Cultivating Compassion

 We're living in a time when we are at each other's throats all the time, thanks in no small part to the discord being fomented by one of the two major political parties in this country. And I say that in the full knowledge that there are "good people" who are registered members of the party in question who may take offense at my statement. But I know what I see, what I observe, and what I have experienced as a lesbian who lives in Florida, a trained journalist, and a former member of said political party. I won't even call them by the name of that party because what it was...once upon a time...no longer exists. It has been so corrupted that I don't even recognize it. 

I don't preach "politics" in the way we think of politics. But I do preach the words of the Gospel and of scripture. I have no choice. And I appreciate having a text that allows me to wrestle with my faith and my world. 

I hope this sermon gives you something to consider as we go forward into these next months in the United (sort of) States. 

Tell me what you think in the comments. 

Text: Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

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At the end of our worship service…we most often get sent out with these words:

 “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

Our worship having ended…the work of service begins.

We leave here…hopefully filled with a sense of God’s goodness…maybe humming a few bars of the last hymn…spend some time visiting over food and drink in the parish hall.

And then it’s back to the world of tasks…chores…responsibilities…appointments…and the traffic on Bemiss Road.

As En Vogue sang in the 1990s…”Back to life. Back to reality. Back to the here and now.”

Sometimes…when we’re faced with all that’s in front of us on any given day or week…that tag line of the old Southwest Airlines commercials…”Wanna Get Away?” can  sound pretty tempting.

We all need that time where we can get away…lay down our burdens… and rest.

Even Jesus and his disciples need a break.

This week…our Gospel picks up the story of Jesus where we left off a couple of Sundays ago.

At that time…Jesus was sending the twelve off to do the service work of ministry in a world that may or may not accept them…and wasn’t always hospitable.

Our evangelist Mark then gave us the flashback to the death of John the Baptist at Herod’s birthday party to emphasize the level of fear and corruption in the Roman Empire at the time…the type of reality on the ground for the people Jesus and his disciples were going to.

Now…we’re back to the present…and the disciples have returned.

They’re excited.

They’ve done all the things Jesus had sent them out to do.

And—wow—they’re happy…and tired!

Jesus gets it.

He’s pretty tired, too.

After hearing them tell the tales of all that they’d seen and done…Jesus says, “Let’s go away…by ourselves…to a quiet place where we can pray in peace…and just rest for a while.”

Ahhh…that sounds so good.

But…just when they thought they’d gotten away for this retreat…here come the people.

Lots of people.

All kinds…types…genders…ages…abilities of people. And they’re all in need.

All are seeking…calling out…for Jesus and the apostles to pay attention to their needs.

We’ve all had those moments…I’m sure.

We’re ready to kick back and relax for just those few minutes and then someone calls or knocks on our door and needs our help.

We hear the urgency in their voice.

Tired as are we put our shoes back on…and get up to help them.

We hear that Jesus has compassion for this crowd of needy people because “they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

“Compassion” means “to suffer with.” It means a willingness to lay aside our needs and enter into the ring with the person who needs help.

Jesus has been in…around…and observed the suffering occurring in the Empire.

Jesus intimately knows the crowd’s pain.

He’s been rejected.

He’s been cast out.

He’s not separated from them; he’s in the situation with them.

And he knows that the hunger they’re feeling is not just a desire for food but a longing for something more…something their cold-hearted political structure can’t give them.

They want someone to see them…and to love them.

I think it’s one of the many basic desires of all humans.

We want to feel touched…figuratively and literally…by the power of Love.

How does Jesus answer that need…that deep ache…of the people?

He begins to teach them.

I started thinking about that line.

It strikes me that he wants to give them some real food for thought…something to ponder…something to redirect them…give them a type of mental medicine so they can cope with living inside a sick Roman system.

Jesus sits with them and teaches them about a new reality….one which surpasses the failures of human shepherds and points to a God who hears their cries and will not leave them behind to languish forever.

We can begin to imagine some of the lessons he wants to share with a people living within a loveless power structure.

Maybe he’s helping them learn how to adopt a new outlook…seeing themselves in a different way rather than focusing so much on the shortcomings of the system.

He’s probably going to talk of the importance of freeing themselves from getting trapped in a loop of hatred…and instead see their enemies as deeply wounded people who have misplaced their hurt into a need for power over others.

I’m guessing he might start by showing them ways to pray and ground themselves in their center so they can become part of the love revolution he’s starting.

I can imagine that Jesus begins to teach this crowd in the same way he’s taught the apostles: showing them that if they can trust and have faith in a God who is Love…they can begin to do for each other the amazing and life-giving act of loving their neighbors as themselves That includes …their kinfolk…the foreigners…their enemies…even the plants and animals.

Love all of creation in the same way that God does.

This is the lesson that Jesus continues to teach us today into the 21^st century.

That simple truth that if we profess that we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength…and if we understand and accept that God loves us at all times and in every way…then we have the power…the blessing…and truly…the commandment… to do the same for each other.

We must observe how God acts through Jesus acts… caring for the least and lowest…looking out for the stranger…and then participate in doing those same actions.

Those who have the responsibility to lead…the charge to be shepherds…must not hold themselves above the people but lead from that place of compassion and being with the people.

Because out of compassion flows justice, mercy, and righteousness.

When systems fail to serve the people…when leaders don’t lead and insist on perpetuating a nihilistic vision of hopelessness and despair…assigning blame to those that are easily “othered” …it’s time for us to go back to our center and visualize a bigger and brighter reality with God’s compassion and help.

What Jesus teaches us is that even when we are feeling the weight of the world’s woes, our job is to trust in a power that comes from a perfect love that casts out fear of doing a new thing…and not allow ourselves to stay stuck in old patterns…and prejudices.

If we have been baptized into the Body of Christ…we must now be the Body of Christ.

If we have been sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever…we have been given the power and permission and instruction to love each other…even when we may not like each other.

We’re to look out for the needs in our community and respond with that “I’m with you in this moment” compassion to the person who is hurting.

We can do this through words…and we can do it through actions.

Some of us march alongside those who are speaking up for justice.

Some of us make phone calls…send texts or messages of encouragement.

Some of us provide comfort through compassionate listening without attempting to “fix” or solve someone else’s problems.

All of us have the capability to do something. And when we need to rest…we can be assured God’s Spirit has got our back and will be with the world as we sleep.

The children of God who represent today’s crowds are looking for that compassion of someone who will see them…hear their lament without judgment or a counter argument…and show them the love when the systems fail.

This is what it means when we say, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

It’s up to us to hear that charge…and go.

In the name of our one Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Power Without Love is Deadly

 

All was well last Saturday afternoon in my corner of the planet. I was at a concert listening to some interesting and beautiful music, art songs with Sapphic themes. It was a real treat and a fitting reward, I thought, for having completed my sermon for the 8th Sunday After Pentecost. 

A bunch of us had gathered at a bar nearby to socialize after the concert. And, as it happens these days with cellphones, news began spreading from table to table that there had been a shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania that had injured the former president. 

It would be only a few hours later that I saw priest and preacher friends posting prayers for the nation. And then the inevitable panic: oh no! Change the sermon! Rewrite the sermon! Eleventh hour sermon rethink.

I pondered what I had planned to preach about and after finding an appropriate image found on Facebook to share, I decided I would go to bed and do whatever fixes I was going to do in the morning. 

And...after combing through my words again...I found that, aside from making the addition of one direct reference to the events of Saturday and a couple of other minor additions, everything I was planning to preach was still the same message I had written over the course of 48 hours earlier. 

Maybe it's because I have been feeling my minority status more and more keenly in this political season that I already had a figurative bead on what I think needs saying in these times of guns, killings, and increasing meanness in society: when power lacks a moral compass, it becomes deadly.

For me, and people like me, that moral compass is God and specifically, God in the body of Jesus Christ. But I think even the most hardcore atheist will agree with me that when there is no check on power, power will seek to devour everything and everyone around it. And that's not good.

Text: Mark 6: 14-29

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If you’ve ever read the Grimm Brothers fairytales…the actual German versions of those stories…they aren’t the way Walt Disney World would want to show them.

I remember reading Cinderella in my German class when I was a teenager…and getting shocked at the stepsisters chopping off their heels and toes and getting their eyes pecked out by birds when they tried to claim the glass slipper as their own.

The reason the Grimm Brothers wrote pretty grim tales was to teach children that… outside of the bubble of their hopefully-protective homes…the world is full of bad actors.

The events of yesterday afternoon with the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania confirms that we still live in a world with threats of violence.

And the reading from Mark’s Gospel also shows us the dangers that surround us in the world.

I’m guessing that you weren’t expecting to hear such a gruesome lesson this morning at the Gospel reading.

We’re used to stories where Jesus is doing some sort of teaching…or healing…or calming the chaos around him.

In fact…we’re used to Jesus being the central character.

But Jesus isn’t present here.

He’s not part of this scene at all.

And that’s just one of the many hallmarks of this particular Gospel lesson and why Mark has put this really perverse birthday party scene in the middle of his telling of the life of Jesus.

When Jesus isn’t around…women and men will do corrupt and horrible things.

To get a full appreciation of this…I’m going to remind us of where we left off last week…since these readings are going in order.

Last week…Jesus…after having suffered rejection in his own hometown…was sending out the disciples in pairs to do the work of healing and driving out demons and so forth.

He advised the twelve to travel light and not take any baggage with them.

Go to the people and places.

If they welcome you, stay.

These are homes that would trust the disciples…these itinerant strangers…and receive them and their message of Love and mercy.

If a place rejected them…move on.

No point in wasting time with those who aren’t interested in hearing about the Love of God.

Sending them in pairs was important.

Not only could this insure that there was the necessary witness to whatever great acts they were able to do.

It also meant that there was a buddy system in place…because things were not necessarily safe for those who dared to teach a message of good news for the poor, release for the captives, sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed (Luke 4:18).

To further illustrate what type of a world surrounded Jesus and the disciples…Mark gives us this story of John’s death…to show us what happened to the one who was preaching at the start of this Gospel a message “prepare the way” and “get right with God.”

This is a flashback.

I’m sorry we don’t have the appropriate sound effects to go with the Gospel reading.

Herod Antipas has been hearing about Jesus and is afraid that this is the ghost of John the Baptizer coming back to haunt him.

Who is this Herod Antipas?

Let’s start with he’s not really a “king” as Mark has said.

But he is one of the sons of this King Herod family…and is a tetrarch…meaning he rules a fourth of the kingdom.

Sort of like a mayor of a very large region.

The Herods…the whole lot of them…were not good Jews.

As Ched Myers notes…they followed Torah only when it was politically convenient to do so.

They were Roman puppet rulers…which is made clear with this illegal marriage of Herod to his niece and sister-in-law Herodias.

Herod dumped his first wife…who was an Arabian princess…and Herodias left Herod’s brother…Philip…who was both her husband and uncle…to marry Herod.

Did you catch that Herod’s new bride is his niece and sister-in-law…that Herodias was married to her other uncle?

This is how messed up this family is…and we haven’t even talked about the antics at the birthday party!

John the Baptizer…a guy who was not afraid to call out the authorities… has raised a ruckus about this marriage.

And for Herod…this is a problem.

He’s already committed a political faux pas by dismissing his first wife…who runs back to her father…the king of Nabatea…in a neighboring territory.

He knows that John has been gaining followers out at the Jordan…and now he fears that he might have the Nabateans joining with John’s crowd in a possible insurrection to avenge this hasty divorce.

Herod arrests John.

Maybe he thought that would shut him up.

Maybe this would appease Herodias…who also hates John.

Herod decides to throw a birthday banquet.

Some of the most powerful and prestigious muckity-mucks of Galilee have come together to party hearty with Herod.

Reclining at the table with him are the political…military…and governmental elites of this area of Roman control.

Herod’s stepdaughter performs a dance that enthralls Herod and his guests.

Some commentators suggest that this girl…probably about twelve years old…dances in a seductive way.  

This should start to make our skin crawl.

A drunken Herod makes a wild promise to her…one which Mark’s audience would hear as having echoes of their heroine Queen Esther:

“…half my kingdom for whatever you ask.”

But this little girl is no Queen Esther.

This girl runs to her mama for counsel.

Her mother demands the death of a beloved prophet sitting in a dungeon.

One might feel sorry for this child.

On the one hand…this girl has a lecherous incestuous stepdad…and on the other hand she has a bloodthirsty vengeful mother.

But she’s no little darling either.

Not only does she do her mama’s bidding… she adds her own depraved twist:

she wants the head of John the Baptist at once on a platter.

How low can these royals go?

The guard is sent off.

The execution happens.

The platter gets passed around like another course at this disturbing banquet.

Power…when absent from any moral checkpoints…becomes a really bloody mess.

That’s the purpose of Mark telling us this story.

Remember that Jesus is not anywhere near this scene.

This is a case where the “holy” is wholly absent.

When Love is not tempering the inclination of the human heart to seek its own self-satisfaction…power becomes corrupt…evil…and destructive.

A good lesson to keep in mind for us today in the 21^st century.

It’s also a reminder that those disciples…sent out two by two into the surrounding villages…were not entering places that were necessarily safe…because the ruling Empire was not safe.

Standing up for love…and bringing health, healing, and hope to people…will face opposition and sometimes even violent opposition from the bullies and tyrants of the world.

And yet…Jesus still says, “Go!”

Go…armed with love not weapons.

Go…without coercion.

Go…and speak of God’s grace and mercy.

Jesus is still saying to us, “Go!”

Go and hold fast to that truth of love.

We didn’t hear it this morning…but in some of the verses following this horrific scene with Herod and his gang…Jesus introduces a different feast.

A more amazing banquet.

With just two fish and five loaves of bread…he’ll feed five thousand people hungry for something good to eat.

Out of so little comes such and abundance…a marked contrast to the vile excesses of Herod’s party.

This Jesus feast is full of compassion…mercy…and the power of love.

That’s the party we’re invited to.

That is the food and drink offered to our souls…weary and worn out by the pressures of a world gone mad with guns and hate speech.

We are brought to this table to be reminded of our citizenship in Christ…and a love feast given freely to build us up for doing that work of liberating those who are suffering in our community.

May our hearts be ready to accept and receive this food and feast upon it richly.

In the name of our one Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

Mind Your Prejudice

Welcome back to me! I was out of town for Sunday, June 30th attending the wedding of my seminary friend, Sarah, to her bride Jen in Huntsville, Alabama. It was a HUGE event. Seriously: something close to 500 guests, a church so full that my wife and I had to sit in the chapel and watch the service on a big screen TV. It was fun...festive...and gave me a much needed break.

Back in the saddle...the Gospel reading had me go back in time to reflect upon some of my experiences as a gas station attendant. Interestingly, that's what most of the congregation wanted to talk to me about after the service. 

Hope they also heard the main message: I noted that the job gave me a chance to reflect upon prejudice....including my own. 

What do these words make you consider?

Text: Mark 6:1-13 

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Many of us probably remember what our summers were like during our high school years.

These were times of hanging out with friends…maybe taking some family vacations…possibly going to camp.

Or…if you were like me…you spent time working a summer job.

One of my jobs was working as a gas station attendant.

It was pretty easy…if a little bit boring work.

This was back in the days when only half of the pumps were self-service.

And…of course…the full-service island were those four pumps the furthest from the building.

I would get a lot of exercise running back and forth from the pumps to the cash register to ring up a person’s credit card.

And I was expected to wash the front and back windshields and if the person popped their hood…check their oil.

I was friendly with the customers…even a little playful.

I’d adopt different accents as I interacted with them….especially out-of-staters.

I would put on a genuine “New Hampshire” accent for people coming from outside of the region.

I didn’t want the South Carolinians to have passed through my home state without hearing at least one person advise them on where they could find the best “lobstah on tha Seacoast.”

I learned a lot about people doing that job.

Especially the way people perceive other people.

One day…this guy and a companion pulled in on their Harley.

He was a big guy with a shaved head…and a bushy mustache and goatee.

His sleeveless shirt under his black leather vest revealed arms that were covered with blue tattoos.

His friend was also decked out in black leather…and wore steel-toed boots.

I’m not going to lie:

they scared me.

I watched them carefully from my not-all-that-safe perch behind the counter.

When they came in…I could feel my spine stiffening.

The big burly tattooed guy smiled at me.

“Hey there!”

His voice was happy and joyful.

He and his friend were out for a ride on a sunny afternoon.

He wanted to know if we sold cigarettes.

We didn’t. We only had items for cars like oil and transmission fluid.

“No worries!” he said…handing over the money for his gas, “Have a great day!”

He and his friend roared out of our parking lot…

And I was left to examine my initial internal response of being so afraid of these two.

They weren’t scary after all.

That same afternoon…a car pulled up to the self-service pumps.

Out of the car stepped two nuns in their habits. As they pumped their gas…I saw a car pull up to the full-service island.

Out I ran to tend to those customers.

And then…as I started pumping their gas…another car pulled into the full-service area.

And….naturally…wherever two cars are gathered at a gas pump…a third car pulled into the full service lane.

Remember that I said I had to pump the gas…and wash windshields.

Thankfully…no one wanted their oil checked!

Meanwhile…the nuns had finished pumping their gas and were waiting for me.

I explained that I needed to run these first two credit cards and then I would be right with them.

“Well, we’ve been waiting!” snapped the one nun.

Now my spine stiffened again…but this time it was in anger.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” as I ran with my two clipboards and the credit cards back to the cars at the pumps.

I let car number three know that I would be back to them in a moment.

When I returned to the station…the nun who had snapped at me handed over her money for the gas.

I made the change.

The two of them turned and stormed out.

“Have a nice day!” I shouted as I prepared to go back to car number three.

They scoffed at me…got in the car…and drove off.

And again…I was left with something to ponder.

I had assumed that people who were outward representatives of the church…nuns…would have behaved in ways that modeled Christ.

I had thought two older white ladies would have seen that I was doing the best I could as the only attendant on duty.

I thought about these assumptions and the ones I had made of the leather-clad tattooed motorcycle man.

I had gotten things so wrong.

I had let my prejudices…both favorable and unfavorable…dictate what I thought about these people.

Our prejudices give us a warped idea of who people are.

I thought about all of this as I was reading through our Gospel lesson from Mark…and the type of reception Jesus received in his hometown.

Jesus returnedto his roots…to his family’s synagogue.

These are the people who knew him as a little boy.

They had seen him grow up and become a carpenter.

He probably built a few doorframes in the town.

But as they listened to his teaching…the way he was fitting the joints of his Judaism into a frame that challenged them to think…these folks got angry.

Their tone borders on contempt.

How dare he challenge them to look at themselves and their faith!

Who does he think he is anyway?!

What type of uppity laborer is this guy? Acting like a rabbi!

You would think that those who knew him best would’ve been more accepting or at least more excited by seeing and hearing what he had to offer.

But instead…they let their prejudices get in the way.

They know him….but they clearly don’t know him.

And because he doesn’t fit into their preconceived ideas of him…he’s unable to do any great works among them.

(Funny how that works…that when we close ourselves off…God isn’t able to work through us)

Their minds are closed…and their hearts are so fixed…that there’s no room for growth or expansion of their understanding.

This is a type of defense mechanism.

It’s a way to supposedly keep ourselves safe.

If we don’t entertain a new thought…or meet a new person…or explore a new way of doing things…then we can be safe.

We can continue to go about our business without something as troublesome as thinking or changing.

It reminds me of that bumper sticker: “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

But that’s really selling God short.

Because God isn’t that fixed.

Just look at what happens when Jesus shows up.

People who had been cast out are brought in.

The hemorrhaging woman…and the gravely ill daughter get healed….things that had become old are made new.

Jesus rattles us out of our comfort zone.

The Gospel reminds us of that lesson from Deuteronomy:

That God “executes justice for the orphan and the widow, loves the stranger, provides them with food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18) and that we are to do the same because…once upon a time…we were the strangers in a foreign land (Deut. 10:19).

We need to be open to people who aren’t just like us.

We must recognize that we have a responsibility to one another because God loves us and God shows no partiality.

We should be ready to have our minds blown…and our prejudices challenged.

Because…sometimes Jesus may be more recognizable in a leather vest and tattooed arms than in a blue dress and black nun’s habit.

Just when we think we know God…God is going to keep encouraging us to let go of our preconceived ideas as we keep journeying along this life-giving, liberating love that comes with being at one with God.

And it will come with a cost.

I can’t help but notice that when Jesus commissions his disciples to go out and do the same type of healing work he’s been doing…he sends them in pairs.

The New Testament scholar A.J. Levine suggests that this is something like a buddy system…or something like being a sponsor in a support group.

The pairing is a way of keeping each other honest and on track.

I also think Jesus knew the world he was sending them out into was going to be like his hometown.

They were going to face opposition…resistance to change.

But note that he doesn’t say, “Oh, well. Too much trouble. Let’s forget about this love stuff.”

Jesus says to them to go…without a bunch of things.

 Make the offer of love to each house.

If it’s accepted; fantastic. If not…move on.

That’s our charge, too.

Each week…we our fed at this table…and reminded of our connection to this Jesus who wasn’t afraid to meet the stranger with love.

If we want to be Christian…follow Jesus…we are challenged to walk in that same path.

Take that same risk.

Expand our thinking beyond whatever closed-loop silos we live in.

We’re to listen to the stories of others.

Get to know our neighbors.

Look for the Christ in the other person.

If we do just that… we might fulfill the promise to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

In the name of our one Holy and Undivided Trinity.