"Teach Us How To Pray" a sermon on Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1-13
“Teach Us How To Pray”
Preached Sunday, July 21, 2022

“Teach Us How To Pray”

The question the disciples asked Jesus is one that has been asked over and over again through the centuries. “Teach us how to pray.” Much ink has been spilled over this question - who here has heard a sermon or read a book or was taught by a Sunday school teacher or done a Bible study on HOW to pray? Show of hands?

Now - how many of you have found some of the answers to that question helpful? Hands? Yeah, I have found some helpful. Now, how many have found some of the answers to this question to be downright unhelpful or even shame-inducing or harmful? I’ll keep my hand raised for that one too.

“Teach us how to pray.”

To ask this is very human of us. We want to talk to God - not only talk to God but talk in the best possible way. Whether to properly honor God or to ensure our prayers are answered or heard. I get the sense that sometimes we think that if we just had the right words, put them in the right order, asked the right way, had the right formula - then our prayers would be heard. That our prayers would be answered. And answered exactly how we want them answered.

The problem with this - and hear me out - is that there is no secret formula to prayer. There is no universal right away that will suddenly transcend our prayer time to that next level - or make God our own personal genie. Ask and you shall receive. But a lot of the answers to “teach us how to pray” do just this - try to give us the secret formula to make our prayers quote on quote “work.” And when they DON’T work like we want them to, we feel shame that we must be doing something wrong. Or maybe God doesn’t love us enough. Maybe we aren’t good enough.

This is wrong. And a tragedy. I have sat next to the beds of sick and dying people who have wondered, “Did I not want it enough? Did I not pray enough or not pray the right way? If I had prayed more earnestly, more faithfully, would I be cured?” And this thought process is the same for many people in many different scenarios. For women struggling with infertility, for high schoolers who didn’t get into the college of their choice, for couples whose marriages are falling apart…if only I had prayed more, prayed more faithfully, prayed in this way…my prayers would have been answered, would have worked…But that’s not how prayer works.

So too the formulas that are given for prayer can also cause shame or even a fear of praying wrong. When I was a young child I was taught a formula in Sunday School class. I can’t remember the teacher or the day or what the exact formula was or what was said. And there is a good chance that my young brain misheard or misunderstood. But for years in my childhood and beyond, I developed a fear that if I didn’t pray RIGHT then my prayers wouldn’t be heard. What I heard as a young kid was that if I didn’t ask for forgiveness for my sins BEFORE praying for intercessions then God would not hear my prayers. And this is just wrong. But as a child I got this image of a God who would turn a deaf ear to me if I didn’t first apologize for every wrong. The issue was, I was a kid. I barely knew or understood sin. And I was so worried that I would sin and not remember before I could ask for forgiveness. Or sin and not know that I had sinned and therefore couldn’t ask for forgiveness. And then when I really needed God or really needed my prayers answered, God would ignore me.

And now, decades later and as a theologically trained pastor, I know how ridiculous that sounds and I have such pity and kindness toward my childhood self, toward that inner child that is still within me that sometimes still rears her head, worried that she isn’t praying *right* and that God doesn't hear her. And while this is my own personal experience, I know from listening to others that experiences like this and fears of praying wrong and worries that God doesn’t hear them - these can be pretty universal experiences.

I read something this week that said trying to teach a human to pray the /right/ way is like an insomniac telling themselves over and over to just go to sleep. It doesn’t work.

“Teach us how to pray.”

While it is so human to ask that question there is also so much baggage wrapped up in the answers given.

Perhaps the best answer to that question goes back to the source. The answer that Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray.

“When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed by your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

You’ve probably never heard that before, right? Nah, I’m kidding. Of course you have heard it! It is Luke’s version of what we call The Lord’s Prayer - the one we generally pray in church is more similar to Matthew’s version but the bones are there, nonetheless. For 2,000 years this prayer has been on the hearts and lips of Christians above all other prayers. And for good reason.

One of the staying powers of this prayer is that it recognizes God as our Father, our divine parent. And we’ll circle back around to this.

The second thing about it is it recognizes our very real needs and dependence upon God. It is very real, tied to our daily realities, human. One theological commentator on this text said, “It does not require of us that we become anything we are not already. It is a deeply human kind of prayer. It is a prayer for human beings, that is, for creatures in need.”

Think about the asks of this prayer:

Give us
Forgive us
Lead us
Deliver us

At the heart of this prayer that Jesus taught us are our very real needs: physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Prayers for food, for forgiveness which is necessary for relationship, and for safety and security.
This prayer is human, based in being human. It reminds me of what the spiritual writer Anne Lammot says. That she has 3 basic prayers, the first of which is “help me, help me, help me!!” The other two are “thanks” and “wow.” In fact, I’d venture to say that most of our prayers are just this “Help me, help me, help me.” Give me. Forgive me. Lead me. Deliver me.

Said just like that without the flowery liturgical language that we’re used to in The Lord’s Prayer - sounds pretty…pushy right? Maybe even rude?

Remember to WHO this prayer is being directed. You might think it’s even more rude when we’re talking to God the King, the Lord, the Creator of the Universe! Like, maybe we need to add some more “please”s in there and more praises first. How we’d usually ask for things from those in positions higher than us - nicely. But remember - this prayer is directed to our heavenly father, our loving parent. Does anyone here have young kids or remember what it was like to have young kids? I saw a Facebook post this week that was like, “My friend asked me what it was like to be a mother to a toddler so I hid her keys, headbutted her in the face, and then told her I love her more than the stars.” As a mother of an almost 2 year old, this really resonated with me. And my daughter is still learning words but has NO problem conveying what she wants and asking for what she wants. At meal times she points to the section of her plate that the food she is out of was and just points and yells until we get the message. More cheese!!!! It’s always more cheese. But it’s okay for her to ask us this way. She is a kid, a toddler, this is how she asks. She has no concept of please and thank you and flowery language. All she knows is that she is totally and utterly dependent on us as her parents for her needs. And that we love her. And if she needs something, we supply it for her. She needs food, relationship, safety and security. As her loving parent, we strive to give that to her.

How much more does our loving heavenly parent hear our prayers? Jesus says as much himself:

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?
Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus also gives another example of prayer - of the friend who comes to the door in the middle of the night and asks the other friend for help but at first the friend is like “uh, my kids are sleeping here.” But when asked again, answers. Now, there are a lot of ancient understandings of hospitality that we don’t necessarily adhere to today at work in that passage - but, what I want to bring to our attention is in the prayer before - the Lord’s prayer and in the example after, giving a child what they did - Jesus is the divine, loving parent. So too is Jesus in that middle example. Yes, Jesus can be the one granting our request as a friend….but Jesus is also the parent, in bed with his children for the night, tucked in tight, safe, secure, and loved.

“Teach us how to pray.”

So many of the answers to this question are based on getting prayer to “work.” But God is not a vending machine in the sky where if we put in the right prayer in the right way we get exactly what we ask for.

“Teach us how to pray.”

Jesus’s answer to this question is: God is your divine parent who loves you. Like a child to their parents, you are totally dependent on God. God will give you what you need - and what we need above all else is the loving presence of God. Ask God, talk to God, pray to God - do so as a sign of dependence and love. God answers and hears our prayers. It’s not that prayer “works” and it’s not that our prayers are always answered how we want them to be - but God answers our prayers in that God is always with us, always listening to us, and always loving us.

And so today, we will join our voices with Christians across the centuries and pray as Jesus taught us to pray.

Amen.

"Some Things Never Change" a camp sermon on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“Somethings Never Change”
Preached Thursday, July 21st at Camp Asbury

So I wanted to start by introducing myself. My name is Allison and you can call me Pastor Allison. My mom was a camper at Camp Asbury and then my older brother and sister and I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to be a camper - so I was a camper for the first time at Camp for family camp when I was 5 years old and every summer between 5 years old and 18 years old - minus one - I was a camper here. And then I worked here for 3 years through college and volunteered here a couple summers after that. Now I’m an ordained minister in The United Methodist Church and I still love camp. I still consider camp like a second home.

From the time I started coming to camp to now, so much has changed and still some things haven’t changed. We’ll come back to this.

First, you all have been at camp a week now, longer if you are a counselor or staff member - so what things have changed from Sunday to today? Or what things have changed from staff training until now? (Ask/Respond to answers)

And what hasn’t changed? Either this week or since the start of the summer? (Ask/Respond to answers)

For me a lot has changed since I first came to camp. And you’d expect it to - literally 26 years later. There are some new buildings and improvements on existing buildings, the ropes course has expanded, the staff and director have changed, the mudslide - there is a different mudslide now than when I first started…lots of little things have changed. The world outside camp has changed in the last 20 some years, a lot…for better or worse. And I have certainly changed - I went from being a kid to a high schooler and college student…to me today, older - but not that old - a pastor, a wife, a mom…

And at the same time - some things haven’t changed. Lake Hibbard hasn’t changed. Asbury Lodge remains standing. And the cabins. I swear the cabins have never changed…but also the feeling that I get when I’m here…the feeling of God’s presence that I begin to sense a soon as I pull into the driveway and see Asbury lodge and see the hills, see Lake Hibbard, and see this space, Communion Hill, off in the distance. This hasn’t changed. Neither has the feelings of being closer to nature, the sense of a tight-knit community, and that deep feeling of God’s love. Of being on sacred and holy ground - do you ever feel that? Do you feel that right now? Go ahead and touch the ground. You are standing on sacred and holy ground. Some things have changed…but what hasn’t changed is the feeling that I get at camp. The feeling of being with God, the feeling of being home…

So I mentioned briefly that I’m a mom. I have a young daughter and she’s almost 2 years old and we just started watching some movies with her. So this past week we watched Frozen 2 - has anyone seen it? So the opening song in Frozen 2 is called “Somethings Never Change.”

Yes, some things never change
Like the feel of your hand in mine
Some things stay the same
Like how we get along just fine
Like an old stone wall that'll never fall
Some things are always true
Some things never change
Like how I'm holding on tight to you

Now on Sunday when you all arrived at camp and gathered for the Opening Campfire, you probably heard - if you were listening - a reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. I read it right before I started preaching too. “There is a time for everything” - remember that? “A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;” - that whole shindig? And one of the staff - was it Leslie? Anyway, one of the staff talked about the seasons and how God is in each one. Now, the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that this Scripture comes from is generally about how nothing on this earth lasts - and that’s kind of a depressing thought if taken just by itself. But the book of Ecclesisates says that nothing in this life lasts so we should enjoy it while we can, do the best we can while we can, and just…live our lives KNOWING that God is in it all. That our lives are a gift from God and God is in all of it. The God who created us, the God who created everything on earth and everything in the universe - that God is ALWAYS there.

Everything may change AND also, some things never change. Everything that is of God, that IS God, the love of God - that never changes.

And there are tons of Scripture in the Bible about this. Here are just a few:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
“The grass withers; the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” - (Isaiah 40:8)
“Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” - (Psalm 90:2)

And many more…and although it's not Scripture we can also say “Some things never change…like God’s love.” - Paraphrased and adapted from Frozen 2

God’s love never changes. And neither does this meal that we’re about to share, Holy Communion. The words said over it may slightly change and you may take it in different places or have different kinds of bread or different ways of taking the cup…but those are just the little things. The BIG thing that never changes is that God is always in this meal. Always.

Now, we can encounter God, run into God, experience God in all sorts of places. In church or at camp. At school or at home. In the woods. In the sunset. In Lake Hibbard. In other people like the friends we make at camp…God is everywhere so it makes sense that we can experience God everywhere.

AND, what makes this meal is special is, well, we’re not always looking for God in those other places. So we often miss God. But in this meal, we promise to show up and God promises to always show up - for the bread and cup to BE Jesus for us. God is always here, waiting for us to come forward, to take bread and juice, and realize that God is here with us.

No matter where we are, no matter what we’ve done, no matter what has happened in our lives since the last time we took Communion - no matter what - there is nothing we could do or nothing that could happen, for God to not be here with us in this meal.

Sometimes it may feel like everything changes….and it’s true, everything does change. There is a time for everything…but God and God’s infinite love for us NEVER changes. And we can always find it in this meal. So let us come and experience the never changing, always loving God in the bread and cup.

Cause some things never change…And God’s holding on tight to youuuuuu.

Amen.

"Christ In You" a sermon on Colossians 1:15-28

Colossians 1:15-28
“Christ In You”
Preached Sunday, July 17, 2022

The first 5 verses of our reading today are often called the “Christ Hymn.” It was thought that Paul pulled from a hymn that the early church sang about Jesus as he wrote the letter to the Colossians, drawing from what the church knew in order to make a point. I imagine it is how I often use hymns in sermons to drive home my points. Something about the sung word can resonate more deeply within us.

I will admit, I spent a little bit of time this week trying to match up the reading to a well-known hymn tune to see if I could present the Scripture that way and I am not very musically gifted and had to change the words around a little - I think they probably worked much better in the ancient Greek and however they would have sung it - but you heard that mash up today of the Scripture spoken and sung - not quite like it would have originally been sung, but a hymn nonetheless.

And indeed, like those early Christians, we too sing hymns. It is perhaps from our hymns, even more than sermons or Sunday school teachers, that we learn from to know who Jesus is. Again, there is something about the sung word over the spoken word that tugs deep on our heartstrings.

There are hymns that even pull directly from this Christ hymn from Colossians. The one that comes to my mind is Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. Join in if you know it -

“Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.”

This is a hymn about God’s nature and goes on to sing not only about the wisdom and everlasting-ness of God but of how all life comes through and is sustained by God - just like in the Christ hymn from our text today.

There are a lot of hymns out there about Jesus though, aren’t there.

There is the one we sang for our children’s moment today, “Jesus loves me this I know…” The message of that hymn is unmistakable. Jesus loves me, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves children, Jesus loves all.

Maybe another hymn you know from your childhood, What a Friend We Have in Jesus:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”

This hymn reminds us that Jesus is our friend and that we can always turn to him in prayer, to talk to him, to know he is there for us.

Of course, some of my favorite hymns about Jesus are Christmas hymns, like the second verse from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

“Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord; late in time, behold him come, offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel. Hark! The herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.”

I know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s one thing to SAY that Jesus is God incarnate, God with-us - it’s another thing to sing it, to belt it out at Christmas time with such beautiful lyrics.

And, of course, there are so many hymns about Christ’s death on a cross, about his grief and suffering. About the immense love that God had for us that put him on that cross in the first place. We sing about it in many hymns, including What Wondrous Love Is This:

“What wondrous Love Is This, O My Soul, O my Soul, what wondrous love is this, oh my Soul, what wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse, for my soul?”

Okay - one more - cause we can’t say how we sing about Jesus’s death and not also say how we sing about his resurrection! His defeat over the grave! The joy and celebration and hope and promise that gives us! Like the Easter favorite, “He Lives.”

“I serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today; I know that he is living, whatever foes may say, I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he’s always near. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today, he walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way, he lives, he lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.”

Okay - did I miss any? I know I did, there are a lot out there. What are some of your favorite hymns about Jesus?

As we know very well, hymns have a special place in our hearts. Or worship songs. Or, music in general. We know that our brains actually learn better from music and music and our memories are tied up together. It’s why I can’t remember what I ate for lunch yesterday but I can sing songs from my childhood without even thinking. I did not think I still had that much Backstreet Boys in my brain until I listened to the throwback playlist and realized I somehow still know every word! It’s because our brains - and our hearts and souls just react to music in a different way, a deeper way.

And so it is no wonder that the early church, like even the super early church, already had songs about Jesus, songs about their faith - especially in a world that didn’t have the Gospels. They didn’t have the New Testament - they had the letters Paul wrote to them - like literally this letter from Colossians - but not much else! It’s no wonder the earliest disciples turned to music to teach about Christ.

Paul pulls from this hymn on who Jesus is to drive his point home to this early church community. And WHO is Jesus, according to this early hymn?

Christ is the image of the invisible God
The firstborn of all creation
ALL things were created through him
He is above all things - even thrones, dominions, rulers or powers
He is the one who holds all things together
Christ is the head of the Church
He is the firstborn of the dead - the first resurrected
All of God is within him
And he is the one who will bring peace, starting with the blood of the cross

These early Christians, if this hymn is any tell, they knew who Christ was. What Paul is doing here is reminding them of who Christ is to drive home a point about who THEY are in light of that. This awesome God that you just sang about? He has reconciled you to him! That it doesn't matter that you were once estranged and doing evil deeds, Christ has reconciled YOU so that you may stand holy and blameless before God.

Paul goes on to say: “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of his mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

“The riches of the glory of his mystery…which is Christ IN YOU.” This God, Christ Jesus who we just sang about - the image of the invisible God - that God, Jesus, IS IN YOU.

What does that mean? Let’s get theological for a moment. There is something in theology that we call the imago dei. And that means “the image of God.” It partly comes from Genesis where God says, “Let us make humankind in our image.” And it is the belief, not that our physical forms look like God, but that there is something innate within humanity that reflects the Divine Creator. The Breath of Life that God breathed inside of us, our capacity for love and goodness, our ability to know and love God, our souls. This is the imago dei in us. In the Church or more evangelical circles, we often hear language about Christ being or living in our hearts - and that is certainly part of what it means for Christ to be in you - but the imago dei, the image of God inside each of us, is also something that is is inherent in all of us. That is there without us ever having to do a thing.

So stick with me here: Do you believe that you are made in the image of God? Do you believe that God is within you? That Christ, the image of the invisible God, is IN you?

When you examine yourself, when you look in the mirror - who do you see staring back at you?

There’s a common picture, many of you may have seen it or something like it - but it’s of a cute little adorable kitten looking in the mirror but the reflection is a majestic lion. And if you’ve ever had a cat you know that’s how they see themselves. But my question to you today is - like the cat who sees more than what’s on the surface - when you look at yourself - do you see the amazing and loving God we sing about reflected back through you?

I have a good friend who quite literally does not see herself as she is in the mirror - and not in a good way. From a very young age she has had body dysmorphia. She grew up in an abusive home and as a child was told horrible things about herself - and when she looked in the mirror she didn’t see herself as she was, she didn’t see herself as God saw her, the power of Christ within her, she saw herself as the lies of her abusive parent would have her believe. Those negative words that were drilled into her changed her reality so much, that she was driven to do harm to her body through an eating disorder. I do want to say that my friend has sought mental health care in the form of therapy and medication and strives to have a much better and healthier relationship with her body and herself today. And I have permission to share this part of her story.

But maybe some of us here today can relate more to what my friend saw in the mirror than what God wants us to see in ourselves and others - and that’s the image of God. Especially for those who struggle with mental health, we may believe lies about ourselves. That we’re not good enough, that we’ll never measure up, that we’re less than, that we don’t deserve life or love. But whether we struggle with mental illness or not, there are plenty of lies that we’re sold about ourselves. Our world wants us to look in the mirror and see ourselves as less than we are. We may see ourselves by our gender or our skin color or our salary or our political party or by our job titles or our place in our families…

If the words others say about us, or even the words we say about ourselves, have the power to shape how we see ourselves - for better or worse - my question to us is, can the words we say about Jesus - or even, the words we sing about Jesus, can those words also change how we see ourselves and others, knowing deeply, that Christ is IN US, Christ who is the image of the invisible God - that image of God is imprinted in who we are, who we were created to be.

And when we start to see Christ within ourselves - others will see Christ within us too. Because when we see the God who created the whole world within us, the God who loves the whole world within us, the God who redeems and reconciles the whole world within us…we begin to love the whole world too. We begin to be forces for redemption and reconciliation for the whole world too. And we begin to see not just Christ in me but Christ in us and Christ in you and Christ in all.

So let us continue to sing songs about Christ and his love for us. Songs about Christ and his love for all. And maybe, just maybe, if words that are sung sink a little deeper into our hearts - then we will truly live and love like Christ. To see his immense love in us - and spilling out of us.

Let us sing about God’s love for us and about God’s love for others.

We’re going to sing one more time what we sang during our children’s moment - Jesus loves me and then Jesus loves you and then Jesus loves all - are you ready?

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves you,
Yes, Jesus loves all,
The Bible tells me so.

Let those words really and deeply resonate within us - until we truly begin to see the image of God in ourselves and in others, the image of the invisible God, Christ, in us.

Amen.

"Am I Right? Or Am I Right?" a sermon on Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37
“Am I Right? Or Am I Right?”
Preached Sunday, July 10, 2022 

Have you ever met someone who thinks they are just 100 percent RIGHT about everything? Show of hands? Yeah…any chance any of you are that person sometimes too? Show of hands…I’ll keep mine up.

I have a friend who, in her own words, “grew up in a family that prizes being right and correct about EVERYTHING. To the point where, as a gag gift, [she] got [her] mom a personalized blanket that says ‘Dear Mom, you were right. Love, Sarah’” And it’s her mom’s favorite gift EVER. My friend says that everyone who visits the house is shown the blanket.

And as the blanket is a prized possession, we certainly live in a world that prizes being right. And I don’t think that’s necessarily anything new - we’ve seen it play out throughout history. And this morning I’m thinking of our Gospel reading and the lawyer - also my apologies to lawyers in our congregation this morning - I swear this isn’t a personal attack - but a lawyer comes to Jesus and asks him a question. But the lawyer isn’t coming to Jesus with a question because he wants to know the answer. The lawyer is coming to Jesus because he wants to justify himself and to prove that he is right. Our reading starts, “Just then a lawyer stood up to TEST Jesus.” And he asks him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus then said to him, truly in a fashion I think lawyers could appreciate, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answers a question with a question - in true Jesus fashion. The lawyer answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus says, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

Now, two things here: Note that Jesus doesn’t technically fully answer the lawyer’s question, the lawyer asked about “eternal” life and Jesus just answered “you will live.” And I’d love to dive deeper into that…BUT that’s another sermon for another day. The thing I want to focus on is the second thing…The text then says, “But wanting to justify himself…” and he asks Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?”

Wait, what, are you catching this? The lawyer came to test Jesus and Jesus tells him "you're right" but he's so concerned with being right, or being more right than Jesus, that he asks another question to justify himself.

Have you ever been in an argument with someone and you actually AGREE with them but you’ve been arguing for so long that you still keep on arguing even though you are in agreement? It sounds absurd, right? But we do it ALL THE TIME.

I actually think of how there is middle ground in a lot of issues in our world but we tend to go scorched earth, all or nothing. Just look at the hot button issues of our times. Those who are pro-choice and most of those who are pro-life both both agree that medical intervention in the form of abortion is needed when the mother’s life is in danger, such as cases like ectopic pregnancies and beyond. WE AGREE. But we just…shout over each other, draw lines in the sand, my side, your side - and on this point that we AGREE on, with our arguments and scorched earth policies, our instance on no gray areas, we make it harder for women to get life-saving procedures - procedures that most of us, on either side, actually agree they should be able to get.

A colleague, friend, and father recently shared that he got into a conversation with a mother about gun control in the school pick-up line. Because, of course as parents they have concern for their kids’ safety: The mother said she would be for background checks and bans on assault riffles but “those democrats” want to take away all the guns. Give an inch, take a mile. My friend said something like, “We actually agree. And most people aren’t for taking your grandpa’s hunting rifles, but we agree, we’ve gotta do something.” However, the woman didn’t seem to believe him. If we’re constantly told “This is what WE think and this is what THEY think” it can be hard to accept that there is more common ground than we’ve generally been led to believe.

On more light hearted, smaller stakes scale arguments, I know I’ve been in an argument with my husband before where the argument devolves into “I AGREE WITH YOU” And then the other goes “SO WHY ARE WE FIGHTING?” And the other goes, “I DON’T KNOW!” Anyone done that one? I know for a fact we’ve had this argument before…multiple times. But looking back I can’t remember what we were even arguing about. I asked Zach and he definitely agrees we’ve had this argument but he couldn’t remember over what either. He thinks probably over the new Star Wars movies. But that’s besides the point.

“Why are we arguing?” indeed. And I may have shouted back “I DON’T KNOW” to my husband - but deep down, I do know. It’s not about the subject of the argument. It’s about being right. Being right above everything else, including love.

We talked last week about not growing weary of doing what is right - Paul’s exhortation to us from the closing of the letter to the Galatians. Through Paul we defined doing right as fulfilling the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? It’s the lawyer’s answer from today’s Gospel reading: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” But doing right and being right aren’t the same thing. Doing right is doing love. Being right, insisting on being right, and prizing being right above all else actually leads to a lack of doing right - a lack of love. Sadly being right often trumps doing right, trumps love.

To love God and love neighbor as self, doing right, is way more important than BEING right. Except that's not how our world tends to work.. Just look at Facebook arguments, shouting past each other, talking heads on the news, my way or the highway mentalities, complete lack of compromise, not listening to people who have different views - or only a shallow listening to we can correct them as soon as its our turn to speak - you get the point. We all live it on an almost daily basis. Our world prizes being right.

But we are called be LOVE above being RIGHT.

So I would like to daydream with you today: What would it look like if we showed love over being right? Perhaps it would look like sworn enemies helping one another, caring for one another, even saving one another like in the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told in our reading. To briefly shed more light on this story, make no mistake that the Jewish man in the ditch and the Samarian were sworn enemies. There was an intense history and present of ongoing fighting, pain and violence between their communities. If the Samaritan wanted to be RIGHT in their ongoing conflict, maybe he too would have left the man, robbed him, beat him up more. But the Good Samaritan chose love over being right. And love makes way for new opportunities. When we show love over being right ,opportunities for healing and new relationships are brought forth. And we too are called to put love of God and love of neighbor over arguments and being right - even with sworn enemies.

My spiritual director shared with me this week that she sometimes defines love as showing radical attentiveness and I haven’t been able to shake that. Love as radical attentiveness. To be radically attentive to God and radically attentive to neighbor means listening to God and our neighbors - and maybe even God’s voice through our neighbors - listening with curiosity and open hearts and love - to build relationships with our neighbors across all kinds of dividing lines - including lines of “I’m right and you’re wrong.”

Love as radical attentiveness to God and neighbor means that we have to admit that it's not our way or the highway. It means we need to be more humble; to leave ourselves open to the possibility that we may not always be right! (Shocking, I know!)

Humbling ourselves to listen and love also comes with the reminder that minds aren't changed through arguments and facts and debates. They simply aren’t. Minds and hearts are changed by relationships and listening and love. So maybe it’s time we stopped insisting on how right we are. And started showing people how loving we are.

And to put aside being right, to humble ourselves, to listen with open hearts - to admit that we may be wrong…these are scary things! They take courage. It's easier to be certain that we are RIGHT and to let that overtake everything else. It takes bravery to listen, to be open to change, to build radical relationships with people who don't think like you, like us.

This isn't to say that the truth doesn't matter, I don’t want you to hear me saying that today. The Truth does matter. And it matters even more in our world of lies and disinformation and bias. And as Christians we called to be people of Truth, of the Gospel Truth. Jesus said HE is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. And that’s the Gospel Truth. Jesus is the Gospel Truth. That God so loved the world, that God took on flesh in the form of a babe, to be God with us. The Gospel Truth is that God IS LOVE. The Gospel Truth is that we are to love God and neighbor as self. We are called to be people of the Gospel Truth and that is, we are called to be people of Love.

So maybe it's time we focused less on BEING right and instead started DOING right - and what is doing right? It’s the lawyer’s answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” To which Jesus replies, “You have given the right answer. Do this and you shall live.”

Friends, let us DO right, let us live love - so that others will know we are Christians - not by all our right answers, right doctrine, right opinions, right belief - but that others will know we are Christians by our love.

Amen.

"Whenever Opportunity Strikes" a sermon on Galatians 6:1-16

Galatians 6:1-16
“Whenever Opportunity Strikes”
Preached Sunday, July 3, 2022

What are some things that are easier said than done?

Keeping your house clean, getting into a workout routine, seeking out mental or physical healthcare, raising children, training a dog not to bark, eating 7 servings of fruit and vegetables in a day, voting, turning your ripened bananas into banana bread… What else is easier said than done? (Shout it out?) Honestly, we could go on and on - because there are waaay more things easier said than done than easier done than said. We can say almost anything - following through with our actions is the hard part.

In this week’s reading from Galatians, Paul is saying a lot of easier said than done things. These are the last verses in the letter to the Galatians and Paul is summarizing all the points he has already made in his letter to them, a church and community steeped in conflict and division. And truly, there are many good exhortations here and fodder for at least half a dozen sermons. But my preaching professor told us, make sure you’re only preaching ONE sermon at once. So the easier said than done exhortation that stood out to me from this week’s Scripture was this:

“So let us not grow weary in doing what is right…”

Let’s start with defining “what is right” in this context - doing what is right according to Paul is fulfilling the law of Christ. Now what is the law of Christ? To quote Christ himself: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Concretely, pulling from our reading this morning, this looks like bearing one another’s burdens; sowing to the Spirit - which again, what does that mean? Galatians 5:22-23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” So sowing seeds for more love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in this world.

So, re-cap: We fulfill the law of Christ when we bear one another’s burdens, sow to the Spirit, and work for the good of all.

And Paul says, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right…”

But friends, lately I have been feeling a little weary...even after a week off. Because not growing weary of doing what is right is easier said than done - it can seem so hard to do what is right as an individual when the powers-that-be seem stacked against you. The week's news has weighed heavy on me: fear and worry for the health and safety of women and children; loss of hope for the environment and the world we are passing on to future generations; and a world without gun violence seeming further out of reach. Every headline has just...added to the weariness. Added to the mountain that it seems you have to climb to do the right thing. Sometimes I just want to put my hands in the air, throw in the towel, call it quits. I'd be lying if I said my google searches from this week didn't include “Methodist jobs in UK” - speaking of “easier said than done” - moving or immigrating. But those google searches are nothing but escapist fantasies and we have to deal with the reality of the world we live in.

And I get the sense that many of you can relate, that you too are feeling weary - it may be some of the same headlines I’ve referred to or different ones, it may be particular situations going on in your life…I know that many of you are feeling weary of doing the right thing too.

And yet, and yet…the exhortation from Paul to the Galatians and to us is: Let us not grow weary of doing what is right…

It reminds me of a couple lines from one of my favorite books and one of my favorite movies..and then one quote from a politician who will remain unnamed so it’s not written off due to party bias.

From, The Fellowship of the Ring:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

And then from Frozen 2:
“Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing
I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath, this next step
This next choice is one that I can make
So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing”

Then, the unnamed politician:
“So while we can’t change the world in a day, we CAN and do have the power to make our own world within our four walls, or our own blocks. We can grow from there with the faith that somewhere out there, everywhere, others are doing the same. And we will come together. That’s why, if you’re a parent, how you parent matters. If you’re a neighbor, how you are a neighbor matters….Ultimately, we live in this world and in this time. We have no choice but to engage in it while we’re here. Even running away is a form of engagement. So will your engagement hurt or heal? Build or bring down? There is no neutral choice, so we can at least do our best to make good ones and learn and do better the next day. You are allowed to be scared. To grieve. To be angry. But you are also allowed to create good, to be soft, and enjoy the small reprieves.”

All of these quotes from our modern day and culture help us understand and better live out an exhortation from 2,000 years ago to not grow weary in doing what is right.

We do not get to choose the times we live in. But we do get to choose how to live in them. We can choose, over and over again, to do the next right thing. It may not always be a big world changing right next thing, but in our own worlds, our own lives, our own communities and relationships, we always have the choice to choose the right thing, to choose love, to love God and to love neighbor. The exhortation to not grow weary is not telling us that we should feel guilty for the times the world seems like it’s too much - it’s a call to care for ourselves so we don’t burn-out (or to care for ourselves so we can recover from burnout), it’s an encouragement to us that even when everything seems stacked against us, even when the world and the times we live in seem like they’re just too much - we can’t stop trying. Trying to do the right thing - to love God and to love neighbor as self.

Indeed, Paul continues in his closing in his letter to the Galatians: “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.”

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said this in his commentary on this verse:
“Therefore as we have opportunity—At whatever time or place, and in whatever manner we can. The opportunity in general is our lifetime; but there are also many particular opportunities. Satan is quickened in doing hurt, by the shortness of the time… By the same consideration let us be quickened in doing good. Let us do good—In every possible kind, and in every possible degree. Unto all men—neighbours or strangers, good or evil, friends or enemies. But especially to them who are of the household of faith. For all believers are but one family.”


It reminds me of the most famous quote attributed to John Wesley:
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

There will always be opportunities to do the right thing. There will always be cause to do all the good we can. Indeed, we can’t choose the times we live in - but we can choose to do what is right, to love God and to love neighbor, and to do good at every turn, in every way, and to everyone we can.

So my friends, do not grow weary of loving God, of loving neighbor, of doing good, of trying and trying and trying to do the next right thing. For Christ is with us. And we know that together, through Christ, when we collectively seek to love God and love neighbor, we can sow seeds of the Spirit, until the world reflects the love of Christ.

Amen.