NO LONGER STRANGERS

A SERMON FOR THE CHARTERING OF PEACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

EPHESIANS 2:12-22

TED W. LAND, PASTOR
First Presbyterian Church of Arcadia

No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home…
"My Shepherd Will Supply My Need"
#172 - The Presbyterian Hymnal

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Ephesians 2:19-22

It would have been easy to have focused on the first part of our scripture today. We’re chartering, organizing, a Presbyterian Church called Peace. And Jesus Christ is indeed our peace. He has made peace, and reconciled us to God through the cross. And that is the message that this church called Peace is chartered, organized, designed to proclaim. Peace to those who are near, and peace to those who are far off. The peace that passes all understanding.

But that would have been too obvious, too easy.

Instead, let’s think about what it means to be “no more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Let’s think about what it means to become citizens with the saints, members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

I remember once when we were all strangers, all guests. Polly, Bob and Ardis, and I, we were there, present, at the first gathering of the saints who would become Peace Church. It was a cold night in January, and we met in the library at the Out of Door Academy, and Chris Curvin, then associate pastor at Church of the Palms, led worship, and John Ferriera, their Director of Music, played the keyboard, and several of the choir members from Church of the Palms sang. And we were all strangers and aliens one to another. Some of us were interested members of Presbytery; some were members at Church of the Palms or Sarasota First. Some were people who saw the notice in the newspaper, or a sign on the corner. Some of you may still be here this afternoon. Some of those folks we’ve never seen again.

For some people, things happened too fast. For others, they happened too slowly.

Patience and passion have to come together in equal measures to start a new church. And sadly, those with the passion sometimes lack the patience, and those with the patience, the passion.

You were once all strangers and aliens, visitors and guests, you who have signed the roll as charter members of Peace Presbyterian Church. You are now citizens with the saints! You are members of the household of God! You are no longer in that limbo that exists when you are a New Church Development. You’re official! You can have elders, and deacons if you want them, and a pastor, and even a parish associate. That “almost a church” status that you’ve both enjoyed and suffered under has come to an end. You are a church! You are indeed a household of God!

I’ve mentioned a few of the saints, the apostles and prophets who were a part of that beginning. I won’t dare to attempt to list them all. They were too many, too varied. There was a steering committee that plotted a course, and a search committee, that found Elizabeth Deibert, and there was the Presbytery Committee, that has changed its name twice during the time this church has been developing, and there was a property acquisition committee.

I’ve lost track of how many pieces of real estate were considered as a future home for Peace Church. It is important to have that piece of real estate. But that doesn’t tell you where Peace Church is. Peace Church is wherever its members are, individually and corporately

When someone asks you where your church is, tell them it is wherever you are! Peace Church cannot be confined or defined by a building!

You’ve already built one building, you know! That’s right! It isn’t a house of worship. It isn’t a place of fellowship and learning. Well, maybe it is, because a lot of fellowship and a lot of learning took place when the team from Peace built Mr. McIver’s house in the little DeSoto County community of Hull. This church truthfully was building itself as they built that house. And someday, maybe using some of the things you learned, you will build a house of worship. I know that all of us look forward to that day when we will meet again to dedicate the building in which Peace Church will worship and gather for fellowship and for Christian Education, and from which you will go out into the community to serve. I’m planning on being there!

But recognize and realize: you will not be dedicating a church when you do that. You will be dedicating a building. You are the church! You are that which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone.

Now the word we translate here as cornerstone, well, we don’t have a word or a concept in our architecture that corresponds to the concept in Biblical times.

Perhaps you’ve heard the scripture, and the legend, about the stone that the builders rejected, the one that came from the quarry when they were building the temple in Jerusalem, It had one arm that went like this, and one that when like that, and a third arm sticking out to the side. It wasn’t like the symmetrical keystone that holds together a Roman arch. It wasn’t like the square, solid, cubical stone that we put in the corner of our buildings. But in the rather primitive architecture of the Israelites, “the head of the corner” was what held the walls of the temple together, and odd-shaped though it was, it was essential to keep things together.

You who were strangers and aliens, visitors and guests, have been bound together by the one who is the cornerstone into a church called Peace.

As the Avery and Marsh song of a few years back said,

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus all around the world! Yes, we’re the church together!

The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

We’re many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces, all colors and all ages, from all times and places.

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together!

Today, you become Peace Presbyterian Church. It is Jesus Himself who joins you together, and who allows you, empowers you, to grow into a holy temple of the Lord. You are thus built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Peace Church, God dwells within you! God dwells in you hearts, in your minds, in your souls, in your lives. His peace is your peace.

You are no longer strangers. You are now a church.

And to Jesus Christ, the head of the church, the cornerstone who joins us together, be the glory, the power, the dominion and the praise, in the church and in the world, now and forever more. Amen.

Traveling Light

Mark 10:17-31
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Emily called while she was traveling through Europe in August. She said, “Mom, I hope you don’t mind but I had to unload some things because I was traveling by bus, train and plane, and my luggage was just too heavy for me to get around. So I got rid of some of my clothes, and you know that computer bag of yours that I borrowed, your portfolio, it was really nice to have it, Mom, but I found I could simplify and it was much easier to get from one place to the next without that extra bag.” Why did I think it was a good idea to give her my portfolio for this trip?

I suppose because I needed to learn a lesson and so did she about the value of traveling light. You know how foreigners can pick out an American in any airport? By the size of our luggage. By the stuff we drag around with us on trips and in life.

We know we got ourselves into this mess of an economy by over-consumption, by being too enamored with possessions. The average us home in the 1950's was about a thousand square feet of space. People thought nothing of having one bathroom and of kids sharing bedrooms. The average home size of our day is pushing close to 2500 square feet. While the size of the family has shrunk, our homes are two and a half times larger. In 1950 there were no storage unit companies at all. Now there are 45,000 companies with 2 billion square feet filled with things we cannot fit into our larger homes, but cannot part with either. In 1950 only 60% of American households owned a car. Among the our households with cars today, the highest percentage of us have three or more vehicles. 35% of car owners have at least three cars in a household.

And we are pressured to keep up with all the latest gadgets. Of course we cannot turn back the clock, and we wouldn’t want to do either. To return to some of the attitudes of the 1950's would not be good. It would be quite an adjustment to live without the conveniences of computers, cell phones, color tvs, digital cameras, and microwaves.

But here’s the good news, we are beginning to slow down our use of plastic cards to pay for what we cannot afford. Consumer credit has dropped 118 billion since it peaked in July 2008.

Well enough statistics. It’s time to hear the story of the rich man who lives according to the commandments but is told by Jesus that he lacks one thing – he has not given enough away to the poor. He has too many possessions.

NRS Mark 10:17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" 20 He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" 27 Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God
all things are possible." 28 Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." 29 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age-- houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions-- and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

Okay, this story packs a punch. Yes, we are all wealthy by the world’s standards. We have far more than we need. But rather than dwelling on the guilt and the bad news, instead of trying to wiggle out of this text by thinking of someone who is richer and more extravagant than us, let’s look for the good news in this passage.

The first bit of good news is that Jesus loved the rich man. Before he ever tells him, “Sell your stuff. Give more to the poor", our scripture tells us, Jesus loved him. He loved him enough to know that it was in his best interest to get rid of his abundance, to learn to let go, to be happy with less. After all, it is not going with us when we die. Someone is going to have to sort through your stuff. Someone is going to laugh about the things I kept and wonder why. Jesus loved the man and knew he would be freer to be the person God intended him to be if he was liberated from his possessions and able to be a blessing to others. It’s Love calling us to simplify, calling us to a responsive stewardship.

You know most people see stewardship conversation as heavy, the giving of money to the church as a difficult topic to address. Many pastors avoid talking about it. They wait until early November and preach the obligatory stewardship sermon. But we forget that learning generosity frees people, helps them to be happier. That book by Richard Foster which a group of you studied over the summer was called “The Freedom of Simplicity.” Freedom, liberation .

I remember a single mother who was an early founder of the Immanuel Presbyterian new church in Montgomery, Alabama. She worked for one of the phone companies and gave to the penny an exact tithe -- 10% from every paycheck. If her paycheck was $1997.82, the church would receive a check in the offering plate for $199.78. She set an example for Richard and me in our early adulthood because she acted out of principle, without regard to circumstances and she was willing to talk about it. “This is what God asks me to do. I do it and trust that God will bless me.” And God did. She lived comfortably and with great stability.

So the first piece of good news is that it is because God loves you that God asks you to give more away.

The second piece of good news from this passage is that when the rich man goes away sad because he has so many possessions and Jesus says, “It’s hard for rich people to enter God’s kingdom – harder than a camel to get through the eye of the needle.” And the disciples, “Who can be saved then?” Jesus offers good news. With you it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

It is possible to change, friends, with God’s help. Little by little, we can make big changes. Just like with losing weight or learning to exercise or building prayer and worship into our lives, we can build responsive stewardship. Figure out what your unnecessary items are and cut them out, little by little. We Deiberts hardly ever buy bottled water or soft drinks, unless we’re out somewhere, and cannot wait until we get home. The portions of meat we eat are fairly small. We’re working to buy less processed food and more fresh – much cheaper and healthier. New clothes –rarely. Look at these shoes! I could have replaced them a year ago with justification, but they are still working. Only the kids really need new clothes, when they outgrow them. Eating out – only occasionally and I always order water unless it is a special occasion, with wine. New items for the home? Don’t really need them, need to get rid of some of the knick-knacks we have. Living with the British taught us that unless something is terribly old and dysfunctional, there’s no need to replace, just for aesthetic reasons. There’s lots of free or inexpensive entertainment. Some repairs can wait.

Let’s look at a pie chart which represents the typical spending of a US household. One-third of the pie is discretionary. Ideally, a third of that third would pledged to God, a third is put into savings, and a third remains to cover college tuition or extra medical bills or a fun vacation. If you cannot run a marathon, it doesn’t mean you don’t exercise at all. If you have to clean the whole house, you do it a room at a time or a task at a time.

So it is with disciplined spending and benevolent giving. Responsive stewardship is we call it at Peace. You decide what matters and you commit to it. You decide to give a half tithe (5%) and stick with it. Start at some percentage. Don’t just give as you can. That requires no trust in God. Write the check every time you get a check. Or if you have investments, think about an starting endowment or giving a gift of stock. Some people give a tithe of their estate to the church in their death, a wonderful thing to do. Some give more. In a recession, life may feel less secure, but the principle stands. The more wealthy we are, the harder we will have simplifying to the point that we can really live the life God intends for us.

But it really is God’s money, not mine. So there should be no agonizing over how much money I have left to give. We agonize in the store whether to we really need those shoes. We agonize over vacations. Those are optional. We shop less because desires decrease when we’re not looking. When Richard first lost his job, I thought to myself, we have to adjust our pledge to the church. But we were nudged by the Spirit to just keep giving at the same level, not to make a quick decision, and then we got some help to make it through this time. Thanks be to God.

With God, all things are possible, even big camels going through eyes of needles. In this journey of life, this path of grace, (image) leading us toward an eternity with God, we learn to let go and trust.

The third piece of good news in this text is the promise to the disciples, who have given up so much – family, careers – for the sake of the gospel, Jesus promises that they will receive
a hundred times in return for their sacrifice both now and in eternity. Those of you who at Peace have given up lots of time and no small amount of money to get this church started, can you not see the blessing of it now multiplied.

Who would have thought that a group of six around a kitchen table in 2003 would be 135 people officially forming a church next week. Who would have thought we’d have a ten member children’s choir and a twenty member adult choir for the charter. When Peace started we had two young children and now there are fourteen. Even more amazing is that we now have an active youth fellowship with fourteen youth.

Who would have thought that a small church like Peace, learning to survive, would be the largest percentage giver in the whole presbytery? There are several churches that give a half tithe back to presbytery, but we more because we know what gifts to presbytery mean. We have benefitted from those gifts. We would not be here, apart from those gifts. With God all things are possible.

And so we are the newest church, a small but growing church with no building yet but with a big heart, giving away 20-25% of our budget because we know Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and then all the other things will be added to us.

With God all things are possible. So let us travel light through this life and give generously as the Lord asks of us, and we will discover life eternal, the peace that the world cannot give.

Making Peace

James 3:13-18
World Communion Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert

The very first “World Communion Sunday” was held in 1933 at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a church later served by our own Morgan Roberts, now pastor emeritus there. By 1936, the first Sunday in October was celebrated as World Wide Communion Sunday in Presbyterian Churches across the United States and overseas. After a few years, the idea spread beyond the Presbyterian Church. When we all share the Meal where Christ is our Host, we are connected in ways that go beyond our theological differences. We transcend boundaries of geography and language and culture. Whatever might divide us is dissolved on World Communion Sunday.

Of course for those of us who celebrate communion weekly, world communion Sunday is in one sense an every week experience. We are united with all Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglican/Episcopalians, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, and a few Presbyterians who come to the table weekly. Nonetheless, a Sunday to focus on our worldwide unity and peace is a good goal. It was 1980 that we Presbyterians added the Peacemaking Offering to World Communion Sunday.

Paul Detterman, pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Louisville, that like us, celebrates the eucharist weekly says, “There can be no doubt that coming to the Table changes us and our relationships. This intentionally constant reminder of our God-hunger sharpens our desire to be God’s people, deflates the self-importance of the self-impressed, and promises shalom to those who come beaten up or beaten down. When we realize that these loving actions of the merciful God are enacted around the globe every Lord’s Day (and multiple times every day in between), our prayer for the coming of God’s kingdom takes on deeper and more urgent meaning. By its very nature, communion is a crumb of God’s grace dispensed in a cosmic event. Every trip we make to the Table not only signifies for us the formation of a sacramental community among brothers and sisters at that Table, but reminds us that the same grace-based community extends to every other believer on the planet, marking for each of us the passage of the world’s time and the approach of God’s eternity.” (Paul E. Detterman)

This bring us to our text of the day, a scripture that I saved for this day. James 3 showed up in the lectionary a couple of weeks ago, but it seemed most appropriate for Peacemaking Sunday, World Communion Sunday. This scripture calls us to be the harvest of righteousness, to be Christ’s body building peace in the world.

At our all day elder training meeting yesterday, several of us discussed the meaning of a phrase from The Brief Statement of Faith, “In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.” We reflected on the contentious, polarized nature of our culture. Everybody is choosing sides, and the opposing sides are vitriolic toward each other. The question was raised, “How do we challenge friends, who invite us into those bitter and ugly debates?” How do we say, as Sue Seiter, put it, “No thanks. Don’t want to play those games.”

James 3 helps us with the wisdom we need.

NRS James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

I went to visit my mother for her 83rd birthday. My mom and I are very close, and I knew the best gift I could give her was two days of my time. So I worked extra hard over the last week or two to make time for this trip. I was functioning on about 5 hours of sleep when I arrived there Wednesday. So as the afternoon worn on, I found my brother especially irritating. He was picking a fight with me over baptism issues. You see, in my family, most of the fights are about religion and politics. It was a dumb argument over the mode of baptism. I don’t have a problem with people being immersed, poured over, or sprinkled. I don’t have a problem with baptism occurring at any age, as long as it is handled in an age-appropriate way. But I have a problem with brothers who pick fights. He pulled my sister in too. I started to lose my temper in this petty little dispute, so I took a walk, and started thinking about these words from James, which I had read on the airplane:

And the wisdom from above is pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Peaceable, gentle, willing to yield means that I don’t take the baptism argument baiting. God’s not calling me to come the defense of the Presbyterians and all who sprinkle. There is a way to converse which does not require bickering and argumentation. You would not know it by watching the news channels. Our culture seems to thrive on talking heads shouting at one another, trying desperately to get the last word.

And the wisdom from above is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits and without a trace of hypocrisy.

How many arguments can be stopped by one person interrupting with the gentle words, “You are right about that. I see your point.” But there is so little civility any more. Who is willing to yield?

Have I told you about Faye Carter, mother of my childhood friend Marsha? Faye is one of the gentlest people I know, but she is no doormat. She was an outstanding school teacher, and when Faye gently in her soft but very firm voice let you know you were out of line, all kids knew it was time to straighten up and follow instructions.

Gentle and kind. Gentle and firm. Gentle and clear. Think of all the world’s conflict and how much of it comes from a lack of gentleness. It comes from the negative words in our text: from selfish ambition, bitter envy, boastful attitudes, and lying – being false to the truth. When is ambition wrong? When it becomes self-centered, when it forgets the humanity of the other person. We celebrate the ambitious and powerful, but the word ambition only shows up three times in scripture, two of them in this passage where it is coupled with the negative modifier, selfish. The disciples of Jesus demonstrate selfish ambition in Mark 10 when they argue over who’s the greatest. They compete for who will be on the left and right of Jesus, but Jesus says, “The greatest is the servant of all, the last one. "

James teaches us that where there’s bitter envy and selfish ambition, there will be disorder and wickedness of every kind. Those two vices are two sides of the same coin. Envy is wanting what someone else has. Selfish ambition is pursuing one’s one agenda at any cost to others. Why did our economy collapse? Envy and selfish ambition. Why are there wars and rumors of wars throughout all generations? Bitter envy and selfish ambition.

But a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. Peace begins in the soul of every person. Peace begins with knowing that you are loved, forgiven, and well-supplied by God. Peace begins with a gentleness toward yourself, which then extends to others. It begins with knowing our own boundaries and not over-extending, over-taxing our own emotional, physical, and material resources, so we can be in our best state of mind. It means being attuned
to God’s Spirit speaking to you throughout the day, so that peace is flowing like a river, and joy like a fountain, and love like an ocean.

As we teach in Peace in the Park, it’s peace for me, then peace for us, then peace for everyone and the whole planet. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Our mission statement calls us to build a community of peace. With God’s help and our effort, this is doable. But it starts with us and our attitudes.

With whom do you need to make peace? Which one of those right side words on the screen do you need to work toward? Which one of those left side words do you need to release, to purge from your life?

Now I’m going to invite you to join with one or two other people and pray aloud for that need in yourself. There is power when two or three are gathered in prayer together. There is power in shared confession. Think for a moment about your need, and then join hands with someone and pray “God help me overcome my bitter envy of those who have more than I have...or whatever. God, help me to grow in gentleness. Help me God to be peaceable with my spouse, my co-worker, my child, my friend whose political emails disturb me.” Simple, humble prayers. No need for eloquence or wordiness. Just pray a simple prayer in twos or threes and then we will stand and sing together the prayer for peace attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

Providence Prevails - The Story of Esther

The Story of Esther
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

About six weeks ago, we read the story of Daniel, a hero from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, whose courageous faith empowered the Jewish faith in difficult times. Like Daniel, Esther is the story of a great heroine, whose courage kept the Jews alive in dangerous times.

Just as we did with the story of Daniel, we will read from the Children’s Everyday Bible, though in the case of this story, I added a crucial piece of the story that this Bible story book left out. It is great that we can hear the whole story, without reading ten long chapters of scripture, which would keep us here for a couple of extra hours. So children of God, young and old, I say to you, “Lend me your ears” and your eyes, so we can together, as one family of faith, hear this grand story of how God saved the Jews from horrible Haman, the Hitler of his day. The story of Esther can teach us that in difficult and dangerous times, we can find the courage to stand up for the dignity and protection of people, believing that God’s providence will prevail.

The story of Esther:

King Xerxes was the powerful ruler of the Persian empire. He was used to having his own way, especially in his own household. One day, he called for his wife, Queen Vashti. She was busy and refused to come. King Xerxes was furious and banished her forever from his presence. The king decided to find a new queen, so he rounded up all the suitable young women in the land. They gathered in the palace for the king to make his choice. Esther was an orphan from a Jewish family. She was gentle and kind, as well as beautiful. As soon as the king saw Esther, he decided to make her his new queen.

Esther was excited but also very nervous. She knew that, if she did wrong, she would be punished like Queen Vashti. Esther kept secret the fact that she was a Jew. This was probably good, because the king's chief minister, a man named Haman, hated the Jewish people. Haman especially hated Mordecai, Esther's cousin because every time Haman passed by, Mordecai refused to bow to him. Mordecai, as a good Jew, knew he should only bow to God.

Haman hatched an evil plot to murder every Jew in the empire. He went to see King Xerxes. "Your Majesty," he said, "I know of some trouble makers who always disobey your laws. They are the Jews. If you let me set a date to kill them all, I promise you a vast sum of money." The king agreed to this wicked plan.

Esther's cousin Mordecai worked at the palace. When he heard about Haman's plot, he sent a message to Esther. "Beg the king to save the lives of the Jewish people," he urged. Esther knew this would be a dangerous thing to do. She sent word back to her cousin. "It is against the law to go to the king uninvited," she said. "The punishment is death!" "If you don't go, you will die anyway, because you are a Jew," replied Mordecai. "Perhaps it was God's will for you to become queen, so you could rescue his people." So Esther pushed aside her fears and went to visit the king.

To Esther's great relief King Xerxes was pleased to see her. "What can I do for you?" He asked. "I would like to invite you and Haman to a banquet tomorrow," replied Esther nervously. Haman was delighted to be invited. He felt more important than ever.

Meanwhile, the king could not sleep that night, so he called Haman and asked him, "What should I do to honor someone who saved my life?" Haman, thinking he was the one, told the king he should dress that person in fine robes and let him ride the king's horse in front of all the people. So King Xerxes, much to Haman's shock and disgust, said, "Do those things to Mordecai, because he saved my life."

The next day Haman came to dinner with Queen Esther and King Xerxes. While they were eating, Esther finally dared to speak out. "There is a man who is plotting to kill my family and all my people," she said quietly. "Who is this scoundrel?!" Asked the king. Esther pointed across the table at Haman. The king exploded with rage. "He shall pay for this with his own life!" He cried.

Esther had saved her people from a terrible tragedy. (The Word of the Lord...)

They won the lottery. God’s people did. As the full story goes, Haman had cast lots to determine which day he would exterminate the Jewish people. Purim, a word that means “lots” is the Jewish celebration in February or March each year, of the deliverance of God’s people from the evil plot of Haman. As exiles in Persia and many other places, the Jews, needed to believe in the power of their God to overrule the bad luck of the dice. The book of Esther took the matter further: even when the dice had fallen, the Lord was powerful enough to reverse the bad, in order to deliver God’s people. (Joyce Baldwin)

The Book of Esther encourages us to see, like the Jewish people in the fifth century BC, the evidence of God working out our circumstances to the good, that even those events which seem to happen by luck or by chance come to by the providing hand of God. The fact that the real narrative of Esther does not mention the name of God has been seen as a problem by some people, but others say that it demonstrates the power of God at work, even in the ambiguities of life.

“The power of providence is our tentative belief in God at the outset of life-threatening events, when there is no clarity, not clear word or direction from God.” (Soards et al)

When you look at your life – do you see coincidence or providence? Can you speak of coincidence in such a way that it includes the providence of God? Some of us are programmed in our brains to see things more spiritually than others, but all of us can cultivate the ability to see our lives as well-nurtured by God.

On the other hand, if we work at it, we can deny the existence of God by finding events, which to our human eye and heart, appear random and unkind, thereby leaving us with the horrible predicament of choosing between an uninvolved God or an uncaring God. There are a number of atheists writing books these days, trying to prove the absence of God. They pit faith versus reason, but as Karen Armstrong points out in her new book, The Case for God, faith and reason are not mutually exclusive. Atheists take the fundamentalist notion of God and make that God look ridiculous but there are plenty of us Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, who believe in a God very different from the God the atheists are trying to debunk. These atheists are leading people away from faith as easily as Haman led King Xerxes to think that the Jews should be killed.

We have a story to tell about a God, who works quietly in the coincidences of life, providing for us, and indeed caring for all of creation. We believe that providence prevails even when bad things happen to good people. When families like the Craigs and the Browns have a rough year with untimely deaths and accidents we can still affirm that God is bringing good. God is comforting. God is providing. When folks like Jo Allison, Jill, Richard, Chris, Tom, Barbie, Robin, just to name a few at Peace, have a bad luck with employment, we can still know that God is providing, and that good things – like extra time with family, extra time for reading, extra time for church are the unexpected blessings God is providing.

We Presbyterians are firm believers in the sovereignty of God. That is perhaps THE central theme of the Reformed Tradition – that we have not been left to chance, but “that Almighty God possesses the wisdom, the will, and the way to transform the bad luck of our suffering into joy.” (Richard Deibert) That not even death, the final enemy, gets the last word. Life, Resurrection life, does.

So when the storms and the evil plots of others get you down, look for the prevailing providence of God and listen for the groggers drowning out the death-dealing wishes of folks like Haman, whose lust for power demonizes them.

Ring those groggers against all whose lust for power would keep oppressed people silent and fearful. Ring those groggers against all whose lust for power would stand in the way of a fruitful dialogue about healthcare reform. Ring the groggers against nuclear weapons, which in any country are a threat to all countries. Ring those groggers against all who would keep any system or practice in place, which denies people the dignity God intends them to have. Ring the groggers and know that God has a plan to restore battered and bruised humanity because God is always especially concerned for those on the underside of life. Ring the groggers against all that is mean in this world and know that the providence of God will prevail.

Let us pray:
O God, make us wise and courageous like Mordecai and Esther, so that we may speak to powerful people like Xerxes and undermine the those who would threaten or harm others, people like Haman. Make us peacemakers, who dare to speak out about injustice. Give us faith to believe that, even in the darkest moments, your providence will prevail against all that destroys us, against all that leads us to despair.

True Greatness = Nurturing Service

Mark 9:30-37
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Every Sunday Jean Smith goes to eat lunch with my mom and brother. Every Christmas morning when I was growing up, when the family was just rising to enjoy Christmas breakfast and gift-giving, usually still in our pajamas, Jean would walk in uninvited but expected. She’d demand that we pose for every possible grouping of people while she snapped pictures. When we would see her in church on Sundays, she would hug us, not letting go. She’d beg us to come visit her. If we visited her, she would plead with us not to leave. If there was threat of a thunder storm, she would call, hoping to spend the night with us, even though we always said “no”.

The Faison Presbyterian Church has been Jean’s family for more than sixty years. Jean turned 80 recently and lives now in an ALF, so she’s not free to arrive unexpectedly anymore. But every Sunday she worships there and has her favorite meal of the week with my mom and brother. Being a friend to Jean is rarely a rewarding experience. She is a bottomless pit of neediness. Whatever you do is not enough. She is a difficult, childlike, self-absorbed person. My mother complains a lot about Jean, but in her sixty years of service to Jean’s need for love, she’s taught me about the greatness of humble service to the vulnerable. That’s what Jesus was trying to teach the disciples in our story from Mark.

Hear the word of the Lord:

On the way to Jerusalem, the place of his death, Jesus tells his disciples. “I am going to die.” Most human beings are not very adept at handling messages like that. Most change the subject or make insensitive comments, denying the pain of the one who said it. Jesus is graphic but they don’t understand. He says he’s going to be betrayed and killed, and raised from the dead. But the disciples are clueless and don’t even seem to have the inclination to figure out what in the world he’s talking about.

On to Capernaum they go, that’s lower Galilee, and on with regular life – jockeying for positions of importance. The disciples arguing over who is greatest are no different from middle schoolers choosing where to sit in the lunchroom and who to talk to on the way home from school. It’s all about the power of popularity. No different than high schoolers comparing their grades or flauting their physical prowess. They are no different from pastors comparing how many people they have in worship, teachers comparing their class’ test scores with other teachers, business people comparing net gains in their company’s value, and parents comparing their children’s excellence in extra-curricular activities. We all want to know how we measure up against others. Who is the greatest?

Magazines and websites are filled with the people we consider the greatest in sports and entertainment. They are there for a season, then replaced by another star. And while we idolize these stars, we seem just as interested in exposing their weaknesses as in admiring their strength. And Jesus says, “What are you talking about?” And we say, “Oh nothing” but we spend all kinds of time competing for greatness, and watching other flaunt their greatness. Have I said
how much I hate the chest-pounding arrogance of college and professional athletes? We spend hours measuring the greatness of celebrities with our pop idol votes and reality shows when we should be thinking of the greatness of people like Jeremy Gilley, whom Tricia told us about in the children’s sermon. We should be studying scripture, praying, and working to build in ourselves a compassionate, serving spirit. We should practice that service with those closest to us, as well as those far away.

Human beings are naturally competitive but Jesus wants to challenge us to think about greatness in different ways. The greatest is the loser, the last one, the one who serves the others best. These are not just the underdogs who rise to the top like the unranked Washington beating USC and the unattractive Susan Broyles with her amazing voice. No, the last and the servants do not necessarily ever get the attention of a Mother Teresa for their efforts. The greatest is the one who welcomes and embraces the weak ones, the ones who cannot move a person up to higher places on the power ladder.

Children rarely lived to age five in Jesus’ day. They were seen as vulnerable and expendable. They were last of all in social standing. They were not outcast, but almost non-persons. Until they reached adulthood, quite a feat when there were not antibiotics, they were not worth much. But Jesus shocked his twelve male disciples by saying that greatness is in welcoming children, the ones they might naturally ignore. Whoever welcomes these insignificant little people, welcomes me, and not just me, but the one who sent me. This reminds us of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. There Jesus says when we feed the hungry and visit the prisoner we do it to him. Greatness is serving those whom nobody deems worthy of our time and energy.

I think it is great that we have a dad serving as nursery coordinator and that he added the senior high boys to the rota. At Peace we can make a difference by teaching teens that greatness is in serving others, not in being served. We can make a tremendous difference in the lives of children and youth by taking them seriously and building authentic relationships with them, as we already are doing. By modeling humble service.

In Richard’s season of unemployment, he has taken over every area of service in our household from cleaning to cooking to laundry to assisting the kids with their schedules, all this while picking up more church work as a volunteer. I realized this week I was beginning to take him for granted. I was beginning to have an attitude, thinking that I, the busier one, was more important than he who was supporting me in everything. And just when I needed it, this scripture knocked me into my place. How could I be so blind, so ungrateful?

Whether we are using power to establish our own value or measuring other people by values of power, Jesus is challenging us to live in a new way. True greatness is not the use of power for anything except humble, nurturing service. “True greatness is to be like Jesus, a truly powerful person, who knew that his value was in doing the will of God and demonstrating the love of God, a lowly path to the cross. He is a king, but wearing a crown of thorns. He is the Christ, but broken on the cross.” (William Loader) He feeds us with his broken body and transforms us in his lowly, weak yet great, mysterious power.

When Jesus says the greatest position is to be the slave (9:35; 10:43,44), that is a shocking contrast to both his and our way of thinking. The use of the Greek word ‘diakonos’ as well as ‘doulos’, both words for slaves, helps us to see that the focus is not just the status of ‘slave’, but also the function of ‘serving’. Greatness is choosing to be a loving and serving person toward marginal people, people whom the world denies. Mark 10:45 makes that clear: ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many’. (Loader)

I want to close with a story of a truly great man. He was in a hurry at the doctor’s office one day. The nurse noticed the older gentleman man was agitated. When she came to take his blood, she asked him if he was okay. He said, “Oh, I’m fine. I just need to make it on time to my daily appointment.” She said, ‘What’s that?” He said, “My wife has Alzheimer’s and I have lunch with her every day.” When the nurse inquired about the Alzheimer’s she learned that the man’s wife has no idea who he is. So she said to him, “Sir, if she doesn’t know you, why do you worry about getting there on time?” He said, “I go to take care of her. She may not know who I am, but I know who she is, and that’s all that matters.”

Oh that we all would live as servants like that, serving because it is the right thing, serving because it is the loving thing, serving because we want to shape our lives in the pattern of the sacrificial servant love of Jesus Christ our Lord, who says to every creature in the world, “You may not who I am, but I know who you are, and I’ll be there to take care of you every day, whether you know it or not.”

Begging for Help

Mark 7:24-37
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

“Help me. Please. Please help.” One thing we learn as we grow up is not to beg wrong to beg for help. It irritates parents and teachers and friends. So we learn to be self-sufficient or at least appear so. That’s good, but it has a bad side. We have people with serious mental illness who find it very difficult to say “I need help. I’m suicidal today.” We have people raising children, who reach the end of their rope, and losing control, they damage young innocents’ lives, because they were afraid to admit to anyone they needed help. We have folks addicted to alcohol or internet porn or prescription drugs, who need help, but who wants to beg for help? Nobody. Nobody really wants to say, “I’m desperate over here. I’m hurting. My life is a mess.” When we’re having financial difficulties or marriage trouble, we often go to great lengths to pretend otherwise, so no one will think we less of us.

Perhaps we even become self-sufficient in our relationship with God. “Dear God, please help my sick child, if it be your will.” That’s a little different from the psalmist who says, “I cry aloud to God...My soul refuses to be comforted...Give ear to my prayer, O God. Do not hide yourself from my supplication. My heart is in anguish within me.”

Perhaps our discomfort with miracle stories is our disgust at the thought of admitting to anyone even God that any of us are as desperate as those who approached Jesus. Just because we don’t talk about our daughters being possessed by demons does not mean that we don’t know something about mental illness.

Just because we don’t necessarily have speech and hearing trouble like the man who was brought to Jesus doesn’t mean that we don’t know about disabilities. If you live long enough, you will know dis-ability. Dis-ability in memory. Disability in physical activity. Dis-ability in hearing and sight and even taste and smell. We lose it all, if we live long enough. We lose even our awareness of how much we have lost. But we are in denial about that. Watch the tv advertisements which are most of them trying to talk you into spending money to feel younger or look younger or seem younger, so you can forget your dis-abilities.

Hear now two stories about people who were honestly struggling with life and how Jesus, despite his desire to have some personal space from the crowds, was moved by their expression of need, their pleading for help. We don’t like to think that we should have to impress our needs upon Jesus, but in this story, we see that being honest, even to the point of pushiness, was part of the healing process.

NRS Mark 7:24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.
26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

I used to feel sorry for this woman. After all, it looks like Jesus is really insulting her. But I don’t feel so terribly sorry for her anymore. Instead I’m proud of her. She stood up against culture in her humble self-assertion. I might have just backed off, after getting reminded of my place in society. I might have just said, “Okay, yes, I know I’m not really worth your time, Powerful Healer. I’ll just go back and accept the situation as it is. But no, she fired back at him, “Even the dogs get a little crumbs.” This woman has some ovaries, I tell you, standing up to Jesus like that and insisting on getting a few crumbs of healing power for her daughter. And in this narrative, we see God’s desire to save and make whole all people, not just the chosen ones of God, the Jews, the children as they are called. No, God loves everyone, even the puppy dogs.

And we should equally be proud of women from countries (and even in this country of ours) who demand help for their children, who say I am worthy of your attention. And Jesus says, “Yes you are. For asserting yourself on her behalf, I am now healing your daughter.” We should remember Jesus’ positive response to the Syrophoenician woman every time we see a mother humbly asserting herself to beg for a few crumbs of health care, or a few crumbs of education, or a few crumbs of decent food and shelter. Because she loves her child, and she knows her child has worth.

Of course, we don’t have the same lines dividing human beings from one another. We know all human beings are created in the image of God, so we treat everyone exactly the same. Well, unless that someone is in poor dress and smelly, and approaches the door of a house in our neighborhood. We treat everyone the same, unless we just can’t, because the person has difficulty with the dominant language of the world, our language, English. We treat everyone the same, unless the mentally ill homeless person on the street tries to engage us in a real conversation. We just wanted to hand off something to alleviate our discomfort. We did not want a relationship. We treat everyone the same unless the dark-skinned male with a toboggan on his head, approaches us at night in an empty parking lot at night. Then we have a different set of rules for different people. How quickly we judge Jesus’ reaction to the woman, but he was just playing by the rules of his culture, saying what everyone expected, until he was moved by compassion to break those rules and show compassion.

Jesus could not escape needy people. His very presence on earth drew them toward him. With the deaf man, who was brought by friends or family members, Jesus sensed the need to get away, so he removed the man from the crowd and through touching his ears and then with his own saliva on the man’s tongue, Jesus utters a deep sigh, and heals him. I’d love to know what that sigh meant. With that sigh was Jesus taking into his own body, the pain of a man whose communication had been so limited. We get much more detail about the healing process in this story than in the story of the woman and her daughter..

But the most striking part of this story is not so much the encounter with the man, as it is the reaction of the people. Jesus says, “Don’t tell anyone” but the more insists, the more they tell. The Messianic secret: Jesus often says after a healing miracle, “Don’t tell.” Could it be that he wants people to hear his teaching and learn to trust him, without seeing amazing miracles?

I wonder if this has something to say to us about our worship. If we are actively trying to wow people with our worship, then we are not listening to Jesus, who says, “Don’t tell anyone.” Jesus doesn’t necessarily want people to be wowed into trust through miracles, through sensationalism. Jesus wants us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. There’s something very ordinary about that, but that is perhaps the greatest miracle of all – when that really happens.

Maybe the real miracles were not what Jesus did, because we know Jesus has the power to change lives. Maybe the miracles were the courageous love of that persistent mother begging for the health of her child, and the devoted love of those who brought the deaf man to Jesus and who were so pleased with his healing that they had to tell the world, despite explicit instructions not to tell anyone.

Jesus is always there to help those who call, though it seems that sometimes we must persist in asking. There is no shame in begging for help. Who knows Jesus may see in your persistent humble begging just the transformation in you that will inspire him to answer that prayer. There is no magic formula to prayer. There is only relationship with the Lord, and relationships are not always predictable, especially relationships with miracle-workers who rule the universe.

Practicing What We Preach

James 1:17-27
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

St. Jerome said it back around the year 400 and it’s still being said today by people inside and outside the church: Why don’t you practice what you preach? The full quote goes like this: Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, “Why do you not practice what you preach.” It’s a matter of accountability, of authenticity. Do not let your deeds turn your words into a lie. A great deal of damage has been done to the church by people making pronouncements about sin and then getting caught in the very sin they denounced. “Hypocrisy!” we cry, but we quietly recognize hypocrisy in ourselves. In our world of easy documentation and quick access to information, the hypocrite is easily exposed, and not only do whole congregations get damaged, but those who have doubts about the church as institution are re-fueled with antagonism toward the church.

The book of James could effectively be summarized with these words. “Let us practice what we preach” James is not so concerned with theology itself, but that theology gets lived out. He’s a practical sort of guy, James. I like him. Martin Luther might not have liked him, but I do. Luther called the book of James the straw epistle. Nevertheless, I did find online a sermon by Luther on James chapter one – these very verses. But apparently he criticized James for missing the heart of the Gospel message, as it rarely mentions Christ. Being concerned to teach that salvation is by “faith alone,” Luther argued that James might lead us to think that we are saved by works, by what we do.

We are not saved by our works, but as James says, we must remember that “faith without works is dead.” So our works are the evidence of our faith. They are the fruits of our faith. And as our text says, those who do are hearers and not doers of the faith deceive themselves. They are like those who look in the mirror and then forget what they saw. It’s like the kid who looks in the mirror, see the food all over his face and then moves on to play, forgetting to do something about the mess.

Hearing the word, then, could be said to be time in front of the mirror – not the vanity of primping, but the more serious work of self-examination. Personal self-examination but also examination of the world in which we live and the church in which we serve. So let us peer into the mirror, friends, and do not despise ourselves, because God does not despise us, but loves us. In the full view of God’s love, let us but examine our hearts and see where the word has not taken root. Let us see where the mess of our lives is and do something about it. Let us be honest with ourselves about who we are, and submit ourselves again, more deeply to God to be changed by God’s Holy Spirit.

Let us prepare ourselves to hear the word of the Lord from the Book of James, but what we will hear is that hearing is not enough. We must be willing also to do something.

NRS James 1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-- they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Everything generous, everything good and perfect comes from God, the God who gives us birth by a word of truth. And what is that word? That word is the grace we have come to know through our Lord Jesus Christ, who practiced what he preached. He said, power is made perfect in weakness and he proved it by living it. He said, “The greatest is the servant of all, and he showed them by the way he became a slave to all.”

We are to welcome with meekness, with humility the word of God, which has the power to save our souls. I love that sentence. Welcome with meekness the word of God which save the power to save your soul. It is a gift from God, freely given, as the Apostle Paul would be quick to say. But James would emphasize that we have a role to play in welcoming with humility this word of power, the gift of God, which needs to be planted, watered, nurtured in our souls. I hear the good news and then I live a good news life. To sustain the good news life, I must spend time hearing good news and living a sacramental life.

James teaches us that there are two essentials to doing the word, not just hearing it.

The first has to do with communication. Communicate in love. There are three parts to communicating in love – listening well, guarding our words, and managing our anger.

You know there nothing more insulting that to be talking to someone and realize after a while that they have not been listening. They’ve been distracted. They haven’t cared enough to pay attention. They’ve been so quick to get their comments in, that they don’t take time to hear what you’re saying. Many arguments are started when one or two persons are not really listening, not really trying to understand what the other person is saying. And we all are bad listeners sometimes. It is an tremendous act of disciplined love to listen well.

Guarding your words, being slow to speak is a second discipline in conversation. As we are reminded in Proverbs, “It makes a lot of sense to be a person of few words and to stay calm. Even fools seem clever when they are quiet.” (Prov.17:27-28) I use the silent technique quite a bit. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, better to be quiet. No one will know just how uninformed you are.

Being slow to speak goes hand in hand with managing anger because quite often, if we can wait just a few moments and calm down, we will not say the damaging words which are yearning to come out of our mouths. Our heads will catch up and we’ll think before we speak. Always a good idea, thinking before speaking. But anger has a way of thrusting us into a conversation that should not have happened. Self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit must be cultivated by prayer and an attitude of humility.

The great Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel once said, “In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves” He also said, in the maturity of his latter years, “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”

We Presbyterians love to discuss things. Presbyterians are proud of the mind of faith. This is a strength and liability. How many session and presbytery meetings have soured because someone was desperately trying to be clever or right on a subject, rather than focusing on being kind. And how many churches, Presbyterians and other, spend so much time debating issues, they are slow to actually DO anything.

James said, there’s more than communicating well. He said we can’t just talk about the word of God, we have to do something. When a truth is learned, it must be practiced. Indeed, knowledge that is not put into practice is not truly learned; Religion that is pure means caring for the neediest among us. Doing the word means communicating well and taking care of others, especially those in desperate circumstances. In Jesus’ day, widows and orphans. In our day, the poorest of the poor, those on the margins of society.

The first item on our Leadership Team agenda this past Thursday night was figuring out how to be more supportive of Mission Beth-El, our covenant partner doing ministry with farmworkers and their families, as they struggle with budget cuts. The number of people coming for help increases while the funding from churches decreases in the recession. It is unacceptable for us to hear the word, knowing that Christ calls us to care for the needy, to hear that Mission Beth-El is struggling and do nothing. You will hear more about this soon.

St. Francis said, “Preach the gospel every day. When necessary, use words.” Actions speak much louder than words. Actions give words their power.

In 1982, Karen Olson was a marketing executive who developed promotional campaigns for consumer products. One morning, on her way to a meeting, she saw a homeless woman, someone she'd seen over and over again on her way to work. She decided to buy a sandwich for the woman. The stranger accepted the sandwich but asked for something else -a moment to be heard, to be comforted, and to be considered as more than a mere statistic on a cold street corner.

Soon, Karen and her two young sons began frequent trips to New York to hand out sandwiches to the homeless. As she came to know some of the city's homeless people, she began to understand the profound loss and disconnection that homelessness causes. That understanding turned into an enduring commitment. Karen is the founder of Family Promise, a ministry to homeless families started four years after this experience. She had heard the word for years. She had probably talked about her concern for the poor for years. But one day, she began to act on it. The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Family Promise provides shelter, meals, and housing and job placement support to more than 31,000 homeless family members annually, 60 percent of them children. (This story comes from the Family Promise website)

Mother Teresa said, "There should be less talk; Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough. It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed." Mother Teresa’s words have an authenticity because we know how she lived in service to the neediest of Calcutta. Mother Teresa practiced what she preached.

Will you?

Let us take a moment of silent prayer now to reflect on how we might simplify our lives a bit more, so that we are able to help those who desperate for assistance.... Let us pray for a humble spirit to receive the word implanted in our soul.... And let us ask God to build in us, as we take prayerful action, the ability to communicate with kindness and to reach out with compassion.....