What On Earth Will Bring Us Together, God?
Sermon
Holy Email
Cycle A Second Lesson Sermons for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany
Object:
E-mail
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: In Christ's Name
Message: What on earth will bring us together, God? Lauds, KDM
How long must we wait, God,
for people to stop fighting
nations and nations
buyers and sellers
big ones and little ones
in-laws and relatives
husbands and wives
sisters and brothers
for me to stop fighting with me?
How long must we wait, God,
before we let the Christ Child come here?1
What on earth will bring us together, God? Lauds, KDM. Must it always be a tragedy -- children killing children, disaster of rushing wind, snow, or fire, or someone's war and famine? You and I unite quickly then. We are of same mind and same purpose then. We are at one with outrage and horror. We vow in the moment's intensity to act, to do, and to prevent. Our goal is to reach out to those who suffer. We mine our resources and spend our energy. Then we grow weary. Exhausted in spirit, we sit back doing little until the next calamity heats us.
On another level, some aspect of our nature wants us to be at odds with each other. At our worst, we sprint to speak the first challenging word. We appear to listen for a triggering twinge in another's manner that will either set off our cutthroat spirit or shrink us into distrust. Making a sport of one-upmanship seems more enticing than nurturing a spirit of friendship. In theory, you and I would get along with everyone. In reality, we look for what is different so we can dismiss another's validity. In fact, something within us wants to hate.
At first, a woman I will call Rosa Marlin was tempted to adopt such a bleak characterization of the human spirit. Dedicated to interpreting for the deaf, Rosa had accepted a mid-year contract to sign for an elementary school child. Tense about her first work day, she transposed her anxiety to the student's equally concerned parent. Working with the child would be fine, she said, but she feared the mother might hinder her efforts.
Then she remembered that she and the mom had the same goal. They both wanted to maintain the enthusiasm as well as the uninterrupted education of a little child. Working toward that common end, the interpreter and the parent were then able to respond to difficulties before they intensified.
When you and I turn ourselves around to the right direction, we come to appreciate what is different as potentially healthy variety rather than seeing it as a threat. When we pursue what we hold in common with others, we begin to reach new levels of respect -- both for others and for ourselves.
As an airplane prepared to land, a parent in a nearby seat kept up a commentary to distract his toddler son. "There's our runway down there, Ben," the dad said. "No, maybe it is not ours. I don't see a control tower. It must be another airport, one for smaller planes. Here's our airport. Just look at all those runways. There's the control tower. Big airports need a control tower."
The father spoke to his son as person to person, equal to equal. The words he spoke were not as important as his contagious attitude of interest in what he saw outside the window. A natural teacher, he chose to spend this energy engaging his young son. He also taught him how to divert his attention away from the discomfort of air pressure changes. What if you and I were to approach the world as teachers who spark curiosity about a kind of learning that dispels unhelpful myths about others?
The occasional sighted person feels insulted when a visually impaired person does not recognize who spoke at first "Hello." Rather than react with a bristle, some blind people suggest to sighted folk that it helps to identify themselves when starting an in-person conversation as they would over the phone.
A deaf woman relayed that at work, people said they would call her name several times. When she did not answer, they came up to her and asked, "Why are you mad at me?"
"I am not mad," she answered. "When I am concentrating on my work, I may miss you at first."
Others took the serious expression on her face as a sign of disagreement. "I am not disagreeing," she said. "I am working hard to follow what you are saying."
What if you and I were to respond to people with an interpretive attitude rather than a defensive stance? As includers instead of excluders? What if we were to give others the benefit of the doubt?
In today's lesson, Paul's prize question is, "Has Christ been divided?" In other words, "Don't make me your hero, people." People of Paul's day were becoming confused about where their allegiance lay. People in our day become similarly divided by a variety of admirable leaders heading a variety of deserving projects, all calling for our time and our commitment -- service clubs, fraternal organizations, support groups, churches, school booster clubs.
Paul wanted to make sure that early Christians understood they were not to elevate him to a position of veneration. The power of the gathered community of Christians comes from Christ, not Paul. Jesus, not Paul, was crucified. Through Christ's redemptive act on the cross, God, not Paul, forgives us and gives us the strength to take responsibility for overcoming what separates us from God, from others, and from ourselves. The subgroups of early house churches were subgroups. They were working parts of the whole church but not supreme themselves.
These days, the diminished number of clergy available to serve churches is generating a number of cooperative agreements among denominations. Years of vying to be the greatest, highest, or best denominational branch of the church did not work. Many church bodies first splintered then slivered under the pain of quarrel and misunderstanding. Having revised former discordant postures, many now focus on common ground. We are all beginning to appreciate the benefits of diversity. We are participating in a conversation of different approaches that being a church filled with all kinds of people requires.
If, in time, the loss of strong denominational identities should happen, it will have a better likelihood of being a positive development fueled by compassion and the understanding of common goals. This is far different from actions charged with the negative energy of tactics aimed at swallowing the other church. Today's denominations are moving closer to the reality of being working parts of the one, whole church of Paul's vision.
Among the world's great ethical thinkers is the eighteenth century philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Kant believed that the moral choices we make individually in our relationships with others, that is, our ethics, help to create the kind of world we live in.2 Kant had his own version of the Golden Rule. He wanted persons to do what is good and what is right not because of some self-serving end. Simply paraphrased, Kant's interpretation says, Whatever you are about to do, ask yourself this question first: What if everyone were to do that? Consider what would happen if your action were to become a universal law. When tempted to throw trash out of your car window, first ask: What would happen if everyone did that?
Our attitudes are contagious. Good will is contagious. If you and I are to further the cause of understanding and compassion, we must choose our attitudes with care. If we choose to approach the world as a positive place, a good place, then you and I will see that children's first experiences do not have to be in defense of themselves. Rather, our children will be free to reach out first to others in greeting.
You, O God, know what on earth will bring us together. Let us begin now.
____________
1. Copyright held by Brauninger.
2. See George F. Thomas. Christian Ethics And Moral Philosophy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955).
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: In Christ's Name
Message: What on earth will bring us together, God? Lauds, KDM
How long must we wait, God,
for people to stop fighting
nations and nations
buyers and sellers
big ones and little ones
in-laws and relatives
husbands and wives
sisters and brothers
for me to stop fighting with me?
How long must we wait, God,
before we let the Christ Child come here?1
What on earth will bring us together, God? Lauds, KDM. Must it always be a tragedy -- children killing children, disaster of rushing wind, snow, or fire, or someone's war and famine? You and I unite quickly then. We are of same mind and same purpose then. We are at one with outrage and horror. We vow in the moment's intensity to act, to do, and to prevent. Our goal is to reach out to those who suffer. We mine our resources and spend our energy. Then we grow weary. Exhausted in spirit, we sit back doing little until the next calamity heats us.
On another level, some aspect of our nature wants us to be at odds with each other. At our worst, we sprint to speak the first challenging word. We appear to listen for a triggering twinge in another's manner that will either set off our cutthroat spirit or shrink us into distrust. Making a sport of one-upmanship seems more enticing than nurturing a spirit of friendship. In theory, you and I would get along with everyone. In reality, we look for what is different so we can dismiss another's validity. In fact, something within us wants to hate.
At first, a woman I will call Rosa Marlin was tempted to adopt such a bleak characterization of the human spirit. Dedicated to interpreting for the deaf, Rosa had accepted a mid-year contract to sign for an elementary school child. Tense about her first work day, she transposed her anxiety to the student's equally concerned parent. Working with the child would be fine, she said, but she feared the mother might hinder her efforts.
Then she remembered that she and the mom had the same goal. They both wanted to maintain the enthusiasm as well as the uninterrupted education of a little child. Working toward that common end, the interpreter and the parent were then able to respond to difficulties before they intensified.
When you and I turn ourselves around to the right direction, we come to appreciate what is different as potentially healthy variety rather than seeing it as a threat. When we pursue what we hold in common with others, we begin to reach new levels of respect -- both for others and for ourselves.
As an airplane prepared to land, a parent in a nearby seat kept up a commentary to distract his toddler son. "There's our runway down there, Ben," the dad said. "No, maybe it is not ours. I don't see a control tower. It must be another airport, one for smaller planes. Here's our airport. Just look at all those runways. There's the control tower. Big airports need a control tower."
The father spoke to his son as person to person, equal to equal. The words he spoke were not as important as his contagious attitude of interest in what he saw outside the window. A natural teacher, he chose to spend this energy engaging his young son. He also taught him how to divert his attention away from the discomfort of air pressure changes. What if you and I were to approach the world as teachers who spark curiosity about a kind of learning that dispels unhelpful myths about others?
The occasional sighted person feels insulted when a visually impaired person does not recognize who spoke at first "Hello." Rather than react with a bristle, some blind people suggest to sighted folk that it helps to identify themselves when starting an in-person conversation as they would over the phone.
A deaf woman relayed that at work, people said they would call her name several times. When she did not answer, they came up to her and asked, "Why are you mad at me?"
"I am not mad," she answered. "When I am concentrating on my work, I may miss you at first."
Others took the serious expression on her face as a sign of disagreement. "I am not disagreeing," she said. "I am working hard to follow what you are saying."
What if you and I were to respond to people with an interpretive attitude rather than a defensive stance? As includers instead of excluders? What if we were to give others the benefit of the doubt?
In today's lesson, Paul's prize question is, "Has Christ been divided?" In other words, "Don't make me your hero, people." People of Paul's day were becoming confused about where their allegiance lay. People in our day become similarly divided by a variety of admirable leaders heading a variety of deserving projects, all calling for our time and our commitment -- service clubs, fraternal organizations, support groups, churches, school booster clubs.
Paul wanted to make sure that early Christians understood they were not to elevate him to a position of veneration. The power of the gathered community of Christians comes from Christ, not Paul. Jesus, not Paul, was crucified. Through Christ's redemptive act on the cross, God, not Paul, forgives us and gives us the strength to take responsibility for overcoming what separates us from God, from others, and from ourselves. The subgroups of early house churches were subgroups. They were working parts of the whole church but not supreme themselves.
These days, the diminished number of clergy available to serve churches is generating a number of cooperative agreements among denominations. Years of vying to be the greatest, highest, or best denominational branch of the church did not work. Many church bodies first splintered then slivered under the pain of quarrel and misunderstanding. Having revised former discordant postures, many now focus on common ground. We are all beginning to appreciate the benefits of diversity. We are participating in a conversation of different approaches that being a church filled with all kinds of people requires.
If, in time, the loss of strong denominational identities should happen, it will have a better likelihood of being a positive development fueled by compassion and the understanding of common goals. This is far different from actions charged with the negative energy of tactics aimed at swallowing the other church. Today's denominations are moving closer to the reality of being working parts of the one, whole church of Paul's vision.
Among the world's great ethical thinkers is the eighteenth century philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Kant believed that the moral choices we make individually in our relationships with others, that is, our ethics, help to create the kind of world we live in.2 Kant had his own version of the Golden Rule. He wanted persons to do what is good and what is right not because of some self-serving end. Simply paraphrased, Kant's interpretation says, Whatever you are about to do, ask yourself this question first: What if everyone were to do that? Consider what would happen if your action were to become a universal law. When tempted to throw trash out of your car window, first ask: What would happen if everyone did that?
Our attitudes are contagious. Good will is contagious. If you and I are to further the cause of understanding and compassion, we must choose our attitudes with care. If we choose to approach the world as a positive place, a good place, then you and I will see that children's first experiences do not have to be in defense of themselves. Rather, our children will be free to reach out first to others in greeting.
You, O God, know what on earth will bring us together. Let us begin now.
____________
1. Copyright held by Brauninger.
2. See George F. Thomas. Christian Ethics And Moral Philosophy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955).
