Rev. Alan Claassen
Romans 12:9-23 Matthew 16 21-28
September 21, 2008
Children’s message: a story attributed to St. Francis. It was the story a village that was being terrorized by a wolf. St. Francis is said to have struck up a deal with the wolf. The wolf would stop eating the pets and little children of the village if the townspeople would simply leave a bowl of food out on their doorsteps for the wolf to eat each night. St. Francis’ plan worked.
I have another wolf tale for you this morning, called…
The Wolves Within.....
An old grandfather told this story to his grandson who came in to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story,” said the grandfather.
"I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much with no sorrow for what they do; but hate wears you down and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking a poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times."
He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But..... the other wolf...... Ah! The littlest thing will send him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
"Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
The grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."
This morning’s passage from Romans is about choosing which wolf within us we are going to feed. Feed with our thoughts, habits, actions.
This morning’s Gospel passage is about the inherent difficulty that may well arise within our world when we say that we have chosen the path of non-violence, and non-violent resistance. For Jesus himself paid the ultimate sacrifice, giving away his very life, by proclaiming that we should love our enemies and not seek to destroy them.
Which wolf do we feed with our thoughts, habits, and actions?
The one that is good and does no harm, lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended or
... the wolf who fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
The one we feed is the one who wins.
Paul makes it very clear in Romans which one we are to feed. "Let love be genuine. Bless those who persecute you, repay no one evil for evil, and never avenge yourselves." Nothing could be clearer than what is listed in these verses.
There are those in our world today, in our American religious and political spheres today that claim to people of Christian values. They seemed to have skipped this passage.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. For evil response to evil only creates more evil. It make take years or decades but and violent response to evil brings about more evil.
But that wolf within that is quick to temper, quickly says that non-violence is wimpy, can’t work, and the poor need to find their own way out trouble, they found there own way into it. And we ourselves may read this passage and simply say, out of the kindness of our best hearts, it just can’t be done. It’s too difficult, I may get hurt.
And in a way that is correct. It is too difficult, to do alone. It is impossible if we only have the tools of our “do-it-yourself,” greedy culture. But Paul is speaking from the vantage point of one whose ego is no longer the center of his awareness. Through his mystical vision on the road to Damascus, and the tending of the followers of Christ who baptized him and care for him, Paul became one who spoke with the mind of Christ. The one who taught reconciliation, forgiveness, non-judgment, and non-violence.
Which brings to mind for me the story of a woman that we all know.
We all know Rosa Parks; the African-American woman who participated in the bus boycott organized by a young preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. We all know that Rosa parks refused to go the back of the bus. She refused to participate any longer in the culture of domination that told her and her people that she was inferior.
We all know about Rosa Parks. But do you know what helped Rosa Parks, stay put at the front of the bus? Do you know about the Citizenship Schools founded by Miles Horton?
Well, I didn’t until just a few years ago. Miles Horton was a white man who went to the hills of Tennessee, in a poor rural part of that country near the North Carolina state line.
And he found people who did not know how to participate in their own government. They did not know their rights as citizens of this country. Without education democracy cannot survive. So he taught the people.
He began this work in the 1930s. By the 1950s he was holding classes and workshops where white folks and black folks were study together. Two of his students were,
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks gained her self-acceptance and lived the dream of all people living together through her participation in these schools, which included all races studying together. She got to practice the beloved community in this citizenship school and then take it out into the world.
I think that is how the Apostle Paul saw what he was doing in building those first communities that followed the way of Christ. He was trying to create places of safety and support, worship and prayer and service where people could experience a vision of something that they could take out into the world. He was creating communities that fed the better nature of our humanity.
Now we all know that Rosa Parks had to go through a lot of threats and misrepresentation. This is carrying her cross as is said in the reading from the Gospel according to Matthew. Carrying her cross. Not hiding it. Not staring at it. Not running from it. Carrying it. Moving forward. Being pulled forward. Why? Because she belonged to a vision of the beloved community that she had seen with her own eyes. Just as Paul belonged to Christ, the one that helped him see the world with new eyes.
One of the things that I most appreciate from the Romans passage is the verse,
“Hate what is evil, love what is good.” I can be angry but I must temper how I may express my anger. The “wolves within” story said it well, “He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”
The right way is a very powerful way and it is a way that breaks the cycle of violence without getting rolled over and playing dead. It means speaking out against those who take more than they need at the expense of the poor. It means sometimes getting in trouble for doing the right thing, even to the point of risking security, comfort, and life itself.
There is one other verse in the passage from Romans that I want to lift out before closing this sermon.
“If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.”
So far as it depends upon you.”
I am reminded of a quote from the Dalai Lama.
He said that each one of us should ask ourselves this question,
“What can I do to preserve the beauty and wonder of the world, and,
What can I do to eliminate the anger and hatred in the world,
in that part of the world which I touch?
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
This statement encourages us to ask and to affirm, what can I touch? Not what can’t I touch, but what I can touch? It empowers us into action rather than the despair of being overwhelmed. It asks us to be clear about that which does depend on us. I think it also encourages us to allow ourselves to depend on others sometimes, too.
Our sphere of influence begins right here, and within in our homes, and at the check out stand and coffee shop.
As members of the United Church of Christ our touch reaches around the country and world through the offerings that we give to special offerings such as Neighbors in Need, which is coming up in a few weeks.
Our touch reaches out to families who have no homes as we places our coins in the simple cardboard boxes provided by Habitat for Humanity. And our sense of compassion and call for restraint is awakened when we follow that Habitat for Humanity calendar and see how richly blessed we are.
And in this election year our touch extends all the way to the County Supervisors, Congress and the White House.
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
Today is the International Day of Peace which was founded by the United Nations in 1981. In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:
"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."
International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Declare a personal ceasefire with someone, some group, and some candidate in the world that you can touch. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.
Imagine a world.
In this passage from Romans, Paul has some words of advice for us that will help us feed the good wolf. As Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “Love from the center of who you are, don’t fake it. Don’t burn out: keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be inventive in hospitality. Surprise your enemies with goodness.”
We are enabled to do this through worship, prayer, study, and service. Don’t try this at home if you are trying it alone. Let God help. Give God something to do, by trusting the incarnation of the Holy Word in Jesus Christ. Let us, explore the possibility, so far as it depends upon us, to live peace, to love genuinely, to hold fast to what is good.
And may both wolves within us, learn how to get along.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Love First
Love First
Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:15-22
September 14, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Before I forget, and before I get started on this morning’s sermon, I want to ask you all to do me a favor. Don’t recycle this morning’s bulletin. And don’t throw it away. I am asking you to take it home and look up and read the two Bible passages for this morning.
And don’t just read them once. Read them once a day.
And don’t just read them. Practice. See the events of the week through the lens of these words. And maybe find yourself thinking at some given moment, in the choices you make in your relationships with others, with yourself, and with God, here is a moment where you can practice some wisdom, some truth, some value that you have found for yourself in the words, in the Spirit, of these scriptures.
I am making this request for two reasons.
1) I can’t say all that I want to say about these two passages.
2) My life will be better if you practice the wisdom that is in these scriptures. Your life will be too. In fact the life of the entire community of this church, this town, this county, this nation, this earth and this heaven, will be better if we follow the better way to live that these two passages reveal to us.
And I promise that I will do you the same favor of living into these passages as best as I can also.
What is in this morning’s scripture?
What did you hear when they were read?
Allow me to tell you the little that I can about what I hear.
Last Saturday 26 of us gathered for the Annual Planning Retreat. As I was preparing for the day,
reading over the statements that many of you wrote during worship on the last two Sundays in August
in response to the questions, “What do you love about this church?” and
“What goals would you like to see discussed at the retreat?”…
an simple song, a chant came to my mind. It was one of the first songs I learned when I first entered the Pacific School of Religion.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Christ takes form in the midst of the world.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Alleluia.
Christ takes form in a band, of persons. And so we sang that song to get the day started on the track of listening to one another.
We shared what we love about this church:
reminds me, prods me, encourages me to think and act in Christian love;
people are inspired with the spirit of service
our extravagant welcome
in the midst of people who may differ we are one in God’s love.
We took some time to try to create a Vision Statement for this church that wrap all that we do in less than 10 words. That is still a work in progress for the Vitality Team, but one statement that came from that exercise that I remember was simply, “Respond to God’s love!”
Then we got together in groups of threes and more to share what goals we see for the church in the year ahead that match watch we love about this church now with the vision that we have for this church.
The statements that were written by you in worship included:
increase active membership
get the message of love and acceptance out to our neighbors
be reconcilers in the community, local and global
develop study of our faith and how our faith can relate to the changing world
show why it is important to become open and affirming
Then we had lunch and we remembered something we love about this church, we have great cooks among us!
After lunch we broke out into four groups, each with the three goals we had agreed were the ones to focus on for the year ahead and come up with objectives that would realize those goals.
On a bookshelf in Fellowship Hall you will find a summary of the goals and the objectives that were the result of a band of persons searching for Christ’s form among us. We ended the day by forming a circle and answering a different kind of a question, which was, “Where did you see God in something that you saw or shared today?’
What I remember most vividly from that time of sharing was that people saw God in being able to speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
The sharing of what we love, the crafting of a vision statement, the lifting up of goals and objectives, were important, but if Christ is going to take form in a band, of persons, we need to have a community where we can speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
Which brings me to the importance of why this morning’s scripture readings are so important, and why they will make my life easier, your life easier, the church’s life easier, if we take these words to heart and put them in the soles of our shoes. In other words, walk the talk.
Paul, as a result of his mystical vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, was given, what he called “the mind of Christ.” And his task as a missionary around the eastern side of the Mediterranean was to create communities, churches, that took on the mind of Christ. For Paul this did not mean that everyone thought the same way. Paul called on the people to practice extravagant welcome right from the start.
At the beginning of chapter 14, (The Message)
A person who has been around for awhile might be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat?”
Which reminds of a story that comes from a UCC church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pastor Eric Elnes was in conversation with a member of his church one day, and this person, this member of the band, said, “I am tired of saying what we are against, I want to say what we are for.”
So Eric pondered that thought for a few days when all of sudden he had this crazy idea, “Christ takes form”
It was so crazy that he shared it with the church moderator just so he could hear how crazy it was and stop thinking about it. He shared the idea of inviting members of his progressive Christian church to walk with him across the United States, across New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and all the way to Washington DC telling everyone that they met what they were for, and doing it all in the name of Jesus.
The Moderator said, “Great idea!”
And so 20 people began what was called Crosswalk. And they traveled across America with the central ideas of the United Church of Christ. And they stopped in a churches of all sorts along the way. And they were welcomed and prayed for all along the way.
They came to a town in Hereford, Texas. Big cattle growing country. And they began telling their story about loving Jesus and being open and affirming of all the people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, and the people welcomed them into their church and big picnic.
They did have one question, “We don’t care what you think about homosexuality, are any of you vegetarians?”
And even vegetarians were welcome with big salads and beans.
Reading from Paul again,
“God, after all, invited them to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off of God’s guest list or interfering with God’s welcome?”
I want to acknowledge the difficult challenge that is being presented here. I know that I am not talking about something that is easy for any of us to do. I say this because of what comes a few verses later in this chapter.
Paul lays out a very difficult challenge for us, but when we perceive and live its truth, our lives will be easier and our relationships will be based upon trust.
Chapter 14: 13ff (The Message)
“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways that are inconsistent with what you believe, some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them, then know that you are out of line.”
The challenge for living in Christian community is to find a way of balancing not passing judgment on others, and at the same time, not letting what you think of as a good thing, be spoken of as being evil.”
Which brings to my mind so many of the famous verses written by Paul.
“The good that I want to do, I cannot do, and the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”
And the most familiar of all, the so called love passage from Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, not does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in the truth. There is no end to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.” (The Inclusive Bible)
And this also brings to my mind the vital importance of the passage that we heard from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Peter asks Jesus, how many times must I forgive. Is 7 enough?
Jesus responds by saying, 7 times 70.
To have the mind of Christ is to live a practice of letting go of the need to be in control, the need to be right, the need to be good, and instead move into a way of life that is built upon freely speaking and attentively listening to God, to yourself, to the ones you trust with your life.
The point is to honor God and express our love and devotion to God. Put love first and other things may not loom so large.”
The Vitality Team who designed and led this year’s Planning Retreat will continue to work on a Vision Statement for this church. The Council, Boards. Committees, and Teams will continue to realize that goals that came out of the Planning retreat.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of these goals and objectives in a document on a bookshelf by our library in Fellowship.
And I encourage to take this community building project personally. Because it will make my life so much easier. And yours also.
Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:15-22
September 14, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Before I forget, and before I get started on this morning’s sermon, I want to ask you all to do me a favor. Don’t recycle this morning’s bulletin. And don’t throw it away. I am asking you to take it home and look up and read the two Bible passages for this morning.
And don’t just read them once. Read them once a day.
And don’t just read them. Practice. See the events of the week through the lens of these words. And maybe find yourself thinking at some given moment, in the choices you make in your relationships with others, with yourself, and with God, here is a moment where you can practice some wisdom, some truth, some value that you have found for yourself in the words, in the Spirit, of these scriptures.
I am making this request for two reasons.
1) I can’t say all that I want to say about these two passages.
2) My life will be better if you practice the wisdom that is in these scriptures. Your life will be too. In fact the life of the entire community of this church, this town, this county, this nation, this earth and this heaven, will be better if we follow the better way to live that these two passages reveal to us.
And I promise that I will do you the same favor of living into these passages as best as I can also.
What is in this morning’s scripture?
What did you hear when they were read?
Allow me to tell you the little that I can about what I hear.
Last Saturday 26 of us gathered for the Annual Planning Retreat. As I was preparing for the day,
reading over the statements that many of you wrote during worship on the last two Sundays in August
in response to the questions, “What do you love about this church?” and
“What goals would you like to see discussed at the retreat?”…
an simple song, a chant came to my mind. It was one of the first songs I learned when I first entered the Pacific School of Religion.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Christ takes form in the midst of the world.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Alleluia.
Christ takes form in a band, of persons. And so we sang that song to get the day started on the track of listening to one another.
We shared what we love about this church:
reminds me, prods me, encourages me to think and act in Christian love;
people are inspired with the spirit of service
our extravagant welcome
in the midst of people who may differ we are one in God’s love.
We took some time to try to create a Vision Statement for this church that wrap all that we do in less than 10 words. That is still a work in progress for the Vitality Team, but one statement that came from that exercise that I remember was simply, “Respond to God’s love!”
Then we got together in groups of threes and more to share what goals we see for the church in the year ahead that match watch we love about this church now with the vision that we have for this church.
The statements that were written by you in worship included:
increase active membership
get the message of love and acceptance out to our neighbors
be reconcilers in the community, local and global
develop study of our faith and how our faith can relate to the changing world
show why it is important to become open and affirming
Then we had lunch and we remembered something we love about this church, we have great cooks among us!
After lunch we broke out into four groups, each with the three goals we had agreed were the ones to focus on for the year ahead and come up with objectives that would realize those goals.
On a bookshelf in Fellowship Hall you will find a summary of the goals and the objectives that were the result of a band of persons searching for Christ’s form among us. We ended the day by forming a circle and answering a different kind of a question, which was, “Where did you see God in something that you saw or shared today?’
What I remember most vividly from that time of sharing was that people saw God in being able to speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
The sharing of what we love, the crafting of a vision statement, the lifting up of goals and objectives, were important, but if Christ is going to take form in a band, of persons, we need to have a community where we can speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
Which brings me to the importance of why this morning’s scripture readings are so important, and why they will make my life easier, your life easier, the church’s life easier, if we take these words to heart and put them in the soles of our shoes. In other words, walk the talk.
Paul, as a result of his mystical vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, was given, what he called “the mind of Christ.” And his task as a missionary around the eastern side of the Mediterranean was to create communities, churches, that took on the mind of Christ. For Paul this did not mean that everyone thought the same way. Paul called on the people to practice extravagant welcome right from the start.
At the beginning of chapter 14, (The Message)
A person who has been around for awhile might be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat?”
Which reminds of a story that comes from a UCC church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pastor Eric Elnes was in conversation with a member of his church one day, and this person, this member of the band, said, “I am tired of saying what we are against, I want to say what we are for.”
So Eric pondered that thought for a few days when all of sudden he had this crazy idea, “Christ takes form”
It was so crazy that he shared it with the church moderator just so he could hear how crazy it was and stop thinking about it. He shared the idea of inviting members of his progressive Christian church to walk with him across the United States, across New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and all the way to Washington DC telling everyone that they met what they were for, and doing it all in the name of Jesus.
The Moderator said, “Great idea!”
And so 20 people began what was called Crosswalk. And they traveled across America with the central ideas of the United Church of Christ. And they stopped in a churches of all sorts along the way. And they were welcomed and prayed for all along the way.
They came to a town in Hereford, Texas. Big cattle growing country. And they began telling their story about loving Jesus and being open and affirming of all the people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, and the people welcomed them into their church and big picnic.
They did have one question, “We don’t care what you think about homosexuality, are any of you vegetarians?”
And even vegetarians were welcome with big salads and beans.
Reading from Paul again,
“God, after all, invited them to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off of God’s guest list or interfering with God’s welcome?”
I want to acknowledge the difficult challenge that is being presented here. I know that I am not talking about something that is easy for any of us to do. I say this because of what comes a few verses later in this chapter.
Paul lays out a very difficult challenge for us, but when we perceive and live its truth, our lives will be easier and our relationships will be based upon trust.
Chapter 14: 13ff (The Message)
“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways that are inconsistent with what you believe, some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them, then know that you are out of line.”
The challenge for living in Christian community is to find a way of balancing not passing judgment on others, and at the same time, not letting what you think of as a good thing, be spoken of as being evil.”
Which brings to my mind so many of the famous verses written by Paul.
“The good that I want to do, I cannot do, and the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”
And the most familiar of all, the so called love passage from Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, not does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in the truth. There is no end to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.” (The Inclusive Bible)
And this also brings to my mind the vital importance of the passage that we heard from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Peter asks Jesus, how many times must I forgive. Is 7 enough?
Jesus responds by saying, 7 times 70.
To have the mind of Christ is to live a practice of letting go of the need to be in control, the need to be right, the need to be good, and instead move into a way of life that is built upon freely speaking and attentively listening to God, to yourself, to the ones you trust with your life.
The point is to honor God and express our love and devotion to God. Put love first and other things may not loom so large.”
The Vitality Team who designed and led this year’s Planning Retreat will continue to work on a Vision Statement for this church. The Council, Boards. Committees, and Teams will continue to realize that goals that came out of the Planning retreat.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of these goals and objectives in a document on a bookshelf by our library in Fellowship.
And I encourage to take this community building project personally. Because it will make my life so much easier. And yours also.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)