Fourth of July Weekend...reflecting on the nation....

 Sermon 7/2/22

Racing hotdogs

The 4th of July weekend found me once again back in Oakdale, Pennsylvania....here's my reflection for the day...

Here we are on the edge of the  4th of July.  In my aunt’s neighborhood last night  night there were periodic “unofficial” fireworks at different times throughout the night just as I'm sure back in my New York City  neighborhood there’s been fireworks all weekend..  

It’s an interesting time to celebrate our independence.  Russia is still waging war against  Ukraine, who are teaching us all something about the meaning of freedom.  Here in Pittsburgh, Russian and Ukrainian churches are neighbors, families intermarried. 

When I get home, I’ll be going to a ball game with my boys..and fireworks too. 

ballgame with the boys...

And here in Pittsburgh, well, the Pirates are……well….interesting. 

Go Buccos...raise the jolly roger...

Covid hasn’t gone away.  Some of us have gone  back to 2019. Some of us have never left peak 2020. And the rest of us are just trying to figure out what makes sense in 2022. At the PCUSA “hybrid’ General  Assembly, the newly elected co-moderator and my resource person came down with covid. We’re just  not sure….

We are ready to celebrate our independence at a time when our nation has never felt more divided since the Civil War.  The Supreme Court is radically redefining our understanding of freedom and rights and some of us are celebrating and others are grieving and people on both sides struggling to understand what democracy is. 

School shootings continue on a regular basis and in my city it’s now okay to openly  carry.   We are struggling this 4th of July. 

Meanwhile, back in the Bible land, Jesus is getting ready to send 72…why 72? We don’t really know…out on a mission.. What's clear is that he wants to get the word out. Everywhere.  Salvation is for everyone….And his instructions are worth taking a look at. 

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way.  So it says….

I kind of think of this as a song for a place where laborers are few.  And don’t we know what that’s like?  And believe me you are not alone. In New York City there are about 12000 presbyterians in 88 churches. Over half of them belong to 5 churches, the rest to 83 and over 40 of those have no pastor nor no near time possibility of getting one.  

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ….

He is sending them out two by two…kind of makes me think of the ark, you know? Seems like two is the lowest acceptable unit.  No lone rangers. You can’t do this alone. Makes me think of the Mormon mission volunteers...theology aside, I have to say I admire them. 

He tells us not to greet anyone,…must be a sense of urgency…don’t dawdle, don’t get stuck along the way. I’m guessing there’s an exception made for any down on their luck Samaritans who might pass this this way?

And he tells us that if we go out and are not welcomed, shake the dust off of  your feet and keep moving  on. I’ll say that again…in a passage left out of the lectionary he says.. ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’[c] 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. The sin of Sodom friends, was not homosexuality, but a radical denial of hospitality. Remember Hebrews 13:2 : Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Here’s the bottom line…Jesus doesn’t want us to keep beating our head against the wall….know when to shake the dust off and move on…and remember it’s not on us to call down judgment…just move on…judgment is God’s…

We are dependent on those we are sent to. That’s about meeting them where they are. Respecting them…it’s about relationships…Eat what’s set before you…don’t worry about the cleanliness and purity laws…(in Jesus’ day, that was seriously radical…) 

I had become a vegetarian when I went to Oklahoma,  Until my black pastor friend invited me to a barbecue…that was it..

When Jesus hears what they have been able to do, he tells them he saw Satan fall from heaven..I love that…but he tells them don’t be getting all excited about all the cool things you can do…be happy that you are allies with God….

The joy that Jesus feels is being able to sense, to see the dawning of a new kingdom., a new kindom….

And here’s one thing I want you to see…this fall of Satan is not an historic event or a future prediction…it is a reality every time we venture out…regardless of results, just going out itself is defeating Satan..and when you do succeed, rejoice only in the kingdom, never triumphalism…

Okay…so what am I saying here?  These are difficult times, Critical times. Times that demand a witness. We come here to be with each other, to be renewed, refreshed, restored after whatever we’ve been doing all week long…BUT we can’t stay here…we’ve got to take it out there..

This passage raises serious questions for us…like what us evangelism for us in this day and time, in this place? What is exactly is the harvest? Look around….the harvest is plentiful…the laborers few…

…and that’s okay…no matter how small in number we may be, Jesus is calling us out there…it’s not about numbers, it’s about faithfulness…we have a word that needs to be heard…

In Jesus first sermon, (Luke 4: 18-20)Jesus announced his own job description was this:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to set free those who are oppressed,

19 

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

…and so it is with us…it is enough for us to be like pebbles tossed into a pond where then ripples go out and out beyond what we might might even imagine..

Let those with ears to hear, hear….

Amen…..

And we ended by celebrating the Lord's Supper for the first time since I was there last August...

Gospel Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

1After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'

16"Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

17The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" 18He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

July 4th weekend: reflections on nation and church

7/7

Cara  joined the church today

It’s been hot. Very hot. The kind of heat where you walk around with a constant light layer of uncomfortable sweat, clothes sticking to you. Starting to get to people.

I’m disheartened to see all the doorways filled. Guys, it’s after 10. I need to get these doors open. Sunday morning. Church. You know? They begin to stir. I walk around the corner to go in the side door. And there’s Sean.

Sean....

I know, I know. Just help me, OK?

So  help him gather up his stuff. Help him into the wheelchair. Get his backpack on the back of the chair. Help him pick up his stray items. He’s thirsty. I get him a Red Bull. Soon he’s on his way. The yellow gloves will come later. 

I’m doing all the set up by myself again. Go down the street to get what I need for communion. Rob comes in to get the broom and dust pan. Cara’s now here. Strikes up a conversation. Done my share of sweeping myself, she says just like meditation....as Rob sweeps.

I’ve put on a day’s work by the time church is ready to start. We’ve got to figure this out. 

I start out playing Wade in the water with Marc. 

Wade in the water

Wade in the water 

Children wade, in the water

God's gonna trouble the water

Who's that young girl dressed in red

Wade in the water

Must be the children that Moses led

God's gonna trouble the water

[Chorus:]

Wade in the water, wade in the water children

Wade in the water,

God's gonna trouble the water

Who's that young girl dressed in white

Wade in the water

Must be the children of the Israelite

Oh, God's gonna trouble the water

[Chorus:]

Who's that young girl dressed in blue

Wade in the water

Must be the children that's coming through,

God's gonna trouble the water, yeah

[Chorus:]

You don't believe I've been redeemed,

Wade in the water

Just so the whole lake goes looking for me

God's gonna trouble the water

We sit in a circle. Share our prayers. Read our scriptures. 

As usual, there’s a lot to talk about. This is the weekend of July 4th. Usually a time for me to share a reflection on the nation. Reinhold Niebuhr (120th Street at Broadway is now named for him, he was many years at Union)  used to say we need to preach with the newspaper in one hand and Bible in the other. There’s plenty to attract our attention...countries in turmoil.. A tumultuous Middle East.. especially Egypt. Revelations about the ever increasing secret powers of the NSA. And out west, wildfires spreading like, well, wildfire....

But I’m drawn to two articles...One is from last Sunday’s New York Times Op Ed page, the gospel according to me....(http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/the-gospel-according-to-me/) It basically argues that our focus is now on well being, inwardness instead of meaning from some kind of collective project.

The unintended byproduct of the liberation movements of the 60s  -70s  was an increasing obsession with self defined by unbridled acquisitiveness, IE, you are what you possess.

It’s been 13 years since the publication of Bowling Alone  ... Since then we’ve seen a steady decline of social capital....break down of community.Of the sense of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone) That is who we are as followers of the Reformed tradition. 

And today, an article about class war in the skies..

(http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/class-struggle-in-the-sky/)...have you flown

anywhere lately? Noticed the difference between our side and the other side of the curtain? What used to be  luxury experience for everyone is now super luxury for a few, and bottom of the boat steerage class for the rest of us. (For a satiric look at this, see Pedro Almodovar’s I’m So Excited where all of the hordes in steerage have been drugged to manage the stress of economy class syndrome, something any of us who fly are familiar with.  

This is the context within which we look at the church. We seem to be in  a day and time where the church as we knew it is all but dead, as my pastor friend Elise and I were talking about it yesterday. 

Our Presbyterian churches tend to be small. Three-fourths (76 percent) have 200 or fewer members. The average, or mean, size of a Presbyterian church is 180 members. The median size is 89.Eight in ten (81 percent) have 250 or fewer members. More than half (54 percent) have 100 or fewer. (Data from PCUSA.org.)

Our scriptures today suggest some clues. In Luke 10:1-12, we find a strategy.

Jesus sends out 70. Two by two, no one can go alone. As Jesus says the harvest is plentiful, laborers few (don’t we know it)  and that we must ask The Lord for laborers...

What’s at work here is radical discipleship. What is it? The young adults say they’re not sure but they know it when they see it...

Back to Strategy:

The workers are sent out nearly without resources to show that you have to win the confidence of those you go out to so that they will support you. You are to  Remain in the house,.....where you have been received, not run about from place to place, home to home. If you have found a  genuinely compassionate person, that is a good place to begin As we know from organizing, you have to stay long enough to develop core leaders.

We are to eat what is before you, that is to be accepting of the culture and gifts of those we go out to. 

And when you are rejected, Shake  off the dust from your feet... meaning know when to leave, know when to stop beating your head against the wall.

(The lectionary creators carefully excluded verse 12 where Jesus says that for those who show no welcome, no hospitality, it will be worse for them than Sodom showing clearly Biblically, and especially for Jesus, the sin of Sodom was refusal to grant hospitality and abuse of strangers, absolutely NOT same sex love...Thus our old friend and prophet Howard Warren could rightly proclaim those who reject the lgbtq community to be the true Sodomites)

When the apostles come back with their stories of success, Jesus said he saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning, .....that means the  power  of Satan , the accuser...that internal voice of criticism that drags us down and prevents us from being who we are created to be is defeated once and for all. 

In Galatians 6: 1-16, we also find helpful counsel. When someone has broken faith with the community or fallen short, we are to act with gentle compassionate correction. And avoid being tempted. Meaning I suppose the temptation to condemn or think ourselves better than.

Or perhaps it is to avoid being taken under ourselves. I remember my summer intern years ago in Tulsa who felt he was called to minister to dancers in a strip club. When the owner of the club called me to say he was concerned about my intern, who seemed to have  fallen  in love, I told him he had to be clear which part of himself was responding to what call. 

We are to  bear one another's burdens BUT all must carry their own loads. If we each carry our own loads, helping one another will be no difficult task. I love community organizing at least in part because of its golden rule as per Sol Alinsky: never do for anyone what they can do for themselves. Not charity (doing for), ideology (thinking for) or advocacy (speaking for) but building a strong community, an organization capable of shifting and changing and adapting because it is built on sustainable relationships...

As Paul says, you reap what you sow. It took me awhile to figure out what Paul’s flesh talk was all about. It’s not our natural response of the senses but self absorption. Preoccupation with self.

We are called to work for the good of all, especially the family of faith.

On the one hand we need to be aware of and respond to needs we that perceive to be in the culture, like the need to feel  authentic and connected. BUT....I see us called to be a counterculture. One where we celebrate the  good of the whole, the beauty and value of relationship, community.

Of a God that actually demands something of us, of a faith practice that expects something and a membership that means something...more than vague self oriented spirituality. Someone says, but if you make it too hard, people won’t join. And I say, we don’t ask enough. People want to know that it is important to us, that it matters. that is where we will begin to begin again.  

Today our new Deacon John and new Elder Don assist in serving our communion.

Then Elder Leila presents Cara as one who has requested to become a member of the church. And we heartily welcome her. 

We sing the old hymn of welcome Blessed be the Tie that binds then finish with I’ve got peace like a river. Another good Sunday.

Then back into the heat. 

We will end the holiday weekend serving at the shelter at SPSA. Kate has a wonderful meal planned. My recipe for pulled pork.