This week’s lectionary texts build on last week’s themes, emphasizing again the importance of following God’s precepts in order to achieve a happy and fulfilling life. In the gospel passage Jesus expands on this further as he underlines the countercultural wisdom of God’s laws -- especially where justice is concerned. Rather than the prevailing view that justice is achieved through proportionate revenge (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”), Jesus startles his listeners by saying that it comes through forgiveness and mercy (“love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”). Instead of perpetuating violence, we are to “turn the other cheek” and even give up our possessions. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Chris Keating explores that theme in the context of the case involving Michael Dunn, the Florida man convicted this past weekend of attempted murder for shooting a teenager to death in a dispute over loud music. His trial attracted quite a bit of media attention, and was the most prominent case involving Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law since the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman affair. However one feels about the particulars of either of these cases, it’s clear that neither George Zimmerman nor Michael Dunn absorbed Jesus’ command to love your enemies, or God’s closing comment to Moses in our Leviticus text that “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet in our fearful, paranoia-fraught society, obsessed as we are with security and protecting ourselves off from potential threats, the impulse to strike back rather than turn the other cheek is increasingly accepted as a necessary response. While a superficial reading of the Matthew text might suggest that Jesus is advocating weakness and/or submission, Chris notes that Jesus is actually calling for us to have the strength not to respond in kind to evil and violence... because to love those that have wronged us is to demonstrate the same infinite mercy and love as our heavenly Father.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on football player Michael Sam’s announcement that he is gay, and the effect it might have on the culture of the NFL. Sam was an All-American with an outstanding collegiate career who has been projected as a mid-round choice in the upcoming NFL draft -- and his decision to reveal his sexual orientation was accompanied by a spate of stories about how rather than tearing apart his Missouri team’s locker room (as conventional wisdom would have it), if anything it actually brought the team together and helped spur their most successful season in years. (Sam was named the team’s MVP, and was also tabbed as the top defensive player in college football’s most competitive league.) Dean notes that his seems to be a textbook definition of Paul’s comment in our epistle passage about the wisdom of the world being mere foolishness. Dean observes that we often don’t know nearly as much as we think we know -- and a great example is the increasing evidence suggesting that, despite the long-held assumption by front office officials that players would never accept a homosexual teammate, they are now much more likely to treat it as no big deal.
Tuning Out Violence by Turning the Other Cheek
by Chris Keating
Matthew 5:38-48
It started with loud music and ended with gunfire. Afterwards the shooter left, feeling as though he had acted in self-defense. He went back to his hotel, ordered a pizza, had a drink, and walked his dog.
The facts are well established: Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software developer, fired ten shots into an SUV at a Jacksonville, Florida, gas station in 2012, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis. Dunn and his fiancée had stopped at the convenience store for wine and chips after attending his son’s wedding, and they pulled in next to a bright red Durango filled with teenagers. Rap music was pulsating out of the SUV’s windows. Davis and his friends were reportedly spending the day “mall hopping and girl shopping,” and had stopped to buy cigarettes and gum.
What happened in between isn’t so clear. Dunn says that the teens were blasting their stereo at ear-deafening levels. It was “rap crap,” he later testified. When he asked them to turn it down, they initially complied. A second later, however, an altercation erupted. Harsh words and epithets were exchanged. Dunn believes one of the teens exited the vehicle, and that Davis began to reach for a weapon. Feeling threatened, Dunn reached for his 9mm pistol. Volleys of gunfire followed, and Jordan was killed.
As far as Dunn is concerned, he had the right to stand his ground.
Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount infer something else. Jesus also talks about feeling vulnerable and fearful, attacked and under siege. Yet instead of choosing violence, Jesus says to “turn the other cheek.” Pursue a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. If someone wants your coat, give them your cloak as well.
In other words, don’t stand your ground. Go the second mile.
In the News
Last week, a jury convicted Dunn of three counts of second-degree attempted murder and one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile. But they were deadlocked on the count of first-degree murder in the death of Jordan Davis. Each of the attempted murder charges carries a mandatory 20-year sentence, and the Florida attorney general’s office says it will seek a new trial for the first-degree murder charge.
The case came six months after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin. There are striking similarities between the cases, which were tried by the same prosecutor. Both raised issues of self-defense and race, and both were tests of Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law. Both Zimmerman and Dunn felt vulnerable and under attack. While Jordan did not have a gun and had not attacked Dunn prior to the gunshots, Dunn testified he felt compelled to use deadly force.
His response? Tune out the threats by turning up the firepower.
Dunn, who is white, never concealed his disdain for hip-hop music -- his fiancée recalled that he told her he couldn’t stand “thug music.” Dunn said he prefers the term “rap crap.”
Despite this, Dunn said he initially remained calm when he parked his car next to four black teenagers in the convenience store parking lot. He found the music obnoxious and testified that he politely asked them to turn it down. Rather quickly the music came back up, though not as loud. Soon he heard Davis swearing at him. Dunn testified that while waiting for his fiancée to return he heard Davis say, “I should kill that [expletive].”
The exchange became more heated, and Dunn soon believed he was in danger. Dunn reached for his pistol, thought he saw the barrel of a gun, and then fired ten shots without aiming. Three shots came first, then four more when he stepped out of the car, and then three more as the Durango sped away.
Like Trayvon Martin, Davis was black and unarmed. (Dunn’s defense team theorized that there was indeed a gun, but that the teenagers discarded it.) A weapon was never found.
Dunn’s attorney believes his client was “overcharged” due to the outcome of the George Zimmerman case. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted of shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager. Prosecutors believe Zimmerman was motivated by race in his attack of Martin. Defense attorney Cory Strolla said that Dunn is not a racist -- despite what some might infer from letters he wrote in jail. Strolla told reporters: “Had we never heard about George Zimmerman, I don’t think you and I would be standing in this room talking about Mr. Dunn. I think I’ve said it from the beginning -- because of the George Zimmerman case, a lot more was focused on this case.”
In one sense, Strolla may be right. A lot more is focused on Dunn’s case -- perhaps because some are beginning to see the divide that “stand your ground” has created. Florida lawmakers are considering revisions to the law, though the political climate doesn’t seem favorable at the moment.
Attention is focused on this case because it offers yet another example of race conflict in the United States. Dunn may not see himself as a racist, but a letter he wrote to his daughter while in jail is filled with racially-tinged vitriol that espouses an “us-against-them” mindset. In explaining his defense to his daughter, Dunn wrote: “This jail is full of blacks, and they all act like thugs.... This may sound a bit radical, but if more people would arm themselves and kill these [expletive] idiots when they’re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ” But at what cost? A society filled by fear, ruled by vengeance and fear?
Debate continues to focus on whether or not the law creates an environment that actually increases violence rather than reduces it. A recent study from Texas A&M suggests that is exactly what is happening. For example, homicide rates in Florida have increased by 8 percent since the law was enacted -- while national rates fell 6 percent in the same time period. That’s about 600 additional violent deaths per year.
In their analysis of the data, researchers considered several factors, including demographics, policing, and economic conditions. They acknowledged that these laws may have benefits, including reducing potential burglaries or deterring violent confrontations. They weighed many factors, only to reach this solemn conclusion: “Making it easier to kill people does result in more people getting killed.”
Mark Hoekstra, one of the authors of the study, notes that empowering people to stand their ground doesn’t necessarily correlate to improved public safety: “Unfortunately, there isn’t much evidence in the data of this type of deterrence. That means that whatever benefits these laws have, they are limited to the actual victims of crime, who may now be more willing or able to defend themselves, or may experience lower criminal or civil costs for doing so. We don’t know how to quantify those benefits. But we do know there is no evidence that fewer violent crimes are committed as a result of these laws.”
Not everyone will agree, of course. Yet it appears that this particular debate isn’t about whether or not gun ownership is an American right. More and more it highlights the racial division of our nation, and our proclivity to embrace violence instead of peace. Or, in the words of Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the argument seems to become “They hit you? Grin and bear it. You hit them? Prepare to die.”
In response, the Gospel offers a more gracious, though no less demanding, possibility.
In the Scriptures
Michael Dunn believed Jordan Davis was going to kill him that Thanksgiving weekend in 2012. In response he grabbed his gun. On the witness stand he said that he didn’t intend to kill Davis -- “It just worked out that way.” Feeling vulnerable, he took action.
He stood his ground. Tune out the threats by turning up the violence. He killed a 17-year-old boy.
In this Sunday’s lection from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also stands his ground -- but in a completely different way. Jesus turns the tables on retribution and violence, inviting those who follow him to love God by actively loving their neighbor, including their enemy. One reflects God’s goodness and love not by asserting his or her rights, says Jesus, but instead by pursuing righteousness that even exceeds the Pharisees.
Jesus’ listeners knew the law and understood their rights. He correctly summarizes the law of retaliatory justice: “Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Leviticus 24:19-20). This is not license for unchecked violence, however -- despite what we may have learned at the hands of older siblings!
These laws were intended for the community’s benefit, so that justice might be meted out in as proportionate a manner as possible. Karen Sapio notes that by Jesus’ time, the prevailing rabbinical practice was to provide financial rather than physical compensation (“Matthew 5:38-48,” in Feasting on the Gospels -- Matthew, Vol. 1 [Westminster/John Knox Press, 2013], p. 111). This was the common understanding, yet Jesus comes proclaiming a greater righteousness.
In the midst of a crowd who often felt vulnerable and oppressed, Jesus reframes the law from the perspective of the realm of God. He understands the temptation to respond to violence with more violence, yet he urges a different way of being in the world. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he declares. He does this not to ground faith in works righteousness, but rather to elevate the listeners’ ears toward the proclamation of the kingdom.
In the text, Jesus offers three examples of non-violent resistance to evil. When taken collectively, these examples provide a radical affirmation of God’s love. The examples would have been easily understood by his audience and were grounded in their daily experience. Each demonstrates what it meant to neutralize threats. To expose one’s left cheek was an assertion that said you will not be humiliated by the other’s act of aggression. To give up one’s inner cloak would have exceeded the moral requirement for paying a debt, and would have shamed the one who was collecting the money. To volunteer to walk a second mile would have demonstrated the brutality of Roman military treatment. And in giving abundantly, Jesus exhorts the disciples to do far more than would actually be required.
His words sound impossible. If taken literally, as Steven Eason suggests in Feasting on the Gospels, our congregations would bear imprints of hand slaps, be naked, and be surrounded by an endless parade of beggars. But carefully listening to these challenges may yield insights for the church as it attempts to act like Christ in a world torn apart by violence and filled with oppression.
Walk naked to expose the perpetrator’s indecency by demanding your coat? Go a second mile, if necessary, to protest the burdensome practices of the powers that be? These challenges illustrate the demands of loving enemies and praying for those who persecute you. Such prayers seek not just peace but transformation between enemies. By loving extravagantly and practicing radical openness to others, the disciples display the grace they have discovered in God.
One caution is necessary. Some have mistakenly heard in these words a call to continually expose oneself to violent behavior. At times, women have been told that “turning the other cheek” was the necessary response to abuse. That is not the case, as theologians such as Walter Wink have noted. (See “Abuse: Response and Prevention” by the Mennonite Central Committee.) Yet these texts should never be used to encourage violence. Instead, Jesus’ message is clear: deflate the alleged powers of the world so that God’s righteousness may fill the world.
As Walter Wink observes: “The Powers that Be literally stand on their dignity. Nothing deflates them more effectively than deft lampooning. By refusing to be awed by their power, the powerless are emboldened to seize the initiative, even where structural change is not immediately possible” (The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millenium [Doubleday, 1998]).
In the Sermon
But what about Michael Dunn? Does he represent the “powers that be” or simply a threatened individual in an unfamiliar part of town? The teens may have appeared menacing to him, but it was just as possible that he was uncertain of where he stood. After all, Michael Dunn was out of place. He was the outsider, the white man from another town. In a sense, it really wasn’t his ground to stand.
It was an ugly scene, without a doubt. It was an incident that reveals the grip fear has on us. Fear makes it much more difficult to “go the second mile.” The ready availability of a weapon makes creating enemies even easier. But perhaps pursuing a greater righteousness is exactly what is necessary.
A sermon should acknowledge that anyone in our congregation could have felt the same terror that seized Dunn that afternoon. But as we turn toward God we discover, as Marty Haugen’s wonderful hymn puts it, a shepherd who shepherds us beyond our wants, beyond our fears, from death into life (“Shepherd Me, O God”).
The key is not allowing evil to win. As Christians, that is our hope. It is our deepest joy. And it is ultimately what may empower us to set down our guns, overcoming anger with abundant joy. It allows us to stop perpetrating violence.
The seriousness of Jesus’ words will sound frustrating to some in our congregations. He calls for a demanding discipleship which lacks the comfort of a covered-dish supper or the cuddly coziness of a children’s sermon. Nor will everyone be impressed that activists such as Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. were moved by these words -- it may only leave them wondering if Christianity is either a pipedream or just for wimps.
But what moves me in these words is the powerful role prayer plays. By praying for our persecutors, we are transformed. We change the status quo. We tune out the violence, and discover the possibility for transformation. Our enemy becomes our sibling.
My middle daughter is a preschool teacher. As we were talking about the Dunn trial, she shared what often happens in preschool. Imagine, she said, a child who comes to the teacher accusing another child of acting in a mean way. “Well,” the teacher might say, “sometimes our friends don’t act nice. Why don’t you go and find another friend?”
It’s not always that easy, of course. Yet perhaps that is exactly the point Jesus drives home while preaching to the crowds.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Those Who Know Not
by Dean Feldmeyer
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
There’s a Persian proverb that goes like this:
Those who know not, and know that they know not, are children; teach them.
Those who know not, and know not that they know not, are fools; avoid them.
Those who know, and know not that they know, are asleep; wake them.
Those who know, and know that they know, are wise; follow them.
This week Paul takes up the business of knowing. How do we know, and how do we know that we know? Where does wisdom come from, and what is the difference between God’s wisdom and the world’s wisdom?
Last week, University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam -- an All-American who was named the SEC’s defensive player of the year -- announced that he is gay. This makes him the first openly gay man to enter the NFL draft, and potentially the first openly gay man to play on an NFL team. Those who make predictions say that before his announcement he would probably have been a middle-to-late round draft choice. Now, who knows?
The responses of anonymous NFL general managers, executives, and coaches in Sports Illustrated were predictable. They dragged out the old “isn’t ready” argument -- “the NFL isn’t ready” for a gay player. Their reasoning was that it’s a “man’s-man’s game,” and that slurs and insults using derogatory names for homosexuals are still pretty common in pro football. Having a gay player in the locker room would, presumably, be uncomfortable for the players who use such language and uncomfortable for the gay player who might hear it. They suggest that we need to wait another 20-30 years before the players will be ready to change their language and be “comfortable” with a gay player in their locker room.
Twitter was, as anyone might have guessed, flooded with vile, racist, sexist, insulting attacks and remarks that were, as always, guarded by anonymity. The “F word” and the “N word” were thrown about with abandon.
But not all tweets were so negative. Many college and NFL players were supportive. Perhaps the most notable among them was Richie Incognito, who was until last week suspended from the Miami Dolphins for his behavior in a hazing scandal and is now under scrutiny for other homophobic and racist comments he has made in other settings. He wrote on Twitter: “#respect, bro. It takes guts to do what you did. I wish u nothing but the best.” Scores of other tweets from players were similar in their support.
There are some who suggest that GMs and executives are speaking for themselves only, and it is not so much the locker room as the front office that will be uncomfortable with a gay player on the team -- that it may be more than anything a generational divide. As evidence, three-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl champion Brendon Ayanbadejo points out that Sam came out to his teammates at Missouri last year -- and not only did it have no effect upon the team’s locker room, Sam actually had a better year on the field without having to carry the burden of secrecy.
Not surprisingly, The Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart took the opportunity to point out the enormous hypocrisy at work in the response of one anonymous GM who used the “not ready” argument/excuse. Texas sports anchor Dale Hansen took up the same argument as Stewart: “You beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs, pulling her hair out by the roots? You’re the fourth guy taken in the NFL draft. You kill people while driving drunk? That guy’s welcome. Players caught in hotel rooms with illegal drugs and prostitutes? We know they’re welcome. Players accused of rape and pay the woman to go away? You lie to police, trying to cover up a murder? We’re comfortable with that. You love another man? Well, now you’ve gone too far!”
Paul admonishes the Corinthian Christians: “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.”
It is understandable that people who have reached the level of success and wealth which NFL owners and general managers have achieved believe that they are the knowers of all things. But, as Brendon Ayanbadejo suggests, they might want to re-examine their supposed omniscience. The front office is the front office and the locker room is the locker room, after all.
The suits up front may be a case of “those who know not, and know not that they know not.”
Those who presume to have an intimate knowledge of the front office, the locker room, and the field may find themselves caught “in their craftiness,” as Paul pus it. And their predictions may turn out like “the thoughts of the wise,” which, Paul points out, “are futile.”
We used to believe that openly gay athletes would hurt sports. Now, what we have discovered is that it is not the “gay” part but the “openly” part that we’re afraid of. There have always been gay athletes -- and the sports they represent have turned out just fine, thank you:
Jason Collins, pro basketball;
Brittney Griner, pro basketball;
Robbie Rogers, pro soccer;
Martina Navratilova, pro tennis;
John Amaechi, pro basketball;
Will Sheridan Jr., college basketball & international pro basketball;
Megan Rapinoe, pro soccer;
Orlando Cruz, pro boxing;
Billy Bean, pro baseball;
Billie Jean King, pro tennis;
Esera Tuaolo, pro football;
Keame Harris, pro football;
and who knows how many others who have not yet shown the courage of Michael Sam.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Psalm 119:33-40; Matthew 5:38-48
When NBC’s Christin Cooper scored an interview with Olympic skier and medalist Bode Miller, she attempted to dig in and make the most of it. Cooper immediately and persistently focused on the death of Miller’s brother Chelone (“Chilly”) in April 2013, and asked repeated questions about how the skier is experiencing the Olympics without him this time around. In reaction, Miller found himself overwhelmed with tears and unable to speak, so he walked away and sought comfort in the arms of his wife Morgan. Since the interview, Cooper has taken a lot of heat from her colleagues in the news cycle and in the wider community. The AP’s David Bauder called it a “shameful spectacle,” adding, “It was tone-deaf and cruel, and short-circuited the thoughtful, intelligent perspectives Miller had started to offer until he couldn’t talk anymore.”
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir agreed, writing “Cooper and NBC lacked the sensitivity to know when enough was enough.”
NBC defended Cooper in a statement, saying, “Our intent was to convey the emotion that Bode Miller was feeling after winning his bronze medal. We understand how some viewers thought the line of questioning went too far, but it was our judgment that his answers were a necessary part of the story. We’re gratified that Bode has been publicly supportive of Christin Cooper and the overall interview.”
Miller has indeed been behind Cooper, and defended her via Twitter:
My emotions were very raw, she asked the questions that every interviewer would have, pushing is part of it, she wasn’t trying to cause pain. I appreciate everyone sticking up for me. Please be gentle with Christin Cooper, it was crazy emotional and not all her fault. #heatofthemoment
In light of our text from Psalm 119 for this Sunday, how are we praying and asking God “give me life in your ways” -- the ways of God’s righteousness that bring life? How does that prayer show up in our lives, especially in our relationships and the ways we respond to others? Matthew 5 tells us that God’s ways that bring life are the ways of non-violence and love, avoiding revenge, and not returning violence and hurt. Our passage from Leviticus for this week follows these same patterns and issues the command “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Miller’s response to Cooper echoes these biblical themes. His “please be gentle with Christen Cooper” models Leviticus’ and Jesus’ teachings about turning the other cheek, “lov[ing] your enemies and pray[ing] for those who persecute you.” (Though “enemy” and “persecute” seem extreme when considering Cooper’s interview, Miller has Jesus’ pattern and tactics down.) Miller seems to know the better, more compassionate, and, according to the Psalmist, more “righteous” way to take that brings “life.”
*****
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Psalm 119:33-40; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
In Matthew 5, Jesus is describing a break in a cycle of injury, violence, and brokenness and a return to God’s “perfect” ways that “reward” the disciple with the kind of life that is described in Psalm 119. “Teach me,” “give me understanding,” and “lead me” the Psalmist prays, that I may follow faithfully “with my whole heart.” This is the path, the Psalmist recognizes, that leaves behind the ways of brokenness and harm and makes way for the new. It is the new path that gives life and brings real delight.
The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (GCADV) is not just working toward a break in the cycle of injury, violence, and brokenness that domestic violence enacts for generations in families and communities. It is also seeking a life-giving alternative, another way that makes possible new life and even brings the potential for the delight the Psalmist describes. A line in their mission reads, “Guided by the voices of survivors, we work to create social change by addressing the root causes of this violence.”
Thus follows GCADV’s commitments to educating the public, organizing to influence public policy, addressing the effects of systemic injustice and gender and economic disparities, building on the strengths that diversity brings, and working for empowerment and equality for all people. Central to their mission is their steadfast dedication to non-violence. They state:
We believe in showing a commitment to non-violence through speech and actions that promote peace. We believe in working against all abuse such as emotional, physical, sexual, and financial, and for the removal of causes of violence and injustice including systemic poverty and oppression. We strive to live peacefully within our own community as we pursue a more just and non-violent world.
How can we join these efforts and mirror them in our own lives by breaking cycles of violence and hurt, and making a new way toward life and delight in God?
*****
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Psalm 119:33-40; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
When openly gay Missouri football player Michael Sam returned to Mizzou’s campus after traveling with his team to accept the Cotton Bowl trophy, Westboro Baptist Church was waiting for him. They wore their predictably hateful t-shirts and carried their usual signs condemning LGBT folks, those who support them, and everybody else who doesn’t follow the misguided and judgmental teachings of their church. Their new sign, made especially for the occasion, read “MU fag enablers.” They were fired up to yell at Sam and his teammates, but they didn’t get the chance. The 14 protestors found themselves blocked by a “wall of love” made up of MU students, faculty, and former football players.
In a statement to the press, participants and students Kelaney Lakers and Alix Carruth said:
Our hope is for the wall to reflect a unified student body and symbolize a display of love towards our own Tiger, Michael Sam. We’re humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the community’s response. This issue is so much bigger than either of us, and we want to do justice to Michael Sam and show him that Mizzou loves him.
The human wall stretched a half-mile and was more than long enough to communicate its intentions to Sam, who later tweeted “Divided we are weak. Together we are strong.”
This wall and the individuals who built it responded to hate with love, to intentions to inflict hurt with efforts to protect, and to exclusion with an invitation to know home and community support. Their actions reflect the themes of the three texts as discussed above and follow Leviticus’ warnings not to “render an unjust judgment,” “go around as a slanderer,” “profit by the blood of your neighbor,” and “hate in your heart anyone of your kin.” (“Kin” as defined by these MU Tigers.) In protecting and supporting Sam, they modeled loving their neighbor, and, in connection with our text from Corinthians, they chose carefully how they would build on the foundation of love and wisdom laid by Christ.
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From team member Mary Austin:
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Knowledge
We all want to know more. As Robert Roberts observes, “We human beings are seekers. We seek love, wealth, security, power, happiness, and recognition. We also seek knowledge. Aristotle said, ‘All people by nature desire to know.’ The desire to know can be very ambitious, like that of the scientists who sought to solve the structure of the DNA molecule, or rather modest. It can be enormously satisfying to know and understand things.”
He poses the question of how we become wiser, and suggests that one of the key factors is the opposite of what we might think -- intellectual humility. If we’re concerned about our status, or impressing other people with what we already know, we block the process of learning more: “Knowledge comes into us through a variety of channels that can be blocked by our concern for status, and the successful knowledge-seeker will be one who keeps those channels open. The process requires that we be able to ‘listen,’ either literally or figuratively, to what others say. If what they say shows them to be superior to us in knowledge, we will be hampered in our learning if our first reaction is to try to show that we know as much as they or more. The process also requires that we be corrigible, that we be open to the possibility that our opinions are in some way misguided.” A certain open-mindedness about what we already know allows us to know more.
*****
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Knowledge, Part Two
Psychologist Todd Kashdan suggests that the gateway to knowledge is as simple as asking more questions. He observes that our brains are wired for a certain level of anxiety, which kept our ancestors alive: “Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had to keep an eye out for danger at every turn: If I eat those plants, will I get sick? Is that man with 18-inch biceps who smells of charred human flesh a threat to me?” Yet curiosity is also part of evolutionary heritage, he says, adding that “it was only when our ancestors ventured off beyond the boundaries of what was known that they could add to their knowledge and skills. They had to discover absolutely everything for themselves. In other words, they had to be curious.”
Research bears out the long-standing impulse toward asking more questions: “Indeed, cutting-edge research from neuroscience suggests that while we may be natural-born worriers, we’re also wired for worry’s neglected, underappreciated neural twin: curiosity. This research suggests that our curiosity and threat-detection systems have evolved over millennia, working together to ensure that we make optimal decisions in an unpredictable, uncertain world. As a result, we find intense, lasting fulfillment in seeking new knowledge, new experiences, and in embracing uncertainty. Choosing to explore the unknown rather than avoid it is key to a rich, meaningful life.”
Knowledge isn’t just useful -- acquiring it makes us more fully human, and adds zest to our lives.
*****
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Food for Everyone
Leviticus 19:10 commands the people of Israel to leave some of the harvest for the poor: “You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien.”
The Beacon Food Forest is aiming to replicate that principle in the city of Seattle, with fruit and vegetable crops for people to come and pick, as they need the food. A June 2013 article noted: “The community group behind the project has planted about 35 trees so far, and also completed a lot of landscaping and irrigation work, according to Glenn Herlihy, one of the creators. He expects the space to open later this summer, and to start producing food next year, beginning with herbs, vegetables, and annuals.” The hope is that people will take what they can use right away. The land was donated by Seattle Public Utilities, and the group has a $100,000 grant from the city of Seattle.
*****
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Gangster Gardening
Ron Finley decided that in the South Central area of Los Angeles drive-thrus were killing more people than drive-bys, with fast food readily available and plenty of liquor stores, but with a lack of fresh food for miles around.
So he and others have taken over vacant lots to start gardens: “With obesity rates five times higher in South Central than in Beverly Hills, a neighborhood only eight to ten miles away, Finley realized that food is the problem, but is also the solution.”
In a neighborhood far from farmland, Finley is following the instruction to leave crops for the poor so that they have food to eat.
*****
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Beer for Everyone
The Canadian Olympic team has taken this same principle of equal distribution to heart. Many of the teams in Sochi have snacks available for the athletes, but the Canadians have a machine to dispense free beer, courtesy of Molson. Any Canadian at the games can scan their passport, and the machine will dispense a beer.
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From team member Ron Love:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
In a Frank & Ernest comic strip published on Valentine’s Day, the comic strip’s two disarrayed characters are sitting on a park bench. Frank looks over to Ernest and says, “I accept that we only go around once. What I hate is the centrifugal force.”
Application: Life can be very difficult for people. This is why Moses set forth commandments outlining care and concern on how we are to treat the poor, the alien, and the disenfranchised.
*****
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
The state of Mississippi has passed legislation to add the phrase “In God We Trust” to its state seal. Previously the Great Seal of the state had an eagle, but was absent of a slogan. This legislation has brought with it the expected controversy and criticism regarding the separation of church and state.
Application: Putting the expected controversy to one side for a moment, it is refreshing to see the state wanting to build itself on the foundation of God.
*****
Matthew 5:38-48
With Derek Jeter’s announcement of his retirement from baseball following the 2014 season, the Associated Press published an article outlining his distinguished career with the New York Yankees. This article included a special section highlighting his five most significant plays on the ballfield. The fourth highlight was the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which was delayed because of the 9/11 attacks. Game four of that matchup at Yankee Stadium started on Halloween night, but went into extra innings. After the clock struck midnight and the calendar flipped to a new month, Jeter hit an opposite-field home run to tie the series at two games each. With this hit Jeter became baseball’s first “Mr. November.”
Application: Jesus always expects us to do that one thing more; that is, to be the Mr. November of Christianity.
*****
Matthew 5:38-48
In the 1920s the Supreme Muslim Council requested all the Islamic writings from antiquity to present -- writings which are spread out across the globe -- be sent to the library at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It was desired that locating all the documents in one central location would preserve them and prevent them from being sold. The library is located at the third holiest site of Muslims, which is the same structure that Christians refer to as the Dome of the Rock. When religious conflict erupted in the city in 1929, all of the manuscripts were placed in sacks and hidden for safekeeping from both opposing forces and looters. For decades the manuscripts have remained undisturbed. Recently, when the sacks were opened it was discovered that water damage and insects had nearly destroyed them. The library is now in an extensive preservation project to restore these sacred writings, the oldest of which dates back 900 years. This is a massive project, with the library housing 130,000 books and 4,000 manuscripts.
Application: One can never discount the importance of historical writings, but Jesus was more concerned that the writings -- the teachings -- are shelved in the library of our hearts.
*****
Matthew 5:38-48
One of the most popular advertisements in the Super Bowl game this year was from brewer Anheuser-Busch (annually one of the television broadcast’s biggest advertisers). The ad featured an adorable golden Labrador puppy becoming enamored with one of the beermaker’s iconic Clydesdales.
Application: If we follow the teaching of teaching we live in harmony, not conflict.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Teach us, O God, the way of your statutes.
People: We will observe it to the end.
Leader: Give us understanding, that we may keep your law.
People: Help us to observe it with our whole heart.
Leader: We have longed for your precepts.
People: In your righteousness, O God, give us life.
OR
Leader: Come and worship as God’s people.
People: As God’s children, we come to offer our praise.
Leader: Come together and care for one another.
People: As God’s family, we share together our joys and hurts.
Leader: Come and learn to share God’s love with others.
People: As Christ’s Body, we offer ourselves for the world.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“All People That on Earth Do Dwell”
found in:
UMH: 75
H82: 377, 378
PH: 220, 221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELA: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT: 371
“Now Thank We All Our God”
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELA: 839, 840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
“Help Us Accept Each Other”
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558
“Father, We Thank You”
found in:
UMH: 563, 565
H82: 302, 303
ELA: 478
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“In Christ There Is No East or West”
found in:
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439, 440
AAHH: 398, 399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394, 395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELA: 650
W&P: 600, 603
AMEC: 557
“Near to the Heart of God”
found in:
UMH: 472
PH: 527
NNBH: 316
CH: 581
AMEC: 322
“O God of Every Nation”
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELA: 713
W&P: 626
“I Am Loved”
found in:
CCB: 80
“Unity” (“Jesus, Help Us Live in Peace”)
found in:
CCB: 59
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created us from one earth and who breathed into us your own Spirit: Grant us the grace to treat each other with dignity and to seek the good of the other person as much as we seek our own; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are our creator and parent. We come as your children to hear your instruction and guidance for our lives. Help us to heed and mark those words, that we might live in peace and charity with all our sisters and brothers. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways we value ourselves above others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have become so concerned about our own needs and wants, our own value, that we have failed to care for others. When we feel slighted or in any way misused by others, we are more likely to strike back than we are to forgive. We are more comfortable with revenge than we are with salvation. Forgive our self-centeredness, and strengthen us with your Spirit that we may truly follow in the path of Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.
Leader: God, who created us all in the divine image, loves and forgives us all. God grants us the power to amend our lives and to bring to wholeness the relationships that have been broken.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise your name, O God, because you have created us as a human family, all belonging together.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have become so concerned about our own needs and wants, our own value, that we have failed to care for others. When we feel slighted or in any way misused by others, we are more likely to strike back than we are to forgive. We are more comfortable with revenge than we are with salvation. Forgive our self-centeredness, and strengthen us with your Spirit that we may truly follow in the path of Jesus of Nazareth.
We give you thanks for all the blessings of this life. We thank you for the beauty of creation and for all that links us together with you and with all humanity. We thank you for our brother, Jesus, who came to teach us how to live as your children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need, and we lift up today those who have been separated by injury and revenge. We pray for families and countries that are broken apart by hurts both real and imagined. Send your Spirit of healing wholeness upon all of us that we may learn to live together in peace.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about having a fight with their friends. Ask if they have ever gotten angry or sad when someone wouldn’t share a toy or took something of theirs or said something mean. It is easy to want to get angry and do something mean right back. But Jesus knows that will not make us better people and it will not make the other person better. That can only be done by being loving and kind.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Other Cheek
by Elaine M. Ward
Matthew 5:38-48
There once was a boy who was always fighting. If someone accidently touched him, he hit them with his fist. If someone called him a funny name, he kicked them. If someone laughed at him, he beat up on them. After a while the others learned to fight back, and the boy came home lonely, with bruises and bad feelings.
One day someone asked as they ducked his blow, “Why do you want to fight?”
“To show I am stronger than anyone else!” The boy clenched his fists.
“Does that make you feel good?” asked the other as he ran.
The boy asked himself: “Does fighting make me feel good? Of course, winning is good. But winning is lonely.”
The next time a child made a face at him, as he began to beat up on him the voice said, “Turn the other cheek.” The boy turned his head the other way and continued hitting the other.
“No, silly, I mean if someone hits you on one cheek, turn the other, so he can hit that one too.”
The boy was so surprised by such a silly suggestion that he stopped fighting long enough to laugh. The more he thought about it, the harder he laughed. He laughed so loud the others heard him and began to laugh. Soon everyone was laughing, and it felt so good to be laughing together that the boy laughed even longer.
“This is better than fighting!” he thought. Since that day, whenever anyone calls him a funny name he laughs, remembering the silly but wise advice someone gave him long ago.
Talk together: Do you like to fight? Who said “Turn the other cheek. Forgive”?
Prayer: Dear God, help me remember Jesus’ words when I am angry. Remind me to count to ten or laugh and “turn the other cheek.” Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 23, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
