that we've had a lot of good people move away this year
and some others have died
All week I've been struggling with what to do
and how to approach this
all while I was wondering what to say today

And then this passage:
"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you,
if you have a heart, if you care--
then do me a favor, Agree with each other,
love each other, be deep-spirited friends."

Paul is saying this to the Philippian church
that, like many churches, struggles with conflict,
with gossip, with hearsay, and power struggles
This is very simple, practical advice
from a pastor to his church
And what I get from it, is that all of it
comes back to Jesus

Why are we here?
Why do we keep trying this church thing?
We get frustrated,
yes, we have boring meetings
and sometimes we meet even when we don't need to meet
we disagree with each other
or we still are irritated with that person
that has irritated us for 25 years
Why do we do this?
Why do we keep on trying church?
If we leave meetings frustrated with that other person
if we stew for days over what someone said to us in line
If we have private hurts that we suck up while we're here
because we know that others might judge us
and we just put on a happy face
Why do we keep coming?
When we keep needing more and more money
and it never seems to be enough
when the buildings start to fall apart
and all the bills come in at once
Hey, we've got enough of our own problems
why do we bother?
Why don't we save ourselves the hassle?

But then I read again what Paul writes:
"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in community of the Spirit means anything to you,
if you have a heart, if you care…"
Well, maybe, just maybe, we keep coming
because there's something here
that we're looking for
we can't always name it
we can't pinpoint it,
but something happens when we walk in
when we go through the familiar motions
or sing familiar songs
We remember a time
when Jesus seemed so real
when his love overwhelmed us
When someone gave us a prayer blanket
or brought over some food
or wept with us when our loved one died
When someone said just the right thing
that we needed to hear
When someone could see beyond our pretense
and the front we put up
and knew that we were hurting
and they listened..
That's what we remember, maybe
We remember times when Jesus was real
when Jesus had skin on and embraced us
or was able to reach us, touch us,
through his people,
through his congregation
and so we come back, hoping for more

It all comes back to Jesus..
maybe we know just enough
to know that Jesus is real
and that following him is the life we want
that giving to his people, through service and love
and caring and comfort
brings meaning and purpose to our lives
Paul says,
"Don't push your way to the front.
Don't sweet-talk your way to the top.
Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead
Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."
Think of Jesus, he said
He was equal to God, but didn't go around strutting his stuff
didn't go around trying to push people around
or make them agree with him
He served people, he loved people
He put on this humbling human body
that doesn't always work well…
He didn't try to get ahead, or claim special privileges
he just served God by serving God's people
through LOVE
He was obedient to God
even if it meant getting killed
I think it all comes back to Jesus
After all, isn't that who called us here in the first place?
Isn't he the reason we exist at all?

I have a radical idea:
let's try to figure out what Jesus wants from this church
Let's try to figure out what Jesus wants from each of us
I think in the coming year
each committee will gather at the beginning of the year
to talk about exactly what the committee is for
and how it can serve God
and how, through that, the members on the committee
can grow in the spirit of Christ
If there's a time when that committee doesn't have an agenda
or a specific need to meet, we won't meet

I have ideas of what I think the church ought to be
but I'm only one person
and I know that many of you have many gifts
and many ideas
I don't want meetings to be more opportunity
to feel guilty and obligated and used
Ideally, I'd like meetings to be a time of fellowship
a time where we talk about what God might be doing
what ways we can reach out in Christ
We know it doesn't work
to make people feel guilty or ashamed
and use that to motivate them to say yes
I want people to be here because they want to be
I want you to be here because you, too, still believe in Christ
and believe that he has things yet to do
through us here at Faith United
My hope is that church can be a place
where we can bring our deepst hurts
our nagging doubts
our questions, and our celebrations
where we won't be judged or hurt intentionally
where, as Paul says, we can be deep-spirited friends

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I hope I'm not the only one
Because I believe that Jesus is a dreamer
They thought he was, too, when he was here walking around
I want to dream Jesus' dreams for his people
and I want to dream with you
Let's experiment,
let's dream this coming year
let's think outside the box
let's dare to pray to God to show us ways that we can grow
as individual followers of Christ
and as a church
I don't care how many bodies we get in the pews --
I know that's hard to believe--
I don't care if new members are dirt poor
or amazingly wealthy
I want everyone to feel welcomed here
It's not about numbers, finally, although yes,
we have to worry about that to some degree
but when it comes right down to it,
I would rather have a small congregation of people
who are excited, willing to grow
ready to pray, ready to dare, and to think outside the box
Willing to love one another as we are
willing to love others who come across our paths
willing to seek more and more ways to reach out
to do what Jesus did
Give healing and comfort
set people free who are all tied up
feed the hungry, clothe those who need clothing
comfort those in pain
and be a place where everyone is safe and loved
and who leave here feeling the unmistakeable suspicion
that God was here today, too

A lot of people are burnt out on church
and I can't always blame them
but I do believe that there is enough of us
who want more
who don't want to see the Church become
yet another burden in people's lives,
but to be the Church in this community
that gives us life
that makes us want to come, want to be a part of it
want to have our stake in it
want to grow in Christ

Maybe we can't do it, I don't know
I know we can't do it without God's help
We can't do it without
calling on God every day
to say, show us the way
lead us this day
show us how to be the loving people
the passionate dreamers that we see Jesus to be
Dare us to dream, God
and to follow that up with our own action

We're not going to have a Nominations Committee meeting today
Nobody wants to call up people
and beg them to take a place on a committee
nobody wants to be rejected over and over again
I want to challenge you--
I have the sheets out there
with the list of openings on those committees
and I want you to pray while you're here
to think about what you'd be willing to do
how you'd be willing to serve
where you would hope you could grow in your faith
and sign up for one of those committees
I'll have it out there all week and next Sunday
and if nobody signs up, then we'll have to do what we always do
and call you up and beg you
but for now, I want to try something different
with the idea that meetings will be different this year
that we'll try to dream, to think, to pray together
call me crazy, maybe I am
but at least I'm not insane enough to keep doing the same thing
over and over and expect it to change
Dream with me,
hope with me,
and let's figure out what God is possibly thinking about us

"if you've ever gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in a community of the Spirit
means anything to you, if you have heart
if you care.. then do me a favor:
love each other, be deep-spirited friends."
Let's just see what God can do…

Lord, Have Mercy

I simply cannot wait until this election is over. I will be grateful for the relief from meanness, arrogance, and mud-slinging. Oh wait, no matter who wins, it will all go on.

What upsets me the most is how we get so confused about God and politics. We so easily lose the boundaries between God and human government. Who do we think we are to assume that any person is God's chosen one? Seems to me that the only person who can assume that description is Jesus himself. Nobody, and I repeat NOBODY, is worthy of that title. Yes, I believe God uses us to do good things in the world, and God even uses our major screw-ups from which to bring good. I am praying for this election. I am praying that God will give us wisdom and courage. And whoever wins, I will continue to pray that God will continue to work through us, through our leader, through our country and all the countries of the world. I will not believe that whoever wins is the Chosen one of God. And if the one that I vote for doesn't win, I will not assume that God has abandoned us or ignored us and didn't answer our prayers. Is it not arrogant of us to assume we know what God wants? Or to even know the full extent of what God can do? God is not limited by a human being-- our president, our government, or any one of us. Thank God! We are in a royal mess right now, and the blame for that extends beyong any one human being. But I do beleive that such messes come from greed, arrogance, idolatry (worship of anything but God), and self-centeredness.

Do we trust our government completely? Do we really think that that they are all godly people looking out for the best interests of our country? We are never surprised when another scandal comes down, another major financial corporation is brought down by its own greed. We are not suprised at the many atrocities committed by people in leadership, people with the power to make major decisions that affect our lives. Who are we to think that anyone who gets up that high in the hierarchy, in the levels of power, money and fame, can remain true to the ways of God without blemish?? Can any of us even agree on what "Christian values" are? If we could, would there be so many different denominations??

Pray. Vote. And then accept whatever happens. As I will. Yeah, I'll be upset if the person I vote for doesn't win, because I believe that he can do some good things. Perfect? No way. Susceptible to corruption? Of course. They, we, all are. But if I don't get "my way," which I have come to, I assure you, through prayer and reflection, then I will continue to pray for our country AND for our president. Even if I don't like him. Because I believe God is bigger than any politician, any leader, any government, and God is not going to be stymied either way. I do not believe that God is Democrat or a Republican. I don't believe that either party has the advantage in God's eyes, is any more "Christian" than the other. They are parties made up of millions of individual people with diverse opinions, backgrounds and faiths, but all sharing a common humanity. Which is fallible. Whoever becomes president will not be our Savior. Our Messiah. We will all vote for the one we think can do what needs to be done. But if we're mature about it, then we will accept whoever gets it and go on, together, as one country, by the grace of God. But please, let's not confuse our politics with our faith. God is higher, more powerful, and much much greater than any human being, no matter what office they get to hold for just a little while.

God, have mercy on us all through this election and in the future. And help us to stop fighting and judging long enough to figure out how to work together for a future that we don't have to apologize to our descendents for. May it be so.

Forward

“WEEPING AND REJOICING ON THE SAME DAY”
Exodus: 14:19-31
Faith United
September 14, 2008

Have you ever been between a rock and hard place?
In other words, have you ever felt trapped?
In a situation where—excuse the expression—
you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t?
There just doesn’t seem to be a good answer
to your dilemma, to your situation
No matter what you do, it’s going to hurt
but you know that you can’t just keep standing where you are

The Israelites weren’t too sure that they wanted to be saved
they couldn’t agree on whether they wanted to be delivered
They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years
I mean, it’s all they knew,
it’s all their ancestors knew
It’s who they were, they were slaves
they were born into it, they lived it
they didn’t know anything else
except maybe, that it was not a life at all
And here Moses comes along and tries to save them
tries to tell Pharoah,
to let his people go
Yeah, this little rag-tag, peasant-looking kind of guy
with a walking stick
standing in the Pharoah’s elaborate court
surrounded by powerful, wealthy people
asking if the Pharoah would please
let his people go …
Right
You know the stories from Sunday School
or perhaps from movies
the plagues, the awful things that came down on Pharoah’s people
and still the Pharoah would not let them go
But then there was that horrible, tragic night
a date that would live on in Egyptian history forever
as one of their darkest days as a people
The night that all the first-born sons of the Egyptians
were killed
and the night was filled with weeping and mourning
and the pharaoh himself was crazy with grief
at the bedside of his first-born son
“Go!” he said to Moses through gritted teeth
and angry tears
“Get your people out of here,
I don’t want to see your ugly faces again…
leave….”
And it would have been a miracle
if not for the overwhelming anguish that surrounded Moses
and his people as they packed their things
It was one of those moments
that you knew you should be dancing with joy
and yet they couldn’t help but hear
the tears and sorrow and unhealable grief
loud wails of crying mothers
angry and stricken fathers
weeping for their children
as the Israelites quickly packed what they could carry
and left the slave quarters at night
The Israelites didn’t know whether to laugh or cry
they didn’t know how to feel
but still, they packed, they gathered their own
precious children in a hurry
no time to grab that extra toy
that beloved blanket
we gotta go… now
and the hundreds of Israelites,
beaten down by years of sorrow,
years of slavery,
years of making bricks in the hot sun
years of the sting of the whips on their back
years of feeling lower than the unclean animals,
those Israelites walked as quickly as they could
through the darkness
pushing forward, wanting to get out of sight of Egypt
wanting to catch a glimpse of the distant horizon

But then the music changed—
from a peaceful song of having escaped
to the stressful, harsh sounds of fear and terror all over again
When Pharoah found out the people had indeed left,
he went crazy
Still crazy from the grief of his loss
still crazy from all the events of past weeks,
he just lost it
He ordered his chariot
and his whole army to get ready and go
to chase after the people, to bring them back
The Israelites heard the sounds shatter the night
heard the sounds of shouting and of chariots
and they looked back
to see the entire army coming after them
Children screamed and cried
as mothers held onto them so tight it hurt
Men were shouting, panicking
The ones closest to Moses were screaming at him
for getting them into this
to bring them out here just to die at the hands of Pharoah
They could be safe in their beds, asleep
knowing what to expect each day
Slavery, yes, abuse, yes,
but at least they wouldn’t be dead
Sheer panic broke out
as hundreds of Israelites anticipated being slaughtered
in their tracks
But then….
Some of them saw it,
others weren’t sure
if their eyes were just deceiving them
causing them to hallucinate
from the constant stress and panic
but others told of it later
a cloud…. not just a cloud, but a BRIGHT cloud
a cloud in the middle of the night
shining up ahead
and some turned around, but most didn’t want to look back
the brave ones who looked back
saw the shining cloud behind them as well
blocking the view of the vicious army in pursuit of them
A shining cloud
that lit up the night
they’d never seen anything like it

Then someone among them screamed again
and others joined in
as the whole company of Israelites
began to panic all over again
They’d come to the Sea
The Reed Sea
in fact, in Hebrew, it means the Sea of Ends
And it certainly felt like the end for them all
They had Pharoah’s army behind them
and the huge, endless sea in front of them
they were trapped
If they went forward, they would die
if they turned around, they would die
if they stood still, they would die

Then all of a sudden as they were ready to just lay down
right where they were and wait for the end
a huge wind picked up
seemingly out of nowhere
it was a strong wind
that whipped through the crowd
and they began to see the ripples of the sea
the white caps on the waves ahead
At first they thought the sea itself would rise up
and drown them, as it felt like a sudden hurricane
but the wind whipped up the water
Those at the front of the crowd saw Moses
with his eyes toward heaven
his hands in the air
one of them holding his walking stick to the right
his other hand moving to the left
as if he were commanding the winds themselves

“Forward!!” Moses shouted
“Tell everyone to go forward!”
and the message spread from the front to the back of the crowd
“forward, he wants us to go forward….”
What, is he crazy? Surely we’ll drown
I have little children, they can’t swim
this wind, this storm
it will surely be the end of us all…
but the message kept coming
and some pushed others forward
who didn’t want to go
others reached back and grabbed as many hands
as they could to pull them forward
None of them knew
but would hear the story later
that Moses had cried out to God in a panic
with the company of thousands of panicked Israelites behind him
and God had said to him,
“Why do you cry out to me??
Tell the Israelites to go forward…
Go forward,” God said

It was crazy
We know about the stories of Jesus walking on water
but they didn’t
and now Moses was telling them
Go forward…
Walk INTO the water
Walk INTO the raging sea
They looked back and there was Pharoah’s army
in angry pursuit
they looked ahead and there was a raging sea
and Moses was telling them to Go Forward
What choice did they have?
It seemed like a choice between death and death
death by capture and probably a continued life of abusive slavery
or death by drowning
So they did
They … went forward

I heard a news cast from Galveston, Texas yesterday
of a 45 year old man
who’d lived in Galveston all his life
he and his family were at a shelter
and the eye of the storm had not yet passed
and he told the news reporter
“In all of my 45 years, I’ve never seen the water so high…
it’s coming up over the sea wall
and you don’t know what’s going to happen…
I have NEVER seen the water so high…”

I imagine that’s what the Israelites would tell their grandchildren later
as they came to the edge of the sea
“I’ve never seen the water so high…”
and yet the water was not in front of them
but by some crazy circumstance
that they could only attribute to God
The water was high on each side of them
as they did indeed go forward as they were told
walking on dry land
between two huge walls of sea water
People pushed from behind
and pulled from ahead
as children and adults alike
stared up at the amazing walls of water
with their mouths gaping open
They looked back and the Pharoah’s army
was still in hot pursuit
so they hurried, the Israelites panicked again
and rushed forward, threatening to crush each other
in their haste
and when they finally all made it to the other side
they looked back
and the walls of water came crashing down
on the path on which they’d all just walked
in the midst of the loud crashing of water
and the howling of winds
they could still hear the screams of the men of Pharoah’s army
Soon the water came to be still
as the trembling multitude stood on the opposite shore
and watched
I wonder if Israelite mothers clutched their youngest
to their chests, weeping
weeping with relief
but also weeping at the sight of the bodies of the Egyptians
that floated everywhere
They closed their eyes as if that would drown out the screams
followed by the silence

There’s a happy little ditty about this story
that I’ve sung when attending other churches
I’m kind of relieved that it’s not in our song books
it’s a happy, peppy song
about the horse and the rider being thrown into the sea…
I always felt funny when asked to sing that song

The company of Israelites looked out at the sea
that was now calm
listened to the stillness
and realized the winds had died down
and someone burst into song….
people started dancing, clapping and laughing
some brought out their homemade tambourines
that they’d used to worship the Lord
and a party happened on that seashore
Chapter 15 is the song they sang
about God’s faithfulness…
Ï will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea…
Pharoah’s chariots and his army
he cast into the sea
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea,” they sang
And they kept singing,
“The floods covered them,
they went down into the depths like a stone…
You blew with your wind, the sea
covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters….”
and on they danced

God had delivered them
they did not die
they were no longer slaves but they were free
something they could never imagine
in their wildest dreams
The horizon opened up in front of them
endless possibilities
an open future
They wept, danced, sang, hugged their children
and praised God
this God who delivered them

And this story would be told again and again and again
that day would forever be remembered
a story passed down from those who were there
to the next generation
about God’s faithfulness to God’s people
The story of the Exodus was the central story
of the Israelite people
when finally they would come to write down their stories
so that we, all these thousands of years later
would know them
when they wrote it down
they wrote it through the eyes of the Exodus story
The God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt
was the same God who created the earth and the heavens
The Exodus story was the first story they told
and when others asked,
“how was the world made?”
“who made the world?”
They answered, the God of the Exodus
The God who creates and renews and gives life
This God, in the beginning, before anything else was made
This God, said, “Let their be light, and their was light…”
A light that existed before that shining cloud in the wilderness
that led his people forward into deep waters
out into new life
And they wrote the stories down
the stories that made them who they are
the stories that told them who God is….

I wonder what stories the Egyptians told?
I wonder what stories were passed down on the other side of the sea
from generation to generation?
Because when the winds died down
and the music stopped for the night
and the Israelites unrolled their blankets
to settle down to sleep
when all was quiet
in the distance, they could hear the haunting sound of weeping

Jewish tradition includes the midrash stories
that are stories that kind of expand the stories in the Bible
it’s kind of like the Rest of the Story
And in that midrash tradition
there is a story that was passed on
And the story goes, as the exodus drama unfolded,
there was a group of angels standing around in heaven watching
AS the first Israelite set foot on the distant shore
there was a great cheer
And then as the waters rose and drowned the Egyptians,
the angels started dancing around and slapping each other on the back
and yelling, “We got ém! We got ém!”
But then, in the midst of the revelry of the angels,
God’s voice boomed forth:
“What do you think you’re doing? You are dismissed from my service.”
The angels, suddenly very angry, talked back to God:
“What do you mean we’re dismissed? We were only celebrating the
vanquishing of those despicable Egyptians!”
And God said to them, with sorrow in his voice,
“Do you not know that the Egyptians are my children too?”
Do you not know that the Egyptians are my children too?
Do you not know that the Iraqis are my children too?
The Afghans? The Iranians?
The Russians?
Do you not know, God says, that your enemies
are my children too?

Sometimes it feels like we’ve never seen the water so high
it seems like the world has never been so scary as it is now
it seems like we’re trapped, sometimes
between a rock and a hard place
we’ve gotten so used to war and violence
that we don’t know how else to solve our problems
But God says to us now,
as God said to the Israelites, Go forward
Go forward into deep waters and I will be with you
Go forward by the light of my presence behind you and before you
and we will reach the shore together
Go forward, learn from me, learn who I am
from the people who have gone before you
learn from their triumphs and their mistakes
learn from their sorrow and their joy
but Go forward as my people
For I am the God of Life,
and I will not rest until ALL my people are delivered
from the powers of hell and death and war and slavery
and evil
ALL of them
Until all of us are free, none of us are really free
because we belong to each other
in the name of the God of Exodus, of Deliverance,
of Freedom and of Everlasting Life
Go Forward and know that God is with you…

You Don't Have to Yell

“BUILDING PEACE”
Matthew 18:15-20
Faith United
September 7, 2008

My favorite Christian singer is a guy named Chris Rice
and he has a song called “You Don’t Have to Yell”
In it he sings about reality TV, news commentators
and people in general
He points out how we look at TV
and the more that people fight, the more it sells
We love a good fight, for some reason
Or at least somebody does, because it’s selling
News commentators just can’t give us the news
they get into groups and argue
they yell, they insult each other
try to make the other look stupid
There’s never any resolution
just a lot of tension

I’m old enough to remember when daytime talk shows
were just that, talk shows
where Merv Griffin or Phil Donahue
interviewed someone, had a conversation
went out into the audience and let them ask questions
But now, talk shows have become freak shows and circus acts
Some turn into all-out brawls on TV
a woman finds out on national TV that her husband
is cheating on her with her best friend
Humiliation sells
Don’t you think that’s a bit sick?

We love a good fight
And now, we come to expect all the same daytime tv drama
in the most important election of our country
every four years
Who can insult the other one the most?
Who can get the most dirt out there on their opponent?
And these people want to lead our country ….

Apparently somebody thinks that Americans
love to see their candidates rip each other apart
Create an Us and Them mentality
Us Good Them Evil
So that your vote becomes a judgment against you as a person
If I was living in another country
and had never been to the United States
or come face to face with any American citizens
And if all I knew about Americans
was what I saw of them on T.V.
I would never want to set foot in this country
We look really bad
But humiliating each other produces a lot of cash, apparently
Hating and threatening and insulting is big business
And I think it always has been
it’s just that we see it all, hear it all now
whether we want to or not

And it creeps into the church
in fact, when I talk to people out there
I realize that people out there assume that
that’s what church people do the most
fight, judge, condemn
Why would anyone want to come to church
for just more of the same
or for more of the same authorized by God??
I’ve been in a lot of churches in my lifetime
and I’ve seen the same thing everywhere
Someone comes to the pastor and says
“a lot of people are angry about this,
and they say if you don’t do something,
they’re gonna leave…”
But the people that are angry never speak for themselves
When you ask for names,
they say, “well, they don’t want their names shared…”
And that accomplishes nothing but unnecessary stress
Or someone will say in a group
“I don’t like this, or I don’t like that,
or that person shouldn’t even be here…”
and they spread their sentiments like a cancer
but they never try to resolve the problem
I know, confronting people is hard
it’s much easier to just yell and insult and humiliate
then WE are in control
But to go someone and say, “ what you said really hurt…”
yikes, that’s putting yourself out there
or “I realize that we disagree on this, but can be friends nonetheless?”
That’s scary stuff
that’s putting your heart out on your sleeve
someone could really really hurt you if you do that
So instead we talk about people behind their backs
we write nasty letters or emails
from a distance
or we just take our toys and go home in a huff
take our membership somewhere else
and stay mad for decades

On T.V. they make it look easy
Someone is a bad father or a bad mother
and the child comes and talks to them
they might fight
they might cry
but within 60 minutes,
they end up hugging and loving each other
with tears
It’s beautiful
but it doesn’t happen in real life
Not in 60 minutes, anyway
We’re just not that good
We can hold onto a resentment for the rest of our lives
we can chew on it, reshape the story with details over the years
and really stir up some vicious anger
but we feel like we’re in control
as long as we stay mad

I don’t know what Jesus was talking about
when he said to his disciples,
Ïf another member of the church sins against you,
go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.”
Well, there WAS no church yet.
Church was not a word that meant anything to them
It wasn’t a part of their regular vocabulary
It’s assumed by commentators
that whatever word Jesus used back then
was later translated into “church”
because by the time this Gospel was written
the Early Church was forming
But I looked up the word “church” in the dictionary
and the very first definition
says, “The company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body.”
I like that-- “the company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body.”

I dare to say that I bet Jesus likes that, too
We think of church as a building, a denomination
a specific group in a specific place
with specific beliefs
but when Jesus looked at Peter and said
“You shall be called Peter, the Rock
and on this rock I will build my church…”
I don’t think he meant that he was going to build
an institution on the back of Peter
But with this bumbling, overzealous, talk-before-he-thought guy
named Peter,
Jesus said he was going to build the church
“the company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body.”
Not Faith United Methodist of Gibbon
or the National Cathedral in Washington
but THE Church of Jesus Christ
all who love and follow and Jesus….

So when a member of the church
a member of the body of Christ
a member of the assembly or community
when someone sins against you
Jesus says, go to that person in private
try to work it out,
tell them what you see as the problem
In other words, don’t call someone else
and say, ‘you know what so and so did to me??’
and they call someone else and they call someone else
and every time you see that person
your jaw tightens, your breathing constricts
and you either treat them badly
or ignore them completely
But Jesus says to go to them alone at first
so that no one is humiliated
respect that person even when you’re in conflict
If that doesn’t work, take along a witness who can be neutral
and try to help mediate
if that doesn’t work, bring it before the assembly
NOT to humiliate that person, or display that person as a jerk
but the whole point is to seek reconciliation
And, Jesus says, if that doesn’t work, then regard them as a tax collector
or Gentile
and at that point we might, YEAH, Jesus!
Yeah, treat them like our worst enemy, the scumbags that they are!

But how did Jesus treat tax collectors and Gentiles?
"They will be to you as a tax collector or Gentile..."
and at first, it sounds like, good, NOW we can call them our enemy
like those unclean Gentiles and despicable tax collectors

But who wrote this Gospel??
It’s the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus met him
Matthew knew how Jesus treated tax collectors and Gentiles
Jesus had compassion on them
and invited them to the party
So it would seem that Jesus is saying
if that person still won’t listen after everything you’ve tried
that still doesn’t give you permission to dismiss them
to disregard them and to put them in your collection
of despicable, hated people
They will be to you as a tax collector or Gentile
You will still have compassion on them
you won’t be best friends, but you will see them
as a child of God nonetheless
and act accordingly

Conflict stinks
I hate it
I don’t know anyone that actually likes it, truly
Just because we are willing to negotiate
just because we might swallow our pride
and confront someone graciously about a conflict
doesn’t mean they’re going to receive us graciously
we could get hurt badly
we could get humiliated publicly
and even if we resolve the problem
it’s not like TV, we don’t necessarily end up as friends
but you know, if we at least end up regarding each other with respect
then that’s a big step in the right direction
Jesus never said you have to hug and cry
and be best friends from then on….
Just don’t kill each other or humiliate each other
or badmouth each other
try to work it out
and then go in peace

When I was an associate pastor
I had a senior pastor from hell
He was verbally abusive to me in private
He was inappropriate in his conversations with me
he was a bully, he was controlling and demanding
but out in public, he was charming and charismatic
and most of the congregation didn’t know
what he was like in private
he sold himself well
and won people over
I tried to get the DS to come in and help
to mediate between us, to help us work peacefully together
But the DS, it turns out, was really good friends with this pastor
and so the whole process became humiliating for me
made it look like I was the whole problem
so the message was, “shut up or get out.”

I finally got out
and for awhile I really let the anger and hurt fester
finally, I wrote this pastor a letter
when I was living back East
I told him that we both know that we disagreed on a lot of things
that we really didn’t work together well at all
that I said things about him
that weren’t very nice
as he did about me
but in the letter, I called a truce
I needed to let it go,
so I told him I was letting it go
that the truth was we’d never be close friends
but we could respect each other
and let the past be the past
Well, I never got any word back from him
but when I came back to Nebraska,
of course I bumped into him at Conference
and all he said was, “thank you for your letter.”
That was it,
no tearful hug or overwhelming reconciliation
we don’t keep in touch, nor do I want to
but we let it go
more importantly, I let it go
for my own health
We see each other, and I still don’t like him
but I don’t have to tear him down
or try to get others to see my side
It’s done, it’s over
I don’t always do that, I’m not that good
but I know that Jesus recommended reconciliation for the sake of the Church
The Whole Church
the whole company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body
What we do, how we act, how we relate to one another and the world
does have impact
Jesus said, “Whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven…”
In other words, it’s not just about you and me
how we relate as representatives of Christ
has an impact
The Church as an institution has a reputation
in the rest of the world
of being a place where people fight and condemn
So whenever we are different
we make a difference
If we build a place of peace
a place where peaceful people dwell
then we will go out and carry that peace
into the rest of the world
We already see how hate and anger and rage
and resentments spread like the worst cancer
and kill spirits, kill hearts and souls
and separate them from God
Why would we want to be a part of that??

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name,
I am there among them…”
Hello, that’s powerful stuff
Jesus can make his presence known with just two people
communicating, relating, loving, reconciling
Jesus never meant for our faith to be just a me ‘n Jesus thing
It was always all about the church
about building the church –
the whole company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body
The Church of Jesus Christ
We can shine the light of Christ ourselves, sure
but it’s so much brighter when two or three get together
and add their light to each others’
Relationships are powerful
they can shatter us completely,
or they can build us up and make us better,
even more holy, more loving, more gracious
We learn about Jesus by relating to each other
in community, in friendship, in all kinds of relationships
some are deeper than others, of course
but wherever two or three are gathered
in the name of Jesus,
Jesus is there!
That’s pretty cool
Pretty powerful stuff
Someone once told me, that we can always choose to not
enter a fight that we’ve been invited to
we can say no whenever we are invited to a fight
that we see has no good outcome
Fights that only serve to separate, humiliate, foster hatred
and violence of emotion and action
We can say no, we’re not going to go there
We can allow the living Christ to train us, shape us, mold us
so that we see others with Jesus eyes
even if we don’t like them,
we can live in peace and let them live in peace
It’s basic kindergarten ethics,
which we tend to forget by first grade ….
We can stop violence in our own corner
we can lovingly walk away when someone is trying to pick a fight
or tear someone else down
We can, with little steps, and little actions every day
begin to build a piece of the Kingdom of God here and now
to represent the Church
that great company of all Christians regarded
as a mystical spiritual body
connected always to the living and the dead
because we are finally people of eternity
people of the Christ,
and heaven is watching…..