Trusting God Enough to Go

 7th Sunday after Pentecost

Psalm 66 and Luke 10:1-9   

7 July 2013

Elizabeth M. Deibert    

Most of you know I’ve been away for three Sundays.   It is always good but difficult to leave town for more than two weeks.   I always become obsessive about accomplishing things that I would never do, if I had stayed here.   It is hard to trust God enough to leave the busy-ness of life behind – to believe that the house, the family, and the church will not fall apart in my absence.   That’s kind of an arrogant attitude isn’t it?   Thinking that life cannot be managed well without me.   That is what’s fundamental to the notion of a weekly Sabbath.   Stopping long enough each week to know that God is the One holding the world together – not me.   I rarely open my computer on Sunday after church until Monday evening.   Sunday sundown to Monday sundown is my Sabbath time.  When is yours?

On vacation, I dared to go as long as a week without checking email – so refreshing – yet risky.  What if I miss something crucial?   Oh well, God and the good people of Peace will take care of it.   And look what happened while I was gone! A signed contract to purchase the Aurora Property, pending your approval today, a grant of $23,000 from the Presbyterians in Dunedin – great news!

It is always a risk to go places, but God calls his people to go.   The Psalm for today reflects on the successful passage of the Israelites from Egypt – now that was a risk!    Do you think they wanted to leave Egypt?   You might say, “Well of course, they did.   Slavery was tough!” But slavery in Egypt was all they knew.   At least it was predictable.   People in abusive relationships often stay because of the security of the familiar.   It is dangerous to try to exit.   But God said to Moses, “Take my people and go.”    They were anxious, but they went.   Had they not gone, they would not have been able to express this sentiment of trust that the exodus from Egypt inspired, a journey which became their primary narrative for understanding who they were – they were people rescued by God.   Here now this portion of Psalm 66:

5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot.

There we rejoiced in him, 7 who rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations—

let the rebellious not exalt themselves.

8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

You know one of the biggest differences between the ancient people of faith and us.  They gave God credit for everything – good and bad.   We are more nervous to acknowledge God’s sovereignty, even though as Presbyterians, as part of the Reformed tradition, we claim that to be one of our most important doctrines – that God is in charge of the world, not us.   Notice the Psalm does not say that Moses turned the sea into dry land, but God did.   Come and see what God has done!   That is the best message of evangelism, of witness to the truth.   “Come and see what God has done.”   It is all in how you tell the story.  Nobody wants to hear your brag about your life, but change the language and say, “See what God has done and it can become great news!”  Come and see that despite all my parental mistakes, my children are still alive.  Amazing!  Come and see my church – the people are great, despite all my pastoral weaknesses.   Come and see my God – who loves me, even though I am a mess.   

Come and see the miracle that with all the risks of life, we are still alive today.   Why do we presume so much?   If we just stopped to realize every day that God has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip, we would be grateful.   I am more aware of the fragility of life when with my mom.   Every step is a potential foot slip moment, and a foot slip moment could mean a broken hip, and a broken hip often leads to worse things, even death, in someone who is older.   But my mom trusts God and likes to go places, even with the risk.   She even joined her grandkids on the outdoor dance at the wedding party of my nephew last week-end.   Trusting that God is sovereign takes courage.  It means interpreting history in such a way that you express that trust.  

We could be worried that it did not work out for us to build a 3 million dollar church on the five acres that Presbytery bought for us.   We could be mad that it did not work out for us to stay here and lease longer or even buy this place.  We could be upset that it did not work out for us to buy the Faith Church property.    But we’re not because we trust that God is sovereign.

We could be anxious that our timing of transition produces some challenges this fall, but instead we are choosing to believe that God has a hand in all these unusual twist and turns, and that in the end, if we concentrate on simply being faithful and prayerful each step of the way, we will have our own “promised land” just where and when God intends.   By God’s grace we can become our best selves as a congregation with the most flexible, grateful, loving and faithful character we can possibly have.   I can tell you already that when I listen to other pastors and they listen to me, they are often envious of me – for having such an adaptable and dedicated congregation.  They moan about 20% of the people doing all the work in the church, but at Peace, it is just the opposite.   80% of the people are significantly involved, working week in and week out, to keep the church’s ministries and mission going.

And speaking of mission, that brings us to our next reading – another scripture about taking risks.   Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, sends the seventy out to accomplish his work, to labor in the field.   It is not an easy mission.  The harvest is plentiful, laborers few.   Oh, and by the way, take nothing with you – trust God to take care of you.  Hear the Gospel reading from Luke:

Luke 10:1-9

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs

to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.

4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!'

6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person;

but if not, it will return to you.

7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide,

for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;

9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

As we consider our next move as a church, not only are we called to trust God in going, but we are also called to trust that we will have enough.   We do not have all the money we will need, but we will count on God’s providence.  We are not being ridiculous.   We have a well-reasoned plan, that includes trusting God about our future.  And it is not just about finding a place for our comfort.   We are kingdom people.   We are in the business of sharing the peace that God has given us with others.   We need a building and land, not just for us, but so we can do more to share the peace which is ours in Christ.   Our Savior said to his followers, “Go, trust God, and share peace with others.”  If the peace you share is not received, don’t worry.   You’ve lost nothing – that peace comes back to you.   But keep taking the risk to share it, because you will not deplete Christ’s peace.   There is always enough of that to share.

But here’s the other message from this passage:  Sharing Christ’s peace with others means getting involved with them – eating their food, whatever it is, getting involved with them enough to go where they are – not just wait for them to come to you.   Christianity is relational.   It is about a relationship with Jesus Christ and a relationship with other people.   Relationships involve risk.  They take energy.   They require that we look beyond ourselves and our needs to consider the peace that others seek and how to build relationships with them, so that peace can be effectively shared.   

Finally, I’d like to talk about those who founded this country so many years ago, and the courage they had to go – to leave their country, to leave their families, to leave all that was familiar and comfortable.   Some of them left because of poverty.   Some of them left under force and were thrust violently into slavery here.   Some of them came seeking religious freedom.   But all of them developed a spirit of courage and adaptability in going – whether they went joyfully or reluctantly or fearfully.  They learned to trust God, to depend on God, and to be grateful for God’s gifts.   

Some of them had the attitude that this was the new “Promised Land” and that God’s preference was for us, over and against all other nations and peoples.   That attitude has not been helpful.   But on this holiday week-end, let us remember to give thanks to God for the blessings of this great land, for our freedom, and for all the opportunities we have here and the sacrifices made on our behalf.   Let us thank God for the openness with which our country was founded, as a melting pot of different cultures, a place where people with differences can and should live in respect and mutual dignity.   And let us commit to continuing the best of that legacy.

And let us give thanks to God for this congregation and the journey of faith we share with Christians of all nations and some degree with all people of all faiths. We have the opportunity this day, people of Peace, to step forward in faith, trusting God – that our feet will not slip.  When you read the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and traveling through the wilderness, it is the Lord leading them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.   They don’t know exactly where they are going and when they will get there.   There are times of complaining and murmuring, of getting confused and worshiping idols instead of the true God, but they learn to put their trust in God, and so do we, as we keep taking risks to go where God calls and to do things that might otherwise be impossible, but with God’s help we can do.   We keep extending the peace of Christ wherever we go, whether that peace is embraced or not, we never lose it – even though we are lambs in the midst of wolves.  We trust God to provide and we journey on.

THE KINGDOM PRAYER

Matthew 6:9-13
23 June , 2013
Reverend Grant Lowe

Peace         

We call it “The Lord’s Prayer” because we received it from Jesus.  But we could also call it “The disciple’s prayer” because Jesus gave it to his disciples. Or, we could even call it “The Kingdom Prayer”.  “Thy Kingdom come” we pray.

Jesus really focused on The Kingdom of God.  He taught it, he practiced it.  The phrase Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven appears 72 times in the NT.  The version in Matthew emphasizes Jesus is not talking about a kingdom to come in some apocalyptic fury at the end of time, nor when we die in the realm of afterlife, but here and now “Thy will be done on earth as in Heaven”.   Jesus is talking about God as King of the world, and prays that the knowledge of God’s grace and mercy may grow and be effected throughout the world.  The Gospel of Mark describes Jesus beginning his public ministry with the words “The Kingdom of God is at hand”.

Is the Kingdom of God at hand then?  As Fred Buchner put it “Insofar as here and there, now and then, God’s kingly will is being done in various ways among us, even at this moment, the kingdom has already come.  Insofar as all the odd ways we do God’s will are at best half baked and half hearted, the kingdom is a long way off.”

God’s Kingdom is God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  Jesus embodies God’s will.  What Jesus is saying is “What would the world look like if God sat on Caesar’s throne, if God was in Herod’s palace”.

“What would a just earth look like?” “What would peace on earth look like rather than a world of force and violence?”  What would our world be like if on the airwaves and bumper stickers hate messages were replaced by respectful dialogue when we have differences?  Jesus was a living demonstration of how to live in God’s Kingdom, a reign of justice and peace that contradicted the structures of his time.  The Kingdom of God contradicted the structures of the temple and it contradicted the structures of Rome.

On September 2, 31 BC Octavian went forth to battle and defeat the fleet of Mark Antony on the Ionia Sea. He thereby became the sole ruler of the Roman Republic and began the Roman Empire. A monument is there with Caesar’s inscription

IMPERATOR CAESAR, SON OF THE DIVINE JULIUS, FOLLOWING THE VICTORY IN THE WAR WHICH HE WAGED ON BEHALF OF THE REPUBLIC IN THIS REGION, WHEN HE WAS CONSUL FOR THE FIFTH TIME AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF FOR THE SEVENTH TIME, AFTER PEACE HAD BEEN SECURED ON LAND AND SEA (pace parta terra marique), CONSECRATED TO NEPTUNE AND MARS THE CAMP FROM WHICH HE SET FORTH TO ATTACK THE ENEMY NOW ORNAMENTED WITH NAVAL SPOILS

Note the supreme confidence, reminiscent of a man who claimed “I found Rome a city of bricks; but left her a city of marble”, permeated the monument dedicated to the gods.  It also emphasized that the victor for whom the monument was built was son of the divine Julius.  janusquirinus.org/

The battle was 31 BC and by 29 BC the monument was up and he was Caesar Augustus.  Octavian Augustus was called son of God, divine, and “savior of the world”.  On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate recognized Octavian’s father Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state.  Octavian was then the "Son of God".

Millions of people revered Caesar as God.  But a few followers of a wandering Jewish rabbi in an insignificant province looked at Jesus and said “That’s what God really looks like.”  Both statements are acts of faith.  One statement is an act of faith in Roman imperial ideology based on weapons and force, and the other is an act of faith in Kingdom of God theology as demonstrated in the life of Jesus.  

As Dom Crossan, former professor of theology at DePaul University put it, we often miss the point how it undermines Caesar when the early church said “Jesus is Lord”.  When Caesar Augustus was called the savior of the world it wasn’t just a political ploy – it was something that made sense to millions of people.  He won his victory, and brought peace and security.  The ideology of the imperial Roman Empire was not just the ideology that Augustus was divine, but that Augustus was savior of the world.  To call Jesus God, savior of the world, God from God, divine, to give Jesus all the titles that had been ascribed to Augustus Caesar was undermining the ideology of the empire.  That is basically high treason.

They didn’t admire and praise this Jewish peasant teacher because he reflected their idea of God.  To the contrary, what happened in their encounter with Jesus is so radical that they were actually forced to construct a completely new understanding of God because of what they had seen in Jesus.  In our theology of incarnation we don’t just take our notion of God and ask “How does Jesus fit into that?”  If we shape our understanding of Jesus by our notions about God we have it backwards.  We look at Jesus and we get a better vision of God than we even had before.  This is important:  Taking the incarnation seriously means looking at Jesus and seeing this is the revelation of God.  People knew about kings and kingdoms.  They knew about it from Herod and Caesar and Rome. The Kingdom of God as we learn it from Jesus is a whole new understanding of Kingdom.  

Jesus is not launching a rebellion against Rome.  But he is saying that it is NOT the Kingdom of God.  Jesus embodies an alternative way of living that is the Kingdom of God, where human inequality is overcome, where the poor have good news preached to them, especially those who are the outcasts and abandoned of society.  This is the alternative Kingdom which has our loyalty.  It’s no wonder the empire regarded Christians with suspicion.

The church in the 3rd century and beyond focused on “Who was Jesus” and “Was Jesus divine?”  and “How was Jesus divine?”  But the real question was, is “Caesar divine or is Jesus divine?”   

The Gospel of Luke begins the story of Jesus “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” At the end of the Gospel of John the people are saying “We have no king but Caesar.” The story of Jesus is bracketed by the power of Caesar.  In the middle of all that, Jesus calls the disciples to an alternative obedience.

Jesus calls us to be part of this alternative Kingdom. For Jesus that alternative starts with a personal relationship with God as “Abba”, and that personal relationship is transformative. The question is “How does our personal relationship with God play out in the world?”

Jesus prays for the Kingdom of God and he embodies that kingdom, a kingdom that doesn’t oppress, it liberates, it doesn’t inflict pain and torture but submits to a redemptive kind of suffering.  The Kingdom of God turns our world upside down.  It’s not a Kingdom of insiders and outsiders; it’s a “come on in” kingdom in which Jesus beckons both Jew and gentile, Greek and Roman, Syrophonecian woman, tax collector, honest fisherman, temple leaders, roman centurions.  For the temple leaders it was all about who was in and who was out, who is acceptable to God and who is unacceptable, and they kept themselves apart from outsiders, those they deemed unacceptable to God.  For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is not a question of who is in and who is out, who is saved and who is lost; it’s the establishment of the rule of God over all.  

The church of Jesus Christ has a message for a fearful world that can’t see any alternatives to its own morass of force and violence.  

What would the world look like if God sat on Caesar’s throne, if Jesus was in power in Herod’s palace?

For one thing, following Jesus example and Paul’s words to divided followers of Jesus, we would recognize that in God’s Kingdom there would be no racial or ethnic barriers between people, and we as the church are called to labor for the abolition of all forms of discrimination, and to minister to those injured by it. – Courage and commitment by ordinary people can make a difference.  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on the bus in Montgomery AL.  Rosa was arrested and later went to church and four days later the church leaders gathered to make plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, because we recognize that we as the church are called to labor for the abolition of all forms of discrimination.  Many of you became part of that movement. That’s our calling.

In God’s Kingdom we are called to be peace makers and to seek reconciliation among nations.  Although nations may serve God’s purpose in history, the church which identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one way of life with God’s Kingdom denies the lordship of Jesus Christ.  As citizens of God’s Kingdom we can seek to be peacemakers, that’s our calling.  It’s not easy, because there’s a lot of hostility in the world, pent up anger, and most of us share in it.  It takes a lot of discipline to be a peacemaker.  

In God’s Kingdom enslaving poverty is an intolerable violation of God’s good creation.  Jesus identified himself with the poor and needy. And if we condone poverty or evade responsibility we make a mockery of God’s love for all God’s children.  

The following was part of a report at a white house conference on human trafficking April of this year:

Slavery and other human rights abuses are an ongoing threat in U.S. tomato fields. Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy once called Florida’s tomato fields “ground zero” for modern-day slavery in the United States. Over the past 15 years, seven cases of forced labor slavery have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in more than 1,000 people freed from slavery in U.S. tomato fields.

One of the most successful and innovative programs we researched is the Fair Food Program, developed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and promoted in partnerships with T’ruah (a group of Jewish Rabbis) and the International Justice Mission, among others including the Presbyterian Church USA. As citizens of God’s Kingdom we can get involved in efforts to end poverty, that’s our calling.

Jesus confronted resistance and today we face very deep cynicism about seeking God’s just Kingdom.

As Jim Wallis puts it, skepticism is a good and healthy thing. Be skeptical and ask the hard, tough questions. But cynicism is a spiritually dangerous thing because it is a buffer against personal commitment. Becoming so cynical that we don’t believe in God’s just Kingdom allows us to step back, protect ourselves, grab for more security, and avoid taking any risks. But we have accepted God’s call, and I believe God is calling us to model what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God and thereby to attract a new generation of young people by helping them seek the Kingdom of God, and to seek justice around issues like human trafficking, the stewardship of the planet, or the morally unacceptable worldwide rates of deadly poverty and disease. We need to support each other in this, with deeper study, fervent prayer, and new conversations together, all leading to the personal commitments to God.

Finally, and where we began, we can raise the most fundamental question of all, “Who is this Jesus and why does he matter?”

Brothers and sisters let us recommit ourselves to the one who has called us to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, to do what we say when we pray Thy Kingdom come on earth as in heaven.  

"A Doctrine That Doesn’t Like Walls”

Galatians 2:15-21

Luke 7:36-50

9, June 2013
Rev. William J. Kemp

 

Doctrines play an important role in Christian life.  They define who we are and what we are about as Christians.  However, they often viewed as the bane of Christian life.   One reason is that they become more like fences designed to keep some people in and keep others out.   

 

A man once stood on the railing of a bridge ready to jump.  A passerby called out to him:
Friend, don't jump.  I must. I am all alone.  No one cares.

Do you believe in God?  Yes, I do.  So do I!

Are you a Christian?  Yes! So am I!

Catholic or Protestant?  Protestant.  So am I!

What denomination?  Lutheran. So am I!

Which Synod?  Dakota.  Oh, friend, so am I!

North or South Dakota Synod?  North.  So am I!

Rite of 1876 or 1885?  Rite of 1885.  So am I!

German speaking or Scandinavian?  German.  So am I!

Hussite or Muellerite?  Muellerite.  So am I!

Brother, God has sent me to save you.  You are not alone.  Take my hand.

(Reaches toward the jumper)

Are you a follower of Jacob Mueller or Franz Mueller?

Jacob Mueller.  What?  Jacob Mueller!

(The rescuer gives him a push.)

Jump, you heretic!

It gets almost that bad at times when we define the boundaries of the church so tightly and then have the audacity to believe that the boundaries of the church determine the boundaries of God’s love.  Some would say "fences make good neighbors."  Personally, I prefer Robert Frost's sentiment, "something there is that doesn't love a wall!"

Justification by grace is the doctrine we meet today.  It is anything but exclusionary!  It created a revolution in the life of Martin Luther and it began the reformation of the church in the 16th century.  "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith.  It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it."

It was important for Luther and continues to be important as it addresses those who are burdened by guilt and perpetually frustrated in their efforts to make themselves acceptable to God.  For the apostle Paul, the particular concern was for the Gentiles.  His calling was to preach Christ in a pluralistic and divided world.

The letter to the Galatians speaks to the issue of those who wanted to use religion to build walls to jump over in order to be Christian.  Gentiles would first be required to become Jews.  Not so, says Paul.  The essence of the Gospel is that God loves us not because of who we are but because of who God is.  We are not justified (that is, righteous or acceptable to God) because we have done or believed the right things.  We are justified by Christ's death and resurrection.  

For Paul, there's no middle ground.  Either we are deserving of God's love or we are not.  If we think we are, then we've missed the point of the Gospel.  Indeed, "if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing."

Just how that doctrine plays out becomes obvious in the story from Luke’s gospel.  One day Jesus was invited for dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee.  While there, a woman from the city, who was a sinner, came in and with a jar of ointment and extended to Jesus the normal hospitality Simon either ignored or forgot:  foot washing, anointing, and a kiss.

It’s often assumed that the woman was a prostitute, though at least one commentator says that is useless speculation.  Maybe so, but read between the lines and come to your own conclusions.  In any event, she was of a "different kind" than Simon and the other guests.  She was clearly out of place.  

Why would she risk humiliation by placing herself in such a situation?  She didn't stumble into the dinner party by accident.  She came fully prepared for her act of devotion. She must have encountered Jesus before.  She must have been touched in a very personal way by his grace.  I wonder what Jesus said to her.  

Perhaps she had an experience similar to what Mary Ann Bird writes about in The Whisper Test.

I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it.  I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others:  a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.

When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?"  I'd tell them I'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass.  Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.

There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored--Mrs. Leonard by name.  She was short, round, happy--a sparkling lady.

Annually we had a hearing test ... Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn.  I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back--things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?"  I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life.  Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."

 

Could the woman, from the city, who was a sinner, of whatever ilk, have heard Jesus whisper into her ear during some earlier encounter, "Remember, you are God's daughter?"  Of course, that, too, is only speculation, but I hope it's not useless.  It must have been something like that.  What else could have transformed her life?  To hear and believe that you are accepted and loved, not because you are perfect, but because you are you, that is to know the grace of God.  

Jesus reacts to Simon's contempt towards the woman by telling a parable with an obvious conclusion. The one who has the greater debt forgiven will be the one who loves much more.  The outpouring of the woman's devotion is proof that she knew just how great her forgiveness was. "Your faith has saved you; go in peace," Jesus told her.

Fred Craddock raises a haunting issue in his commentary on Luke.  

The word of Jesus "Go in peace" adds considerable pathos to the event.  Where does one go when told by Christ "Go in peace"?  The price of the woman's way of life in the city has been removal from the very institutions that carried the resources to restore her.  The one place where she is welcome is the street, among people like herself.  What she needs is a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners.  The story screams the need for a church, not just any church but one that says, "You are welcome here."

Tony Compolo is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University near Philadelphia and an unabashed evangelical Baptist.  My favorite Compolo story tells of a time when he travelled to Honolulu for a speaking engagement.   He settled into his hotel hoping for a good night's sleep so he would be refreshed for the next day's meeting, but his flight was very long and he had a bad case of jet lag.  Three o-clock in the morning felt like nine o-clock the previous evening to him. Awake and hungry, he found himself in a "greasy spoon" café in the wee hours of the morning, Hawaii time.  As he bit into his sandwich, eight or nine ladies of the evening walked in.  They had just finished for the night. Their talk was loud and crude, and it was difficult to avoid listening in. He heard one tell the others it was her birthday the following day. "What do you want from me? A birthday cake?" was the sarcastic reply. "Why be so mean?" she replied, "I was just telling you. I don’t expect anything. I’ve never had a birthday party. I’m not expecting to have one now." When Tony heard this he made a decision.

When the women left, he went over to the café owner, a guy called Harry. "Do they always come in here?" "Yes," said Harry. "Including the one who sat next to me?" "Yes, that’s Agnes. Why do you want to know?" "Because I heard her say it’s her birthday tomorrow and I thought we might throw her a party." Pause. Then Harry smiled. "That’d be a great idea."

By half past two the next morning, Tony had brought decorations and Harry had baked a cake. Word had got out and it seemed as if every prostitute in Honolulu was in the café – plus Tony Campolo, a preacher. When Agnes entered with her friends, she was flabbergasted. Her mouth fell open and her knees wobbled. As she sat on a stool, everyone sang "Happy Birthday". "Blow out the candles," people shouted, but in the end Harry had to do it for her. Then he handed her a knife. "Cut the cake, Agnes, so we can all have some." She looked at the cake. Then slowly said, "Is it alright … would you mind … if I wait a little longer … if we didn’t eat it straight away?" "Sure. It’s okay," said Harry. "Take it home if you want"’ "Can I?" she said, "Can I take it home now? I’ll be back in a few minutes." And with that she left, carrying her precious cake out the café.

There was a stunned silence. So Tony said, "What do you say we pray?" And they did.  He led a group of prostitutes in prayer at 3:30 in the morning. When they were done, Harry said, "Hey! You never told me you were some kind of preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?" Tony, obviously prompted by the Holy Spirit, found the wits to say, "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning." Harry waited for a moment. Then he kind of sneered, "No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that."

Would you join a church like that?  Would I?  I don't know. We church people can seem pretty uppity at times.  Sometimes we come across more like Michael Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.  He believes only certain people should wear his company's clothes.  "We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends," Jeffries said. "Are we exclusionary? Absolutely!  In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. We go after the cool kids."

Susan Sullivan, professor of Sociology at the College of the Holy Cross, recently reported on a survey showing that mothers in poverty tend to assume that they would not be welcomed at church. "The women felt unwanted ... and ... largely felt that they didn't have a 'church lifestyle.'  They would say, 'I swear' or 'I smoke' or 'I sin.'   About a third of the women ... felt stigmatized by churches.  Some mentioned not having nice clothes.  Some were ashamed of being on welfare, even though no one would know."

Anthony DeMello, writes:

I was a neurotic for years.  I was anxious and depressed and selfish.  Everyone kept telling me to change.

I resented them, and I agreed with them, and I wanted to change, but simply couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.

What hurt the most was that, like the others, my best friend kept insisting that I change.  So I felt powerless and trapped.

Then, one day, he said to me, "Don't change.  I love you just as you are."

The words were music to my ears:  "Don't change.  Don't change.  Don't change ... I love you as you are."

I relaxed.  I came alive.  And suddenly I changed!

Now I know that I couldn't really change until I found someone who would love me whether I changed or not.

 

We don't have to search for someone who loves like that.  We have been found by the One who does. Christ is our peace.  He not only does not like walls, he breaks them down: walls between the cool and the not-so-cool, the ugly and the beautiful, the righteous and unrighteous, the rich and poor, male and female, and on and on it goes, ad infinitum.    

Not only does he break down walls, he redefines beauty and what it means to be cool.  "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."