God Does New Things

Based on Isaiah 43:16-21 and Philippians 3:4b-14

First delivered April 7, 2019

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

Israel had been in exile in Babylon for a long time. The exile had lasted for generations. The young people only knew about Jerusalem through the stories their grandparents told them. People had begun to forget their home land. Many Jews only knew Babylon as their home. The stories of David and Solomon, the glory of Israel, the Temple where the priests offered sacrifices to God, these stories were nothing but legends of days gone by. The dream of going back to the land given to them by God was just that, a dream. Babylon was their home now. This is where they had raised their kids. The Babylonian culture was now theirs. Babylon is where they belonged.

            But the prophet got a word from the Lord. God told Isaiah that the people will return to their home land. Jerusalem will be restored. The Temple will be rebuilt. The exile will come to an end. God is about to do a new thing. Babylon is not the final destination. God will deliver the people from their captivity and lead them back to the land of their ancestors.

            Now it’s not a totally new thing. God has delivered the people before. The children knew the story from their grandparents, how God saw their people suffering as slaves in Egypt. And God raised up Moses and Aaron to lead the people out of Egypt, and through the wilderness, to the land promised to the ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They knew this deliverance story.

            But this deliverance story will be different. God will lead the people out of their captivity in Babylon and back to the land of their ancestors. But it won’t be the same journey as when they went from Egypt through the wilderness. On that journey, the people wandered through the wilderness for forty years, when it should have only taken three days if they took a direct route. This time, God will make a path for them through the wilderness. The first time, the people were bitten by serpents. This time, the wild animals will give glory to God and leave the people alone as they make their journey. The first time the people were often thirsty and crying out for water. This time, God will make rivers and streams flow through the wilderness so that the people will have plenty to drink. The deliverance from Babylon will be a new and improved deliverance. The people will return, not with grumbling and sorrow as the trip from Egypt, but with rejoicing and great gladness. They will sing their way back to Jerusalem.

            Paul was a Jew among Jews. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin. He was circumcised on the eighth day. He was trained in God’s Law by the best teachers. As a Pharisee he understood the Law, knew how to apply the Law, and was zealous to keep the Law. When it came to having a right relationship with God through the Law God gave to Moses, Paul had it all together. He was a righteous Jew.

            But then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He was confronted with the truth that he wasn’t just persecuting the followers of Jesus, he was persecuting Jesus himself. He was called to account for his unrighteousness, his sinfulness, his need for repentance. Over time, he came to realize that God was doing a new thing. Faithfulness to God’s Law was no longer the only way to having a right relationship with God. God had established a new way, a new path of deliverance from sin and broken relationships.

            It’s not totally new. God has always been a delivering God. Over and over, Israel would fall away from God’s way and they would suffer the consequences through invasion, exile, famine. But God never forsook God’s people. The people would repent and God would forgive and restore. But now, through Jesus, not only Israel was being delivered and made right with God. All people around the world, every tongue and nation, was made righteous, restored into a right relationship with God. Jesus died for all people, not just Israel. Salvation was now available for all people. The God who has always delivered Israel now delivers us. Through Jesus, God has done a new thing. The circle of salvation is wider.

Most of us here have been a part of the United Methodist Church since it existed. It’s the only church I have known, having been born a few months after it started. This church has made a difference in the lives of millions. The mission of the church has brought health care to desperate people all around the world. Millions of bed nets have protected people from contracting malaria through mosquito bites. Hundreds of thousands have been educated in United Methodist related schools and seminaries. United Methodist camps and retreat centers have been the sacred places where people have come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. God has done amazing things through the United Methodist Church over these past fifty years.

            But it’s becoming clear to many that the United Methodist Church is going to change. Institutions like hospitals and universities are deciding whether or not to disaffiliate because of their non-discrimination policies. The Connectional Table, which is sort of like the administrative board for the general church, is having conversations about what their role will be in the future of the church. A plan of separation or at least some kind of exit plan will surely be presented at the next General Conference in 2020. It seems to me that God is preparing to do a new thing. I know that may come across as a bit grandiose. Is the fracturing of the United Methodist Church something that God is behind or is it the result of our collective failure to stay together? Maybe the answer to that question won’t be revealed until far into the future when my grandkids are studying church history.

            But let me say this. Churches dividing is not new. And although these divisions have been painful and messy, God has still been present and doing everything God can to deliver the church from our brokenness and imperfections. The church has never been perfect. We read about the church having a threat to its unity in Acts 15 when the debate was over whether Gentiles had to be circumcised if they wanted to belong to the church. In another place, in the book of Acts, we read of a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas that was so deep that they decided to part ways, to end their partnership and go in different directions in their ministry. Jesus Christ is Lord of the church. The church is the body of Christ. But the church is also made up of human beings and we are fallible. We get things wrong. The church is always in need of reform. And God is always working through people to bring about the reforms that are necessary. But the working out of those reforms take time and they are messy. We are going through one of those times.

            What if God is somehow at work in the division that is taking place in the United Methodist Church? I wonder if what will emerge from this time of division is the formation of a church that is rooted in the Wesleyan tradition and is also fully inclusive of all people in every aspect of ministry, where the marginalized voices of people of color and people who are LGBTQIA and poor people and people with disabilities, young people, old people, rural folks and urban dwellers, all those voices that have been pushed to the side are brought to the center, where decisions are made and policy is established. I wonder if God is trying to help form a  church that more fully reflects the diversity of God’s family, a church in which not only is everyone welcome, but everyone is affirmed as a beloved child of God with gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit to be recognized, celebrated, and used for the glory of God and for the mending of creation. I wonder, in the midst of our division and brokenness, if God is doing a new thing.

            As we go through this time of great upheaval, let us remember a few things about God. First of all, God is a delivering God. He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and from exile in Babylon. God delivers us from sin and death. God delivers the church from our errors and flaws. Second, God is still saving us through Jesus Christ. While our church goes through all this upheaval, our salvation is still secure in Jesus Christ. We still have the promise of eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are still forgiven. And finally, remember that the church is the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. While we as the United Methodist Church go through this time of change, the Church with a big C continues. It cannot be destroyed. And by the grace of God we are members of the Church with a big C. No matter what happens to the United Methodist Church, we will always be a part of the body of Christ. We will always belong to the Church. The Lord’s Table will always remain open to us. So today, as we come forward to receive Holy Communion, let is come forward with gratitude that we are and always will be brothers and sisters in the family of God.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Based on 2 Cor. 5:16-21
First delivered Mar. 31, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

Conflict is a part of life. Wherever you find community you are bound to find conflict. Maybe a few people enjoy conflict but most of us would much rather avoid conflict. Sometimes we do everything possible to avoid it. We give in quickly. We deny there is conflict. We agree with everyone and then undermine the decision. At the first sign of conflict we walk away. There are a lot of different ways we are tempted to avoid conflict. But the truth is conflict cannot always be avoided. Nor should it be.

Conflict actually is a great opportunity to strengthen relationships and clarify values. Having recently experienced conflict, I can testify that my relationships have been strengthened with some of the folks involved in the conflict, although, I have to admit that some other relationships took a hit. Conflict is messy and the potential for hurt and even irreparable harm to relationships is there. The other thing I was reminded of in this conflict I found myself in was that conflict forces us to examine our motives and values. In this conflict I was dealing with, as the conversation went back and forth, it became clearer what was motivating us, what we valued, and what our bottom lines were. Those motivations and values had always been there, but the conflict brought them to the surface for everyone to see. And that was a good thing because the cards are all out on the table, so to speak. Going forward, this group I’m a part of that went through this conflict can move with more clarity. Now that it’s all out there, changes are going to be necessary to move forward. It’s painful. But it will probably be better in the long run. Conflict is messy and painful. People get hurt and relationships can be damaged. But it has the potential to strengthen relationships and clarify values, which is a good thing.

            And then sometimes conflict reveals irreconcilable differences. You talk, debate, reflect and argue long enough and it becomes evident that the differences are too great. Finding a way to reconcile and move forward together appears to not be possible. That can be a good thing. Trying to keep relationships together that are at cross-purposes is exhausting and is probably not the best use of energy. Especially because when we try to keep these relationships together, the tendency is to use the same methods as we use to avoid conflict: deny the problem exists, paper it over, undermine each other, give in while knowing you aren’t being true to yourself. So when it becomes obvious that the differences are so great and profound that you can’t get past the conflict and move forward together, then it is for the best to separate. And so divorces happen, business partners go their separate ways, board members resign…and denominations split.

            So we turn our attention to the scripture reading this morning from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He tells us that those of us who identify as Christians are ambassadors of Christ who have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Just by being human we want to be about the work of reconciliation. We want to be able to get along with others, to work through our disagreements and find ways to move forward together with our relationships intact. But for us as Christians working for reconciliation is central to what it means to be Christian. So that means we have a real responsibility to do the hard work of revealing motives and clarifying values, working things out and finding ways to get through the conflict to reconciliation. True reconciliation and not just a papered over truce or strained tolerance. It’s hard work we are called to and we are not always successful. But if we are ambassadors for Christ, what else would we be doing? I can’t imagine an ambassador for Jesus wanting to do anything else but mend broken relationships.

            But maybe the reconciliation that Paul is talking about is not the reconciliation among people who have differences but a different reconciliation. Maybe our ministry is not about reconciling people to each other but about reconciling people with God. After all, that’s the reconciliation that Paul was talking about, how God, through Christ, is reconciling the world to Godself. Let’s take a quick look at how Paul describes God’s reconciling work.

            First of all, this is how reconciliation typically works. Since Paul also talks about ambassadors, let’s say the conflict is between two nations who are at war with each other. To make peace and bring the two nations together, ambassadors who represent the warring nations get together to talk out the differences, to name what is happening, and try to find ways to end the fighting. Both sides have to reckon the damage that has been inflicted and find ways to make restitution so that things can be made right. Once that is all worked out, a peace agreement can be set up and signed. The warring nations eventually are able to reconcile and move forward.

But when it comes to the situation between us and God, there is damage done on both sides but the perpetrators of the harm come from one side: us. God is totally innocent of the harm. If we were going to work out restitution between us and God, only God would be in the position to make demands. So what does God do? According to Paul, God offers blanket amnesty. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God determines that the harm that has been done through our sin is cared for. God declares that God has reconciled us to Godself. It’s done. By the sheer grace of God we are forgiven and restored to relationship with God. All that is left for us to do is to acknowledge what God has already done for us, to live our lives as if we are reconciled with God because, through Christ, we already are. To remain in a broken relationship with God is to reject what God has already done for us. Paul is saying that God has reconciled us to God, so live that way, and be thankful! Rejoice!

So how do we exercise our ministry of reconciliation? What reconciliation are we talking about? It seems clear that since we are ambassadors of Jesus, that our role is to declare that God has reconciled others to Godself. In other words, we announce the good news that our sins are forgiven and that because of Jesus every person is already reconciled with God. There is nothing else to do but to acknowledge with gratitude that the division between us and God has been bridged by Jesus. That’s the ministry of reconciliation that Paul is talking about. So is that all there is to it? Just announce the good news and that’s it? It seems to me that real reconciliation takes more than just saying it’s so. There has to be a mending of relationship and a change of behavior that demonstrates actual reconciliation. Otherwise, it’s just words. God has done all that God can do. What will we do in response?

For us especially we have to be about the work of making reconciliation more than just words. Not only do we have the ministry of reconciliation, we identify as a reconciling congregation. That’s our aspiration. The following statement comes from the reconciling ministries network web site around the topic of reconciliation:

Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to reconciliation that leads to the healing and transformation of animosity into honest relationships that respect all God’s children. Reconciliation is a profound ongoing individual and collective commitment from all those affected to establishing new relationships embedded in mutual recognition. Authentic reconciliation requires the naming and the speaking of truth to create relationships and communities grounded in peace with justice.

They go on to say: Reconciling Ministries Network acts in hospitality across theological divides and is committed to the creation of community, interconnectedness, and deep relationships.

These are lofty aspirations. They go much further than simply saying, “God loves you” and “you are forgiven.” This is difficult work that we are called to. And, in fact, it’s a lifelong struggle.

And when I think about where we currently are as a United Methodist Church, it seems ever likely that efforts of reconciliation will fail and the church will separate over irreconcilable differences. I am aware that there are people who are even now working out some sort of a plan of separation that would be offered at the next General Conference, which will take place next May. What will happen and how that will affect us remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, our ministry continues to be one of reconciliation, no matter what. Our task and joy is to let people know that they are loved and forgiven by God. There is not anything they have done that will keep God from loving them and forgiving them. God’s love and capacity to forgive is without limit. And what is true for others is true for you and me. God loves you, no matter what. And anything you have done that offends God, God forgives. This is the gospel. Praise God! The question remains: what is our response to the gospel?

There is a Jewish concept called Tikkun Olam. It means “to mend the world.” We all know the world is broken, relationships are strained and fractured, much healing needs to be done. God’s desire certainly is that the world would be healed. You and I get to play a role in that process of healing. And the ministry of reconciliation is part of that process. It’s a messy and frustrating process that can take much longer than any of us would like. In fact, in some ways the process of healing the world never ends. So there is work for us to do, to be ambassadors of Christ, to exercise our ministry of reconciliation, to do our part to mend the world, one small act at a time.

Learning by Imitation

Based on Gen. 15:1-11, 17-18 and Phil. 3:17-4:1
First delivered Mar. 17, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            My mom taught me and my sister some basic life skills. She taught us how to fry bacon and eggs. She taught us how to make cinnamon toast. She taught us how to darn socks. Having come of age during the Great Depression, thriftiness was something my mom and dad valued. So those socks didn’t get thrown away if they had holes in them. And, no, I don’t darn my socks. My sister and I learned these things from mom by watching how she did it and then imitating her.

            Learning by imitation is a primary way we learn how to do things. You can read up on how to do things and probably figure it out. But it seems to me it’s more effective to watch someone who knows what they are doing, whether it’s watching instructional videos on YouTube or watching your mom flip the egg over without breaking the yolk, and then imitating what you see.

            Learning by imitation also affects who we are as people, our behaviors and the way we see the world. For example, not once in my life did I hear my parents curse. And the one time I let a curse word slip out in front of my dad it raised his ire. Maybe they cursed out of earshot of me but I’ll never know. I have almost never cursed around my boys and when it slipped out I regretted it. My parents set the example that I imitate. My dad was an avid reader. In our living room we had floor to ceiling bookshelves all along the south wall and they were filled with books. My dad was a member of the book of the month club. Every evening dad would be sitting in his Lazy Boy reading. I’ve picked up that habit. Every summer our family went on a two to three week vacation. We hooked up a pop up trailer and took off, staying at KOA camps and visiting state and national parks, mainly out west. These trips expanded my view of America beyond my home town, that we live in a country filled with natural treasures. The examples of our parents affect our behaviors and the way we see the world. And we tend to imitate them.

            Learning by imitation is also what discipleship is. Disciples learn from and follow the practices of the master. By observation and by teaching, disciples take on the habits and behaviors of the master, slowly being transformed into a sort of image of their master. As disciples of Jesus, who is our master, our discipleship consists of learning from and following the example of our master, to become more like Jesus by imitation.

            When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Philippi, he encourages them to imitate him, to imitate his practice as a disciple of Jesus, to imitate the way he lived his life. Paul urged them to imitate him not because he had a big ego. He wasn’t telling them to imitate him because he is the master and they are disciples of Paul. They are all disciples of Jesus. Paul was striving to live his life in imitation of Jesus. He was striving to be transformed into the image of Jesus. So what Paul was saying to the Philippians was for them to look to him and others as living, breathing examples of how a disciple of Jesus makes their way in the world. They could hear the stories of Jesus and what Jesus’ teachings were about how to live. But it is also helpful to have people in your life who demonstrate what living in the way of Jesus looks like. Paul was one of those living examples for them to follow as they strove to be imitators of the way of Jesus.

            We have a lot of good examples that we can imitate as examples of Christian disciples, not just Paul. Our examples don’t even have to be Christians. We have the example of Abraham, who we heard about this morning. We heard this morning about how Abraham trusted in God’s promises. Not that Abraham didn’t have questions. God had promised Abraham descendants and land. Great promises; but Abraham is old and so is his wife. No heir. And where is this land that Abraham is supposed to give his non-existent heir? So Abraham asks God, “how is this going to happen?” God doesn’t answer Abraham’s question directly. Instead, God tells Abraham to go look up at the night sky and try to count all the stars. That’s how many descendants he would have. God told Abraham to sacrifice some animals and lay them out on the ground. Then, in a vision, God passed between the sacrificed animals in the form of a smoking pot and a blazing torch, symbolically making a covenant promise that God will provide land for Abraham’s descendants. And, indeed, God did follow through with that promise…400 years after Abraham was dead. Without telling Abraham how these promises would be fulfilled, Abraham still trusted that God would fulfill those promises. And that trust in God was credited to Abraham as righteousness. Abraham’s trust in God sets an example for us. We can follow Abraham’s example by trusting that God fulfills the promises God has made to us, the promise of eternal life, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, the promise of God’s reign on earth.

            We also have the example of the gospels. They are always available to us to read and reflect on. We can read again and again the teachings of Jesus and consider how our lives reflect his teachings. Lent is a time intended for us to do just that.

            We have the examples of all the saints, those whose lives have been recorded for us to be inspired from and to learn from. For example, we have the life story of St. Patrick who we celebrate today. Yes, St. Patrick’s Day has more to it than a reason to party. We can learn from St. Patrick. At the age of sixteen, he was seized by Irish marauders where he was forced to tend sheep. After six years of slavery, Patrick managed to escape to Gaul where he entered a monastery. Eventually, Patrick became a bishop. In 432, he was sent to Ireland, where he once was a slave, to attempt to convert the island to Christianity. Until his death thirty years later, in 461, he had managed to plant churches all through Ireland, presenting the Christian faith in ways that made sense to the Irish. He didn’t do it by himself, but with his leadership Patrick converted all of Ireland to Christianity, a Christian faith that was contextual, that made sense to the Irish. So we can learn about how Patrick managed to do that, the establishment of Celtic Christianity.

            Of course, we don’t just get our examples of Christian discipleship from the Bible or the stories of the saints who have gone before us. There are living, breathing examples who have come in and out of our lives. I have been blessed to be in the presence of many living saints throughout my life. I am thinking of Dr. David Thomas, who was the pastor of St. Luke’s UMC, my home church, when I became serious about the faith. He encouraged and mentored me into ministry. And I think of Don and Ruby Gruver from Edgerton, Ohio, a delightful couple who never had a bad word for anyone, never complained about anything, and graciously gave of themselves day after day to support the ministries of the church I was pastoring and maintaining the community food pantry. They provided the juice we used for communion from the grape vine that grew in their backyard. They were such an inspiration to me. Who are those living, breathing examples of Christian discipleship that you have encountered?

            As we seek out and follow those who are examples of what a Jesus follower looks like, it is good to keep in mind that each of us sets an example, for good or ill. What kind of example are you setting? I hope that question disturbs you a little. It’s a serious responsibility. If we dare to proclaim ourselves to be Christians, then we are putting ourselves out there. We represent Christ if we are going to claim to be his disciples. What people think of Christians is going to be based partly on how you and I behave. Don’t know about you, but I haven’t always been my best self.

            And this is the thing about looking to others as examples of Christian discipleship as well as acknowledging that we are examples as well: and that is being an example is tricky. People are people. And that means they are imperfect. People let you down. Everyone has a bad day now and then. We get tired and crabby, we unintentionally hurt people with our words, we miss opportunities to respond to the needs of others, and sometime we just plain screw things up. And it can be disappointing when the person you look up to as an example of what a Christian ought to be lets you down. I have known more than one person who had an amazing ministry, blessed a lot of people, helped so many grow in their faith, and then turned around and had an affair or some other moral failing that wrecked their ministry. It didn’t take away from the great ministry they did, but it was disappointing to see their fall. But that’s what happens. We are fallible. And we are responsible for the actions we take.

            The good news is that we don’t have to be perfect, nor do our heroes in the faith. There is forgiveness with God. There is grace. When our mentors in the faith mess up, we offer grace. When we screw up in our discipleship, we extend to ourselves grace. In fact, this is part of what being a disciple of Jesus is about. Jesus was always forgiving, always extending grace, never turning his back on others, even those Pharisees that he was always arguing with and calling out as snakes and hypocrites. Jesus didn’t give up on anyone. He never walked away from a conversation. He always stayed at the table. The grace that Jesus extended to every person is an example that we need to embrace and live in to even as we are grateful that our failures will never cause Jesus to give up on us. In the words of the great Christian artist Keith Green, who had a big influence on my discipleship when I was a kid, we just keep doing our best and pray that it’s blessed. Jesus takes care of the rest. Our task is to imitate those Christians we admire, try to set the best example we can, and trust that somehow God can use our lives to set an example for others to follow, so that more and more people can come to know the way of Jesus.

            We are all disciples and Jesus is our master. We are all learning, trying to find our way through life by following the example of others. People go in and out of our lives. As we develop in our faith other people come into our lives that challenge us to go further and deeper. It’s an ongoing process through our lives. We are all on our way to Christian perfection as John Wesley would say. My encouragement to you is to keep at it. Keep working on your discipleship, looking to exemplars of Christian discipleship, those we find in the scriptures, in the pages of history, and in our own lives, learning from all of them and following the examples they set. Keep working at imitating the sacrificial love of Jesus. And may God take our humble offerings of following Jesus and bless them so that the world might be transformed into what God has always desired.

Let us pray:

            Lord, we thank You for those saints You have placed among us, who show us what it takes to be a follower of Jesus. Give us the wisdom to follow good examples, to learn from the greats, so that each of us might be better imitators of You. In the name of our Master, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Know it by Heart

Based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Romans 10:8b-13
First delivered Mar. 10, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            “I know it by heart.” That’s what you want a musician to say about their music that they are preparing for performance. Before they go public with their music, they need to know it by heart. To learn a piece of music, you start with the score sheet, the notes and words. As you rehearse, you become more and more familiar with the song. At some point you no longer have to look at the score sheet because you have sung the song so much you are starting to get it memorized. You keep on practicing until you get to the place where you don’t need the score sheet any more. That’s when the fun really begins. You know the song so well now that you can start playing with it, becoming more expressive, coloring outside the lines if you will. When you know the song by heart, that’s when you can perform that song with conviction, with your whole being.

            To know something by heart, whether it be a song, a poem, or a story, is to have it so internalized that it becomes a part of who you are. When you sing a song that you know by heart, recite a poem that you know by heart, retell a story that you know by heart, you express something of yourself. You come across as authentic and sincere. You reveal a part of yourself when you perform something that you know by heart.

            The Israelites knew the story by heart of how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. It was the land that they currently occupied. And every year, at the time of the first grain harvest, each family would take the first fruits of their harvest to the Temple, offering their gift to God, and saying by heart, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor…” They would retell the story of God’s deliverance of their people from bondage. It was a story told countless of times, a story that was known by heart, a story that shaped who they were as a people. Israel is a people with a story, a story that is known and told by heart.

            What about you and I? Not being part of the Israelite people we don’t have the same story. Our people were not once slaves in Egypt. God has not led us through the wilderness and given us a land flowing with milk and honey. Our stories are different. But do you have a story of how God delivered you or your family? What is your salvation story?

            Each of our salvation stories is different. And maybe when it comes to telling the story of God’s deliverance the story is open-ended. The final chapter has not yet been written. God doesn’t just deliver us once. God delivers us over and over through our whole lives. What can you tell of your deliverance story so far? I know part of my deliverance story by heart. It was October of 1983. I was at a church camp. The pastor gave a devotion that stressed the point that when Jesus died on the cross, that he died for my sins because God loved me that much. For the first time a light clicked on and I realized that Jesus died for me, that God loves me, and that God has a purpose for my life. The Spirit moved in my heart. For an awkward kid who didn’t feel like he fit in, this revelation of God’s love and a divine purpose was life changing. It was at that devotional at church camp where for the first time I felt forgiven and loved by God. I was a different person. In a way I was born again that night. That’s part of my salvation story. I’m sure yours is different. And if you don’t yet have a salvation story, be patient. One day your story will come to you. Salvation stories aren’t something you sit down and write or just dream up. These stories find you and claim you.

            Paul tells us that any person who knows in their heart that Jesus is Lord and confesses with their mouth that God raised Jesus from the dead will be saved. This is not just mental assent. It is not just parroting words or repeating back the words given to you like some kind of salvation script. It is not a magic formula. Paul said this salvation is effective for those who know in their heart. It is a deep knowing, a knowing that you can’t be argued out of or will simply forget. You don’t have to study up on it to refresh your memory. You know it by heart. Paul is saying to us, “If you know that you know that you know that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved.” That’s a promise of deliverance that Paul is implying. If you know Jesus by heart you will be saved, delivered, healed. If you know Jesus by heart you will make it through the time of testing and struggle. God will see to it that you will make it through the storm. Our deliverance story can be boiled down to this simple saying: I believe with all my heart that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead. Holding on to this belief is enough for God to deliver us from whatever we may be going through today. With this faith in God there is deliverance from what seeks to sap the spirit of life right out of us.

            It is good to know these things by heart as we wander into the wilderness of Lent, to know by heart that God is our deliverer from oppression, pain and heart ache. This is a season when we are encouraged to pay attention to our spiritual life, to do some self-examination, to reflect on our relationship with God. When we do this work, of looking into our hearts and our souls, what we find may be messy. We live complicated lives. Inside our hearts is a mixture of emotions, of hurts, doubts, resentments and frustrations. We try to avoid this kind of self-reflection because it can be painful and confusing to look inside ourselves. We may not like what we see. We may find our spirits to be worn out and parched. The state of our souls may not be a rich paradise and more like a barren wilderness. And when we confront our messiness and hurts, our wounds and the cold and dry places of our soul, it is good to hold some things in our heart…our salvation story, our trust in Jesus, our hope in God to deliver.

            We enter into the season of Lent wounded and in need of healing. Of course, the acuteness of our hurt is different. Some of us are just dealing with the minor irritants of life, but for the most part life is pretty good. Others of us are carrying some deep hurts and are struggling. And I suspect that if each of us really dug down deep, we could unearth some pain and hurt that we buried a long time ago. We may be more wounded than we realize. We are all carrying some pain. Life has a way of wearing us down. Disagreements and misunderstandings, loss, failures, illness, unintended consequences, there is so much we experience in life that cuts at our heart and can beat us up. We can’t escape it. Even if we know by heart that Jesus loves us and has the lordship of our hearts, we still get hurt. We are all wounded. We are all in need of healing.

            Healing is a journey. We can’t just take a pill or have a good night’s sleep and be all better. Healing is a process. In fact, the healing process stretches out for our entire life. Deep healing of those things that have hurt our heart takes time. It takes a lot of prayer and reflection. It takes talking things out with a trusted friend, or maybe a therapist. It takes putting good medicine in your heart: beauty, love, laughter, good friends, good music, good food, serenity, peace. To heal we sometimes have to unplug and just breathe.

            This is what Lent can be for us, an intentional time to do what we need to do to experience healing. I know often Lent is portrayed as a heavy time, a drudgery, where we have to give up stuff and be serious. But Lent doesn’t have to be a burdensome duty. Lent can be a season where we intentionally create space in our lives where we can heal. Fasting is a traditional discipline during Lent. Another word for fasting is unplugging. We can unplug from the negative stuff that is constantly coming at us through social media or cable news. We can prioritize spending time in nature, especially now that the cold and dormancy of winter is finally giving way to the warmth and vibrancy of spring. Now is the time where we can make time to talk things out with a friend, to go get a cup of coffee and have a heart to heart conversation, to share the burdens we are carrying and to know that we don’t carry our burdens alone. Let Lent be a season where you take the time to go visit an art gallery or attend a concert, to maybe go to the Franklin Park Conservatory, or take a walk in one of our many metro parks. Find ways to place yourself in the midst of beauty.

            Our healing journey extends beyond the season of Lent, but we can make it to the end of our healing journey because of what we know by heart. We know in our hearts that God loves us. We know in our hearts that Jesus died so that we might live. We know in our hearts that God has seen us through trials before and will do so again. So let us enter into this season of Lent with hopeful expectation that God will walk with us through it all and bring us out of it into the joy of the resurrection, the life-giving season of Easter.

Transfiguration Experiences

Based on Luke 9:28-43
First delivered on Transfiguration, Mar. 3, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            I have in my hand a small river rock that I picked up along the shores of the Illinois River that flows through the hills of eastern Oklahoma. There is a United Methodist church camp there called Camp Egan. The church I grew up in went there often for retreats. There is a place at Camp Egan where you hike up to the top of a ridge that overlooks a beautiful valley below. There is a clearing with some benches and a large wooden cross. It is an outdoor worship space. Hundreds of thousands of people over the years have gathered at that spot for worship, to experience the presence of God in the beauty of nature. People have had literal “mountain top experience” at that sacred site called Camp Egan. I am one of those people. And it’s hard for me to put in words the experiences of God’s presence I have had at Camp Egan. That’s how it is when we experience the presence of the divine. Words to describe the experience fail us.

            Today we hear the story of when Peter, James and John had their mountain top experience, when they saw Jesus transfigured before them, having a conversation with Moses and Elijah. And then a cloud enveloped them. They heard the voice of God declaring Jesus as the chosen one that they need to listen to. These disciples had a mountain top experience like no other. It was so powerful that they couldn’t tell anyone about it, at least not yet. They couldn’t put the experience into words. But I can imagine that from then on out Peter, James and John had a completely new perspective about Jesus. They had seen a glimpse of who Jesus is in his fullness. No filters. It was a vision they could not articulate. Words to describe the experience failed them.

            This rock I have from Camp Egan I picked up when I was not yet a teenager. On one side of it I have a drawing of a mountain. On top of the mountain is a cross. A huge sun is rising behind the mountain. And in the corner are three birds flying in the sky, representing the Trinity. This picture was an attempt to describe a mountain top experience I had at Camp Egan. As I came back down the mountain and returned home, I took this rock with me. It has sat on a home altar I have maintained for years, along with other objects I have collected that mark “mountain top experiences.” These objects remind me of how God has revealed Godself to me in a number of different ways, in different contexts, for over four decades of my life. When we have these mountain top experiences we carry them with us for the rest of our lives. They shape our faith. They help form who we are as persons.



    

       

            Can you imagine how Peter, James and John were impacted by their mountain top experience? Like I said, surely they looked at Jesus differently from then on out. When they saw Jesus in his resurrected body, the Transfiguration experience surely flooded their memories and reaffirmed for them that their mountain top experience was real. Seeing the transfigured Jesus shaped the faith of Peter, James and John. They came down the mountain carrying that experience. They were different than the way they were before they went up the mountain with Jesus to pray.

            What made my mountain top experiences possible as a kid was the result of the United Methodist Church. It was the church I belonged to that got me to that United Methodist owned camp. Not all my mountain top experiences have been at United Methodist church camps. But some have. Perhaps for many of us, and I would hope all of us, it has been through the church, particularly the United Methodist church, that the context for a mountain top experience was provided. Our church is a gathering of disciples around Jesus Christ, who from time to time gather on mountain tops, literally or figuratively, and experience the divine in powerful ways. We have these experiences as a church. And they are transformational experiences that shape our faith. That’s part of the church experience.

            That’s what we heard about this morning. Peter, James and John, a tiny church gathered around Jesus, having their mountain top experience. The United Methodist Church has been that gathered community around Jesus for many of us where we have experienced the presence of God.

            When Jesus, Peter, James and John came down the mountain, they walked into chaos and pain. While they had been up there on the mountain top, down below there was a father crying out for his son who was possessed of a demon. He had pleaded for the rest of Jesus’ disciples to cast the demon out. They had the power to do so. We hear about it in Luke 9:1 where Jesus specifically gives his disciples the authority to cast out demons. They had the power but they could not do it. For whatever reason, we do not know, this father’s son was still demon possessed and the disciples had failed. And this failure frustrated Jesus to no end. The disciples did not do what they had the power to do, to cast out the demon and heal this father’s son.

            I submit to you that in St. Louis earlier this week there were many loud cries for demons to be cast out: the demon of exclusion, the demon of legalism, the demon of deceit, the demon of hypocrisy. And the church failed to cast out the demons in our midst. The General Conference of the United Methodist Church had the power and authority to cast out those demons, to provide space for healing, to move toward a path of reconciliation. We are now more divided than ever. The pain is deep. The demons are still present and active. And surely Jesus is frustrated to say the least.

            “You faithless and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” Jesus was angry. Jesus was hurt. Jesus was frustrated. And he did not keep it bottled up inside but expressed his outrage. He didn’t just say, “I’m angry!” No, he named what he saw, a faithless and perverse generation. Those words are cutting. They hurt. They are offensive. And if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Jesus saying them, surely the crowd would have told Jesus what they thought of that statement and walked away. Maybe some did.

            But even more, Jesus didn’t stomp off angry. Jesus’ anger and frustration didn’t close him off from the pressing need for that boy to have a demon cast out of him. There was healing and restoration that needed to be accomplished. There was work to do. Jesus wasn’t going to walk away from where the pain and brokenness was. He didn’t turn himself around and walk back up the mountain. And if the disciples couldn’t get the job done then Jesus was not going to let it go. He would cast the demon out and restore the son to his father. And that’s what he did. Nothing would stop Jesus from healing the suffering child.

            Jesus didn’t walk away from General Conference either. In the midst of the chaos and pain Jesus was doing healing work. Jesus was in the hands of Bishop Malone, the bishop of the East Ohio Conference, who gently held J. J. Warren, a young, gay pastor who spoke passionately on the floor of the conference of the deep pain that the church he serves was inflicting on gay people and his call to be in ministry with people pushed to the margins by the church.

Jesus was present outside the conference, in the lobby of the arena. Gay and straight United Methodists were gathered there having worship, singing songs of liberation and receiving Holy Communion, the real presence of Jesus in the bread and the cup, while delegates walked by at the close of conference. That was the last thing those delegates saw as they left the arena to go home…an inclusive church gathered at the Lord’s table.  Jesus was there, in that communion service, casting out the demons, working a work of healing and restoration, and glorifying God.

            That communion service was a glimpse of the church as it truly is, undistorted by exclusion and legalism and hypocrisy. It was the church of inclusion, of grace, and integrity. The church gathered for communion outside of the conference was a moment of transfiguration, a revealing of the church as it truly is, where all are welcomed at the Lord’s table, where all are received as the beloved children of God, where the boundary markers are pushed back to make room for all who would come to the gospel feast.

            Transfiguration moments can happen in places other than on mountain tops on retreat. Jesus can reveal himself in all kinds of places and spaces and among all kinds of communities. Suddenly, we find ourselves in the presence of the holy. Transfiguration moments can occur in spaces where people are grieving and hurting, but also loving, grace filled, and hopeful. I believe we can facilitate those transfiguration moments by continuing to gather together with friends, creating spaces of vulnerability and truth telling, humility and laughter, and with the wisdom to wait for the Spirit to stir and to reveal the presence of the holy in our midst. This is what we can do. We can cast out demons and reveal the glory of God through the power of love. May God help us to continue to create these kinds of inclusive spaces.

Overriding Common Values

Based on Luke 6:27-38
First delivered Feb. 24, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr


            Last week we heard the start of Jesus’s sermon that he gave, not from the mountaintop as portrayed in Matthew but on flat land, a plain, where he stood on a level place surrounded by people who wanted to hear what he had to say. Jesus began his sermon by flipping the script on who we typically identified as who are the blessed and who are suffering woe. Jesus said that the poor are blessed but woe to the rich. The poor are blessed because the kingdom of God is theirs and they will receive some day all the richness and bounty of the kingdom of God. But for the rich, they receive their blessings now. In the future they will go without. This may sound like the rich have no hope for the future. But Jesus explained what he meant through the story about Lazarus and the rich man. It was the hardness of heart and failure to share that led the rich man to suffer in hell. Jesus gives good news to the poor. But he reminds the rich that the blessings they have now won’t last. They have a responsibility, as declared by the prophets for generations, to share what they have with those who are in need. And the rich can do this with confidence that they will receive even more in the age to come. Whatever they give now will be returned to them, shaken, pressed down and overflowing.

            Today we hear a continuation of Jesus’ sermon. Jesus is still flipping the script. Speaking the message of the great prophets of old, Jesus calls all who would hear to practice values that are different from the common shared values of society, both theirs in the time of Jesus and in our own. Jesus is proclaiming kingdom values instead of common values. They are values that turn things upside down, that beckon us to a way of relating to each other that is radical, vulnerable, transformational. You have heard that the mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. To the extent that we as disciples live out what our master teacher Jesus is sharing with us…that would truly transform the world. What are our common values that Jesus overrides with kingdom values?

            One common value is reciprocity. This is the basis of our economic life. I offer you my services and in return you affirm me and I get a paycheck so I can pay the businesses who offer me and my family services such as electricity, water and wi-fi. A mutual exchange of goods is based on reciprocity. Contracts are set up on reciprocity: I commit to these things and you likewise commit to these things for our mutual benefit. Reciprocity is a critical value to a just society. It is unjust if some people always give and never get anything back or people only take and never give. Reciprocity, give and take, is the basis of fairness. Surely Jesus has no problem with this value.

            But Jesus challenges us to adopt a value that does not depend on reciprocity. He says, for example, that we are to give without expecting anything in return, not even a thank you. We give and the response of the one who receives is irrelevant. We give just because we can and there is a need. Jesus teaches us not to lend anything. Rather, we are to give when people ask us and not expect to get it back. We don’t lend. We give.

            It’s kind of amusing when you are sitting in a meeting and someone says to you, “Can I borrow a piece of paper?” Are they really going to give the paper back to you? Of course not. So you say, “You can just have it.” I’ve collected a few pens along the way too by asking someone if I can borrow their pen and they say, “You can keep it, I have another one.”

            But then there was a time I asked a church member if I could borrow one of his saws to cut some wood. He said, “Sure” and let me borrow a nice saw. I cut my wood, hung the saw up in my garage and there it stayed for months! I totally forgot to give it back to him! Finally, I noticed it hanging there and, apologetically, took the saw back to him. He said to me, “Keep it, I just bought myself another one.” I don’t know if he gave me his saw not expecting to get it back, but he didn’t ask for it back. He just got himself another one. He was putting a kingdom value to work.

            I think the bigger issue here is that Jesus doesn’t want anything to block us from giving what we can to those in need. He doesn’t want us to calculate if we are going to get paid back or gain some other advantage. If someone is in need, and you have the capacity to give, then just give without thought about whether you will get paid back or benefit in any other way.

            Another common value our society holds is getting even. Another word for it is restitution. If you break a window, you pay for it. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Getting even is all about making things right. I know that in many cases, we just let things go. Sometimes we just want to forgive the person who wronged us and move on. Say it’s late in the afternoon and you are trying to get home after a long day at work. You are stuck in traffic. You get distracted and accidentally roll forward and bump into the car in front of you. You and the person in the car you ran in to steps out and you both take a look. There’s a little dent there but, everyone is trying to get home and cars are all lined up behind you. The person whose car you just dented looks at you and says, “Forget it, no big deal.” You thank them and then get back in your car and make your way home grateful that you were forgiven and didn’t have to go through the hassle of making things right. Now, I’m sure if there wasn’t a lot of traffic, or the damage was more severe, that would be a different story. Rightly, the other person would want you to make things right. They deserve to get even with you.

            Jesus tells us not to get even. Instead, we are taught to forgive others when we are wronged, and that’s it. No demands for restitution. No attempts to get even. Simply forgive. What the person you forgive does in response is up to them. No conditions to your forgiveness. They don’t have to make things right and then you forgive. You just forgive. Now it’s likely whoever harmed you will want to make things right. Then again, they may not. And that would be a bummer. But you forgive anyway. After all, you and I need forgiven ourselves from time to time. It’s nice to be forgiven. Jesus said if we forgive then we will be forgiven. We pray here every Sunday, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” When Jesus was on the cross, he asked God to forgive those who put him there. They didn’t have to repent first. They didn’t have to make things right first. Jesus forgave first.

            There’s another common value in our society, which is to love our friends and family and hate your enemy. That goes without saying. It’s completely natural. How can you have anything other than hate toward your enemy, toward someone who does everything they can to destroy your life, maybe even take your life. The enemy directly threatens your safety and security. For survival, your enemy has to be stopped, deterred, perhaps even eliminated. Hate seems to be the natural posture toward someone who threatens your survival or the survival of your family and friends. Especially if they have killed someone in your family or some of your friends. Hatred is the only adequate response towards people like that.

            Why did Jesus have to say that? Why did he have to give us this hard teaching to love our enemies? This pushes us to wonder what Jesus means by “love.” There is no way that Jesus means we are to have the same feelings toward enemies as we have towards our family and friends. That is just not going to happen. So love must mean more than a feeling. I wonder what Jesus means by love?

            I think we can agree that Jesus does not associate love with affection or warm feelings. Maybe what Jesus means by love is to desire for the well-being of the other and doing what you can for the well-being of the other. What would it mean to desire the well-being of your enemy? How would that impact what you do to your enemy that will provide for their well-being?

            Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews were at odds with each other. This was a generational disagreement. Samaritans and Jews had been raised to despise each other. They were not friends. They were enemies. The Samaritan saw a man beaten up and left for dead. We don’t know if he is a Samaritan or a Jew. But does it really matter? The Samaritan acts in a way that provides for the well-being of that person beaten and left for dead. The Samaritan has love for this person. Would his response been different if he knew that the person beaten up was a Jew? Perhaps. But as the story goes, a priest and a Levite walk past the man and keep going without stopping. It is extremely unlikely that the priest and the Levite were in Samaria. So it goes without saying that the Samaritan was traveling in Judea. That means the man beaten by the side of the road is very likely a Jew. And it is quite likely the Samaritan knew that. But he looked past the old enmity that he was raised to believe. He didn’t see an enemy. He saw someone he loved and he had to do something about it. What an amazing person this Samaritan was. The Samaritan loved his enemy. Not with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but with a desire for the enemy’s well-being. And not just a desire. The Samaritan acted in ways that provided for the well-being of his enemy. This is what Jesus means by loving our enemies.

            As I said last week, you and I are called as disciples of Jesus Christ to make connections with people. Just as Jesus stood eye to eye with others and removed all obstacles so that people could get to him, so we have to remove external and internal obstacles that separate us from one another. We are challenged to build relationships with rich people and poor people. And today we are being challenged to build relationships with our family and friends and our enemies. In other words, whoever you encounter, no matter who they are.

            It is one thing to close the gap between the rich and the poor. It is a whole other level to close the gap between enemies. Let’s face it. If you do desire the well-being of your enemy, staying away from them may be for their own well-being! There is something to be said for separate corners. Maybe what you can do for the well-being of your enemy is limited to staying away and avoiding doing any harm. But even that can be a challenge. How do we even get to the point of desiring the well-being of our enemies?

            It seems to me that the only way we can desire and even contribute to the well-being of our enemies has to be rooted in our relationship with God who loves us no matter what. Because God is love, God loves all of creation. God loves every human being. God desires the well-being of every creature and does all God can to bring about the well-being of every creature. Of course, God is not the only actor. How else to explain the discord and brokenness in our world? But that’s the subject for another sermon.

            What I’m trying to say is that for us to have love for our enemies has to be involve an overflow of love that we receive from God. It helps to know how much you are loved by God so that you can love others. In fact, there is a scripture that says, “We love because God first loved us.” Love comes from God. So the only way we can love, much less love our enemies, is to know that God loves us, desires for our own well-being, acts for our own well-being, no matter what. God’s love is not conditional. We can always count on God’s love. And the kicker is that God loves our enemies as much as God loves us. That is how radical God’s love is. God desires your well-being and God desires the well-being of your enemy. When we act against the well-being of our enemies, we are frustrating God’s desire.

            What is God’s desire for the special called session of the General Conference? Yesterday was a day of prayer and preparation. The deliberations over how the United Methodist Church will move forward begin today and last until Tuesday evening. A lot will be said in these three days. There will be a lot of rhetoric, a lot of emotion, and very likely a bit of pain. It pains me to say that there will be times over these next few days when some people at the conference will wonder if everyone there desires their well-being. People may wonder if there is any love at the conference.

            Surely God desires the well-being for everyone at the general conference. God desires the well-being of every person who identifies with the United Methodist Church. The challenge is, will we find a way forward that cares for the well-being of all of us? That is my prayer and I hope it is yours too. Let it be our prayer that love will prevail over these next three days. What that will look like may not be what any of us would choose. But whatever happens, let us hope that what God desires will happen.

Seeing Across the Chasm

Based on Luke 6:17-26

First delivered Feb. 17, 2019

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            I want to ask those of you who watch late night chat shows, like the Tonight Show, for instance, have you ever noticed that the host who is interviewing the guest has his chair positioned so that he is slightly higher than the guest? It’s very subtle, but it is done to almost subconsciously communicate who is in a position of authority in the show. It is the host’s show and he is in charge. Think about when you have found yourself in a court room. In every court room I have been in, the judge not only sits behind a desk but is elevated higher than anyone else in the courtroom. Again, this communicates a level of authority. Now look where I am standing, behind this pulpit, a position of authority.

            I know of a church in Oklahoma City called Church of the Servant. The sanctuary of that church was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The ceiling had skylights to let in natural light. There were lots of indoor plants, a waterfall, and even, if I remember right, some birds they had flying around in there. The seats were arranged like in an arena. On the floor was centered the altar. So, when the sermon was being preached, the pastor was actually at the lowest level on the floor while everyone else was sitting in their stadium seats. You could see everyone and all their attention was down at the center. I thought that was pretty cool. It removed any obstacles from seeing what was happening and it sort of flipped the signal of where the authority figure was.

            This morning our scripture reading was the beginning of a sermon Jesus preached. It is similar to the Sermon on the Mount we find in Matthew. But the setting is different in Luke. Here, Jesus comes down the mountain to a level place. And it is from there, standing level with the people gathered around him, that Jesus preaches his sermon. Clearly he has the authority. Everyone was there to hear him and to be healed by him. He did not need to be physically elevated above the crowd. There was no obstacle that blocked people from having access to him. Jesus came down to the level of the people. I think that is significant. Jesus placed himself in a position where the people could get to him, where he could look at them eye to eye, where they didn’t have to go up a mountain or stand on their tippy toes to shake his hand while he stood behind a desk, a pulpit or a barrier. I am so tempted to step down from this pulpit and give this sermon from the floor.

            Jesus starts off his sermon by saying some things that run counter to who we typically value and bless in society. Jesus blesses the poor and curses the rich. Well, maybe not curse them, but certainly letting the rich know that they better enjoy what they have now because it won’t get any better for them than it is right now. The poor, though, they have something to look forward to. The poor are the ones who are blessed, lifted up, elevated. The rich are given a message of woe. For them, things will get worse. It is the poor that will be better off.

            I tell you, it just doesn’t seem that way. What is blessed about being poor? It seems like everything goes against poor people. Yes, there are social services. But they can often be hard to access. And you have to go to different places, wait in line, keep up with paperwork, to access these services. The housing you get is probably substandard. Getting good, quality food at a reasonable price can be a challenge. The schools most poor kids go to are often run down. There is a lot of trauma around being poor and that trauma plays out in broken relationships, violence, stress, drug abuse and mental health issues. I could go on and on. There is nothing I can see that’s good about being poor. I think most of us would rather be rich. If you are rich, there are plenty of resources you can access that others can’t tap in to. You have a powerful network of relationships that can make life easier for you. People who are rich have lots of options, lots of freedom, lots of support. Being rich doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me.

            But Jesus seems to be pushing against what seems so obvious to us. Blessed are you rich and woe to you poor. Jesus flips it around. Jesus wants the poor to hear good news. Remember? That’s Jesus’ mission statement, which he read from the book of Isaiah when he started his public ministry. Part of his mission is to proclaim good news to the poor. And so he does by telling the poor that the kingdom of God belongs to them. They don’t have much in this life, in this society, but they do belong to the kingdom of God. Jesus is giving the poor hope that one day they will be full and they will laugh. One day, the blessings the poor long for will be theirs. There is hope for the poor. God is with the poor.

            The rich, on the other hand, need to be reminded that God is paying attention. All that wealth they have is meant to be shared with the poor. If the rich forget that, and hoard all they have for themselves and for their children’s inheritance, God’s going to take it away from them. Later, in Luke 16, we read the story of Lazarus and the rich man, traditionally named Dives. You remember the story? Lazarus was a poor man who laid at the door step of the rich man’s house. He longed for just a scrap from the heavy laden table in the rich man’s dining room. Dogs would lick his sores. He was poor, hungry, and full of sorrow. The rich man was full, laughing at his dinner parties he had all the time, and apparently paid no attention to Lazarus.

            Lazarus dies and is carried up to heaven to the bosom of Father Abraham. The rich man dies and is buried. He descends to Sheol where he is tormented by flames of fire. Looking up to Lazarus and Father Abraham, the rich man begs for relief from the pain, the suffering that he is enduring. “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.” Blessed are the poor and woe to the rich. This was part of the prophetic witness of Jesus, a witness that can be traced all through the prophets in the Hebrew scriptures. What Jesus is preaching in his sermon isn’t new. And it still has an edge that provokes, that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, as the old phrase goes. That’s what prophets do.

            Prophets can get themselves into a lot of trouble. Jesus said it himself. Jesus said that prophets are excluded, reviled, and defamed. They also get killed. John the Baptist was a prophet. He chastised King Herod for the way he was living and got his head cut off. Jesus was a prophet. He was crucified because of the things he said to the religious authorities. He was portrayed as a threat to Caesar’s power and authority. We know that prophets are excluded, reviled, defamed, and killed. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet. Oh, he’s famous now. He has a memorial in Washington, D.C. and a federal holiday. But not many people wanted to build a monument to him when he was assassinated. He said things about our involvement in Vietnam that turned a lot of people off. He advocated for the government to either be the employer of last resort or provide a basic income to every American because, in his mind, it is intolerable that there would still be American citizens and children of God living in abject poverty in the richest nation on earth. That got him derided as a communist. He was helping to organize sanitation workers in Memphis when he was killed. He was in the middle of planning a poor people’s campaign, an ambitious program that would bring together poor people, white and black, to march on Washington and demand that the federal government do what it is supposed to do, which is to promote the general welfare, as stated in the preamble to the Constitution. King knew what it was like to be excluded, reviled and defamed. That’s how prophets get treated, even to this very day.

            This series of sermons we are in is generally focused on the topic of who are the people in our community, who is the “other” that we are to love. Love God, and love one another. Who are the “one anothers”? What do we learn in today’s scripture about who we are to be in a loving relationship with? It appears to me that the people that were crowded around Jesus were a mixed crowd. There were poor people in the crowd who needed to hear the good news. But there were also rich people in the crowd who needed to hear a prophetic word. Jesus didn’t just preach to or heal poor people. He healed rich people too. He preached to rich people as well. He healed and taught all who came to him, whether they were rich or poor. And he gave his message in a way that spoke to the needs of the poor and the rich. The poor and the rich needed the message Jesus gave them.

            So this is our challenge: to be in relationship with poor people and rich people. In these days the gulf between the poor and rich is not just in the size of bank accounts. There is a social gulf that is so vast. It takes effort for poor people to be where rich people are and vice versa. Reflecting back on Jesus’ story of Lazarus and Dives, Father Abraham said to the rich man, “There is a great chasm between us and you that has been fixed. No one can cross over from here to you and none can cross over from where you are to us.” It seemed that when Lazarus was lying at the very doorstep of the rich man’s house there may as well have been a great chasm between them. We know that a great chasm separates the rich and poor today.

            Where are we able to cross that chasm in our society? The BMV is probably the most likely place where poor and rich are forced to be together in one space. Everyone has to get a driver’s license. You know our society is divided up in ways that separate. Poor people have public housing and public libraries while rich people have private schools and private country clubs. How do we be in relationship with the poor and the rich when we live in a society that keeps us apart?

            We have to figure out how to remove the obstacles that block us from being in a loving relationship with poor people and rich people. Jesus came down the mountain and stood on a level place where everyone who wanted to could get to him. No barriers. Everyone had access. What are the barriers that we need to remove?

            I would like us to think about what internal barriers block us from being in loving relationships with poor and rich people. Maybe you avoid being in relationships with poor people because they make you feel uncomfortable. They act different or hold different values. You don’t want to be caught up in a dependency where they are always asking you for help or you feel guilty about all the comforts you have while they go without. And maybe you are uncomfortable around rich people, find them a little intimidating. They seem so much smarter, more sophisticated, maybe a little standoffish. What are your feelings or biases toward poor people and rich people that you need to acknowledge and overcome?

            Jesus came down the mountain and came to a level place. And a crowd gathered around him to be healed of their diseases and to hear him preach. He placed himself so that he could see the people eye to eye, so that the people could reach out and touch him. Jesus removed obstacles so that everyone could get to him. When it came to Jesus, there was no great chasm. Anyone who wished could get to Jesus. No barriers.

            We can do this too. We can put ourselves where the crowds are. We can allow ourselves to connect with others who need healing from their dis-ease. We can speak the gospel that people need to hear. We can look at people eye to eye. Taking the lead of Jesus, there is no reason for us to erect obstacles that block us from placing ourselves at the same level with anyone else. So I invite you to look past the barriers that separate us one from another, especially look past whether the person you are relating to is poor or rich, to walk with Jesus over those chasms, so that we can make connections with anyone who is willing to connect with us.

            I was a little kid in junior high. I had just gotten old enough to be in my church’s youth group. We were all loaded up on the church bus to head out for a youth retreat. It would be my first time away from home. Sitting by myself on the bus, I looked out the window and saw my dad waving good bye to me. I waved back. And as the bus began to move forward the tears started streaming down my face. I was already home sick and we hadn’t even left the church parking lot.

            Someone on the bus noticed me and saw that I needed a friend. His name is Jake. He was an upper classman and one of the cool kids. He is also black. He saw this little white kid who needed to know that everything was going to be ok. Jake came over and sat with me for a little while and just talked to me. Throughout the weekend, Jake would check in on me and make sure that I wasn’t stuck sitting somewhere by myself. He went out of his way to make sure that I was included, that I belonged to the group. Jake saw past the barriers of race and of age and made a connection with me. Jake and I became friends. And that made a huge impact on my life. Getting past the barriers, of rich and poor, of white and non-white, of citizen and non-citizen, of elder and child, and all the other ways we are divided up in this society, and making connections with people who need healing, who need to hear a word of hope or a word of challenge, who need a friend…this can impact lives in ways we may never know.

Let us pray.

O God, the One who crosses all barriers to be in relationship with all people, the One who crossed barriers to be in relationship with each one of us, we ask you to help us through the power of the Holy Spirit, to cross all the barriers, internal and external, that block us from being in relationship with others, so that through us You can speak a word of hope, a word of challenge, and a healing touch. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.