2/14
"Monkey Cup" cabana in the snow
After two warm days, the cold has come back. Snow is falling. I enjoy seeing Monkey Cup Cafe'a Venezuelan cabana in the snow. And I meet the people of Good Shepherd Faith once more for virtual worship....here is my reflection...
We’ve got quite a convergence here this morning. Today is the great American midwinter celebration of football, appetizers and friends, Super Bowl Sunday. We’re also deep into the Olympics. And tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.
As for the Super Bowl, without my hometown Steelers, I have no dog in that fight, as they say. Although that same factor makes rooting for the Bengals not an option. Maybe the Lions because their quarterback Matt Stafford, had to labor for so many fruitless years in Detroit. To be honest with you, the only jersey I feel comfortable wearing is Colin Kaepernick’s. As someone said recently, Aaron Rogers lies and gets named Most Valuable Player. Colin Kaepernick told the truth and lost his job. Fact: until Friday, in a league with 70% black players, there was only one black coach, Mike Tomlin, in Pittsburgh, now joined by Lovie Smith with Houston.
One more fun fact: in 1990, the youth group of the Spring Valley Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina was reminded by their then seminary intern that as we celebrate with our abundance, many don’t even have a bowl of soup to eat. The youth group responded by starting the Souper Bowl of Caring, selling soup and collecting dollars in soup bowls. The idea spread like wild fire and since then over 170 million dollars has been raised by churches in all 50 states. (I’m happy that for many years, West Park was one of them.)
The Olympics, as always, have been a wonderful celebration, although this morning’s Times sadly reports the experiences of antiAsian hate experienced by so many of the athletes, especially women, here in the US. Especially Eileen Gu, who chose to ski for China instead of the US, berated by Tucker Carlson and Will Cain on FOX for “betraying her country.”For me the only connection between the Super Bowl and Olympics is that a Super Bowl without the Patriots or Tom Brady to root against is like the Olympics without the Soviet Union…just not as much fun.
So what is Jesus up to today? He’s just finished putting his band together and has been drawing big crowds. Today he’s preaching his sermon on the mount, or is it the plain? Or is it like many preachers, he just used the same basic material twice? When you are there by Capernaum, at the Mount of the Beatitudes, they say that he either preached from the top of the hill facing down , or at the bottom facing up. Either way, same place.
What’s critical is the difference between the Luke and Matthew version of this sermon. Matthew tends to be more nuanced, poor…in spirit..hunger and thirst... for righteousness. The first part of Matthew’s sermon is all third person, blessed are they…
Luke is more direct…it’s all blessed are you…and it’s just poor, just hungry, hated, reviled, excluded… and Luke does something Matthew does not…he adds a series of curses…yes curses…the word woe is supposed to be the sound made by condemned souls from eternal damnation. In Greek, Jesus is basically saying damn you who are rich, who are full, who are laughing , who all speak well of.
And you might say Blessed are you when Tucker Carlson calls you out.
It doesn’t get more direct than that. No nuance there. An echo of Mary’s Magnificat. And Jesus’ first hometown sermon.
It’s good to remember that Jesus was talking to his disciples who had left everything, jobs, homes, families…to follow him. Many in the crowd came from the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the excluded. And Jesus tells them to leap for joy.
Thomas Merton reminded us that when we have nothing, we are most reliant on God. Perhaps we appreciate God more. Our connection to God no longer clouded by distractions. I’ve come to begin to understand that joy is as important as hope in our faith journey. Who can forget Archbishop Tutu, may he rest in peace, and that radiant world lighting smile of his, even in the darkest days of apartheid? Or the joy of African American gospel music?
As I listen to Jesus’ sermon today, here’s what I think…
- We need to be creative like that Presbyterian youth group and find ways to turn excess into largesse.
- We need to pay attention when brothers and sisters are excluded or reviled by racist language or acts of hatred and stand with them.
- Not all of us have Valentines. But all of us who bear the name of Christian have love within us to share, especially for those named explicitly by Jesus. Like the song says, they will know we are Christians by our love.
Those of us of a certain age may remember these words sung by Simon and Garfunkel…
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
Blessed is the lamb whose blood flows
Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
I got no place to go
I've walked around Soho for the last night or so
Ah, but it doesn't matter, no
Blessed is the land and the kingdom
Blessed is the man whose soul belongs to
Blessed are the meth drinkers, pot sellers, illusion dwellers
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
My words trickle down
From a wound that I have no intention to heal
Blessed are the stained glass, window pane glass
Blessed is the church service, makes me nervous
Blessed are the penny rookers, cheap hookers, groovy lookers
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
I, I have tended my own garden much too long
So let’s get out of our own gardens…
As they say in my neighborhood, be blessed and Let us be a blessing…
Amen
In the after conversation, people spoke of the importance of recognizing how much we have, ir abundance. When we spoke of our trouble with "the woes," I said that for me they are not so much a promised future punishment as they are the current reality of separation from brothers and sisters, and the true richness of life...we had the joy if a 102 year old member in worship with us,,, and so on to the Super Bowl....
Gospel Luke 6:17-26
17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
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