Stumbling Blocks of Faith: Ego Expectations



Job 38:1-7, 34-41
October 21, 2012

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

Have you been following the debates at all? I hope you have because it is an important part of living in a democracy. Now here's the big question: Have you noticed how much they misinterpret and intentionally mischaracterize what the other has to say? It's so frustrating when it happens.

I’m not talking about Barak Obama and Mitt Romney. I’m talking about the people watching the debates. I’m talking about us. Depending on which news source I tune into, I hear completely interpretations and messages about what the candidates have said. And It's quite amazing the disparity. Depending on their political sway, these folks only hear bad coming out of the opposite candidate's mouth, and only sweetness coming out of their candidate's mouth. Here’s my question: Why can’t people listen more objectively and neutrally to what the candidates are saying?

The answer is that we can’t hear what the candidates are really saying because our egos and our expectations get in the way. If we believe that Obama is a lefty socialist bent on turning us into European nanny state, then all we'll hear coming out of his mouth are socialist statements. If we believe that Mitt Romney is a fascist capitalist bent on turning us into a country of haves and have nots, then all we'll hear coming out of his mouth will be greedy selfishness. In both cases we will only hear what fits our expectations. Unless you are truly undecided, you hear your candidate speaking truth, and the other guy as speaking lies.

My focus, though, isn’t that state of politics today. My focus is on faith. I only started talking politics to get you to pay attention. My point is that the same dynamic that gets in the way of our political listening also gets in the way of faith and our ability to truly hear God. For example, when we read in the Bible we tend to only hear what we either already believe, or what fits with our theology. We ignore much of the rest. If you are a person who believes the Bible speaks mainly about personal morality and responsibility, you won't really hear much of what it says about caring for each other and giving up of ourselves. If you are a person who believes the Bible speaks mainly about social justice, you won't hear what it has to say about self-restraint and self-reliance. The same principles apply to what we hear in sermons. I've learned that sometimes people hear me saying things that I never said, but it's because they are listening for a particular point of view, and if I say something close to it, it will be the same as saying it. Also, when it comes to prayer, we tend to seek in prayer the answers we already want. Often people don't go to God in prayer being radically open to only what God wants. We go to God in prayer and seek answers that correspond to what we want, and so we sense in God only what we want to hear. Simply put, most of us only hear what we already believe.

The problem of only being open to what we already believe is an age-old problem. In fact the Bible is full of people who get surprised by God. Our story of Job for today is one such example. You may already know the story of Job, but if you don't, let me share it with you. Job is a great man and one of God's favorites. He is upright, faithful, good-hearted, and righteous. He has been rewarded for his faith by having several wives, many children, and thousands of sheep and goats. Job is a rich, happy, and blessed man. Up in heaven God has convened his court and is praising Job for his righteousness. Satan, or more accurately, Ha'Satan, is skeptical. The name, "Ha'Satan," does not mean "devil." It literally means "the Accuser." He is like a prosecuting attorney in God's court, the one responsible for literally being the devil's advocate. He challenges conventional thought, even in heaven, and he challenges God saying that Job really isn't that great.

Ha'Satan tells God that the only reason Job is faithful is due to God's blessing him so much. Take away all of his possessions, make him suffer, and his faith and righteousness will crumble. God says that, no, Job is faithful because Job is a righteous man. To prove his point, God tells Ha'Satan that he is free to do what he wants to Job, as long as he doesn't take his life.

Ha'Satan gets to work. He causes all sorts of calamities to happen to Job. The result is that Job's wives die, his children abandon him, his sheep and goats are stolen, and his home is destroyed. Job is left in the rubble of his home, covered with sores, scratching himself with pieces of broken pottery. Everyone has abandoned him except three friends. They sit with Job, but they accuse him, telling him that God is good and would never do this to anyone unless that person had done something to deserve curses. Job defends himself, telling them that he has done nothing, and that he will neither curse nor accuse God. He will not admit to something that he has not done. Job remains faithful.

In the end, God is vindicated and tells Ha'Satan to restore everything to Job plus more. Job is upset, though, and in his anger questions God about why God would do these things to him. In essence, he tells God that a good God would never treat Job in such a way. Job calls God to defend God's self. And God's answer isn't gentle.  God says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?”

In essence, God challenges Job, saying, “You know so little of anything. How can you assume that you could understand anything I do? If you know so much, show me your wisdom so that I can compare it to my own.” God smacks Job down, saying that he thinks he knows so much when he knows so little. I don’t know that we get smacked down by God much, but certainly we think we know so much when we know so little.

In the world of faith and spirituality today, people tend to only be open to their already preconceived ideas—to what they think they know. They tend to be open to what they already expect. For example, let's take the issue of church worship. If you are a person who only believes that traditional worship, with all music being played on an organ, is what God wants, then you will only accept that kind of worship. About two years ago I spoke with such a person. I was spending a weekend giving a talk and preaching in a very traditional, wealthy church in which virtually all the music was played on the organ. During one of my talks I mentioned that organ music never did much for me. I never said it shouldn't be played. I just said that as an instrument it grated on my nerves rather than inspiring me.

A woman came up to me during the break and told me that she was bothered by what I said. Se told me that my problem was that I probably had never heard the organ played well. I responded that I had grown up in a church in which the organist was virtually always a professor of music at Duquesne University or the University of Pittsburgh, and that I had heard organ played as well as it could be played. I told her that the problem wasn't the quality of the playing, it was the instrument itself. She then went on to tell me her theory that traditional, classical music—especially played on the organ—was God's music. And that while God accepts lower forms of music if it's the best a church can offer, God's preference is for classical music. I mentioned the fact that we have the Wayside Choir (an Africa-American choir of recovering addicts) come to our church periodically, and that their music was outstanding. What did she think of African-American gospel music? She said, "God accepts it because it's the best they can offer, but it's not the pinnacle of God's music."

It's interesting that apparently God's favorite music was the kind of music she liked best. What a coincidence! My point? She could only accept spiritually what she already expected. She expected that God's music was the same as her favorite music. So in a church like that, there's not much chance that they could sense a call to branch out into other forms of music.

In contrast, there are a number of contemporary churches that reverse this kind of thinking, believing that their music—new music—is the only true kind of inspirational music, and that other forms, such as organ music, are archaic, passé forms of music. Again, they can only hear what they already believe.

It's not just in worship that this dynamic of only seeking what we already believe comes into play. This kind of closedness to what we don't value or expect is common when it comes to our theology and spirituality. The fact is that typically members and pastors of Mainline churches, such as the Presbyterian Church, don't read much of what is published in the Evangelical church world. It's almost like an unwritten rule that we can't read their stuff because somehow it might taint us. Meanwhile, Evangelicals really won't read much of what Mainline church denominations write. Personally, I have been formed not only by writings from both traditions, but also from writings from the Catholic, Orthodox, and other traditions. I discovered that it’s amazing what you can learn when you are willing to listen for God as God speaks through all traditions.

I do some work, as part of my ministry, working with pastors as a counselor or spiritual director. Many are either stringently Mainline or stringently Evangelical. When I find them to be closed to the other perspective, I'll push them to read materials from the tradition they are not. The reason is that I want to expand them to discover how God may be speaking to them beyond their expectations. And it's amazing to see the transformations in them when they discover not only that these writings aren't evil, but that they open them up to God in ways they never expected.

The fact is that our egos and our expectations always get in the way of our truly, deeply, and expansively, experiencing God. Let me show you what I mean. A long time ago there was a small village that sat below a great dam. One spring torrential rains hit the area, overwhelming the dam. With a loud “CRAK!” the dam broke. The waters rushed toward the town. The people ran for their lives. In the village lived a pastor of deep faith. He was working on a sermon on trusting in God. Listening out his window he heard people running and yelling, calling for everyone to evacuate. He wasn’t sure what to do, but finally he decided that this was a time for him to practice what he was about to preach. He wouldn’t run away like all the others. He would stand and have faith, waiting for God to save him—demonstrating what faith can do. Slowly the waters rose around his house. In time, a man in a rowboat rowed by and yelled to him, “Reverend, Reverend!  Get in the boat!  I’ll take you to safety.” The pastor said, “No, no, friend. I have faith. God will save me.” 

The waters rose higher, and they forced him to retreat to the second floor. Soon, a couple in a motorboat came by and said, “Reverend, Reverend! Get in the boat! We’ll take you to safety.” The pastor said, “No, no, friends. I have faith. God will save me.” 

Eventually the waters rose so high, they forced him onto the roof. A helicopter came and hovered over him. The pilot yelled down, “Quick, man! Grab the ladder! We’ll pull you to safety!” The pastor yelled back, “No, no my friend. I’ll trust in God. You can leave me here.” In time, the waters rose even higher, and the pastor drowned. 

Standing before the pearly gates, St. Peter welcomed him. The pastor was furious: “How could this happen? How could God have let me die? I had faith! God was supposed to save me!” Peter smiled a sad smile and said, “What did you expect?  God sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter.” 

We often are like the pastor on the roof. We desperately want to hear and experience God, but we’re only ready if God acts in ways we expect,… in ways that we DEMAND. It’s really hard to let go of our ego that demands God be in our image, and our expectations that God works in our ways.

So how do we let go of our ego expectations? Let me offer you two thoughts:

First, assume you don’t know: I think that one of the biggest problems we have is that as little as most of us know about religion, we often think we know a lot. And sometimes it's the ones who know the least who think they know the most. It is said that the more you know the more you know you don’t know. There's a reason for this. I've discovered, through all of my education, that the more answers I get, the more questions I have—new questions, different questions. And the more I've learned, the more I've understood the impossibility of ever learning enough. No matter how much we know, we eventually get to the point that the great Renaissance theologian, Thomas Aquinas got to. Near death after a terrible illness, and after writing amazing books on theological understanding, he had a vision of God. It left him saying, "My words are like straw." What he meant is that he got a glimpse of God's greatness, and nothing he had written came even close to capturing it.

Thinking that we really know is the greatest arrogance of all. And too many religious people think they know waaaaay more than they really do. We only get glimpses of God’s truth. We never get the full scope of it. We only get a fragment of it. And we have to figure out the rest of it based on the little we have. The problem is that too many people think their glimpse of everything IS everything.

The way I think of this is much like looking at the church’s stained glass window, which portrays Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Imagine that you only saw the glass of Jesus’ hands praying. What theological system would you create out of that? You might say that the hands are praying hands, but the way they are curved could also lead you to think they were hands cupped around a mouse, or a piece of bread, or that were just relaxing. Any number of theologies could be developed around them. We get these kinds of glimpses and think that they can help us recreate a whole stained-glass window. A glimpse of God’s truth is not the same as the whole truth.

We get only glimpses, so we don’t really know anything to the depth that we think we do. The first step of letting go of our ego expectations so that our faith can really grow is to begin assuming that no matter how much we know, we really don’t know.

Second, learn to live in wonder and awe. I think that this may be one of the biggest antidotes to stumbling on our own arrogance. Too many of us think we know so much in this day and age that we’ve lost the ability to see the world as a wonder. We’re so scientifically, philosophically, and historically advanced that we get lulled into looking at the world with rationalistic, reductionistic eyes.

The world is filled with God’s wonder, and everything reveals God by giving us glimpses of the divine. What we need to do is to pay attention as though God is speaking through everything,… and everyone. God is speaking to all of us all the time. And we can sense God’s presence and wonder, if we can just get out of our own way. To live in wonder and awe means to see every moment as potentially being filled with God’s presence, God’s grace, and God’s love.

Are you able to let go of what you expect and demand in order to see what God is doing?

            Amen.
at

Stumbling Blocks of Faith: The Lure of Entertainment

-->


Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
October 14, 2012

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

            When I was studying for my doctorate in spirituality, I learned a lot, but one of the best lessons I learned in terms of growing spiritually was how to pay attention to, and set aside, what gets in the way of growing spiritually. It was emphasized over and over that growing spiritually wasn’t just about praying, discerning, and doing things like that. To grow spiritually a person always needs to spend time looking at what obstacles get in the way, and what facilitating conditions help grow, the spirit.

            In essence, if you want to change, grow and get closer to God, first figure out what’s getting in the way. Then you can figure out what would make the way better. For example, if your lifestyle is getting in the way, let that lifestyle go and create a lifestyle that opens the way. If your attitude is getting in the way, let go of that attitude and adopt one that opens the way. If your doubt and skepticism are getting in the way, set them aside and start seeking in a way that opens the way

            Since looking at obstacles and facilitating conditions is so important, I wanted to spend time in a sermon series looking at them. So for the next month or so we’ll be offering a sermon series titled Stumbling Blocks as a way of identifying those obstacles that typically get in our way of drawing closer to God. This morning I want to start with what I think is one of the most significant stumbling blocks to spiritual growth: Entertainment.

            When I look at the world around us, perhaps the biggest obstacle I see to spiritual growth is the fact that we live in an entertainment culture. Everywhere we go, there is entertainment. For example, whenever you get home from whatever you’re doing, what’s one of the first things you do? Many, many people start by turning on their televisions or radios. If you’re younger, the first thing you might do is grab your iPod or turn on the computer to look at entertaining websites, whether that’s YouTube, game sites, or blogs. When you get in the car you turn on the radio for music or talk, plunk in a CD for music, or plug in our iPods or smart phones. We are an entertainment culture, and we can’t avoid it.

            The grunge rock group, Nirvana, recognized this aspect of our culture in the early 90s. Perhaps their biggest hit was a song called “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The song has a driving beat to it and a tune that lulls you in softly, till they rock hard with the refrain:  “Here we are now, entertain us / Here we are now, entertain us / I feel stupid and contagious / Here we are now, entertain us.” The irony of the refrain is that it was a cynical comment on their own generation, yet, ironically, millions bought the song in order to be entertained. And thousands went to their concerts, singing the lyrics as they were entertained.

            I’m not saying that entertainment is bad. As a man whose wife complains that he watches too much T.V., I am often under its sway. But I also know that there’s a difference between enjoying entertainment and having it kill our spirits.

            For example, I’ll intend to sit in prayer for twenty minutes, but first I’ll see what’s on television—for a moment that turns into several hours. Or I’ll plan to read the Bible, but first I’ll check my emails or surf the net. An hour later I’ve wasted my “spiritual” time. Or I’ll plan to do some devotional reading, but first I’ll check my smart phone. Thirty minutes of Angry Birds later I’ll have run out of time.

            The lure of entertainment tugs at us constantly. Humans don’t want to be bored. We don’t like it when there’s nothing to do, so we seek out entertainment constantly. This gets to the heart of the problem so many non-churchgoers have with church. Especially younger people who complain that worship is boring. They are right to some extent. At Calvin Church we do try very hard to make elements of our worship both stimulating and entertaining, but we are also very clear that what we are trying to do is to lead people to an experience of God. We are not trying to just be entertainment. We expect worshipers to work at worship.

            There’s a real struggle in the Christian world right now in recognition of our need for entertainment. Some churches have decided that they will not try to entertain at all, and most of them are shrinking dramatically. Others recognize that the unChurched are shouting out, “Here we are now, entertain us,” and so these churches work hard to make entertainment the focus of worshiop. I mentioned several weeks ago that one of the local, contemporary, evangelical churches posted this on their pastor’s Facebook page: “Know guys who think church isn't for them? Invite em to [our church] tomorrow. Promise the experience will be more ‘football’ than ‘church.’” That’s part of our problem. To what extent do we try make worship entertaining like a football game, and to what extent do we hold fast? 

            Why do we need to be entertained so much? The problem is that entertainment makes members of our brain committee stronger than they should be. I’ll say that again: The problem is that entertainment makes members of our brain committee stronger than they should be. Huh? What?

            What most people don’t understand about their brain is that it is more like a committee than it is like little mini-Me in our brain running things. In recent years neurologists have recognized that our minds aren’t really a “Me” but a “We.” Your brain is made up of a collection of Me-s, such as the intellectual-rational Me, the emotional Me, the hungry-thirsty Me, the sexual me, the spiritual-religious Me, and the stimulation-craving Me. This brain “committee” accounts for why dieting and exercising is so hard. You can convince your brain committee to start a diet, but over time other Me-s whine and rebel. Diets aren’t very stimulating. Eventually the emotional, hungry-thirsty, and stimulation-craving Me-s demand tastier food and drink as diet-fatigue sets in.

            Growing spiritually is really about giving the spirituality task force of your brain committee more authority. But that has to be an intentional choice. It means becoming willing to forego entertainment in the service of growth. The fact is that too much entertainment stunts growth—mental, emotional, and especially spiritual. The fact is that growing spiritually is a struggle.

            I think that the conflict between being entertained and seeking God is so profound that it accounts for why so many celebrities seek spiritual programs. Part of growing spiritually is making choices about what will or won’t dominate our lives. The challenge is finding a way to live IN an entertainment culture but not be OF it. Which part of your brain will you let lead your life?

            Amen. 
at

Reaping Spiritual Fruits: Gentleness




James 3:13-18
September 30, 2012


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

            No matter what you think of football, and especially of the Indianapolis Colts, you still have to love its former coach, Tony Dungy. There are two clear reasons. First, and maybe most important for us Pittsburghers, he’s really a Pittsburgh Steeler at heart. He began his professional career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and led the team in interceptions during its 1978 Super Bowl winning season. He also began his professional coaching career under coach Chuck Noll, eventually becoming defensive coordinator in 1984.

            You also have to love Tony Dungy even more, as Christians, because he understood deeply how to bring Christian faith into a vocation that isn’t entirely friendly to Christianity. The fact is that football isn’t a religion-friendly profession, no matter what Tim Tebow does, and no matter how many players pray, genuflect, or gesture religiously on the field. Just the fact that it’s played on Sundays takes it out of the religious sphere. Football is a harsh sport filled with cursing, trash-talking, violent players and coaches. But Dungy brought a different spirit as coach. According to players, he never cursed, and over time the players said that it diminished their desire to curse. They also said that playing for him made them better people. Not just better football players, but better public figures, husbands, fathers, and men.

            Where did Dungy learn to be this way? Much of it he learned from his father. He cites one specific incident that taught him how to cultivate the fruit of gentleness throughout his life—personal and professional. He says, “My dad was usually a quiet, thoughtful man. A scientist 
at heart and by training, Wilbur Dungy loved to be 
outside, enjoying the scenery. Fishing allowed him 
time to contemplate, to listen, and to marvel at God's
creation. My dad used fishing to teach his children to
 appreciate the everyday wonders of the world God
 created—the sandy shoreline, the dark, pine forests, the shimmering water, and the abundant wildlife. The lessons were always memorable, whether we caught a lot of fish or not.

            Although we fished countless times together throughout our lives, one particular day stands out in my mind. It was a summer day in 1965. Summers in Michigan are beautiful, with comfortable temperatures and clear, blue skies. I was nine years old, and my brother was five. My dad had taken us fishing at one of the many small lakes around Jackson. On that day, my dad was teaching my brother and me how to cast. We were both working on it, mostly in silence, until my dad's voice finally broke a period of stillness. ‘Hey, Linden, don't move for a minute, please.’ I looked back and watched my dad move his hand toward his face. Calm and deliberate, he continued to speak.

            “’Now, Linden, always make sure that you know not only where your pole is when you're starting to cast’—at this point, I realized my dad was working my brother's hook out of his own ear—‘but also make certain that you know where everyone else is around you.’

            “I learned something about proper casting that day, but I also learned something about patience. Years later, when I got hooked myself, in my hand, I realized how much it hurts. Remembering my dad's patience that day when Linden's hook was caught in his ear, I finally understood the importance of staying calm and communicating clearly.” (from the book, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life, by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker).

            What Tony Dungy also learned is how important the spiritual fruit of gentleness is. The fact is that we do not live in a gentle culture. Americans have a lot of virtues—creativity, faith, hard work, respect for freedom, and things like that—but we aren’t necessarily a very gentle people. You’re welcome to disagree, but if you look at our politics, most prominently our present election season, you’ll see that we aren’t very gentle, especially with those who disagree with us.

            Americans have a hard time with gentleness. It’s not just in politics. We aren’t particularly gentle with our sports teams. If the team is doing well we’re supportive, but if they aren’t we want to throw the bums out and fire everyone. If a player makes a mistake, especially a big one, we can be incredibly harsh in our criticism.

            The television shows we watch are harsh. If you are a devotee of reality t.v., you are a devotee of a particularly harsh form of television that celebrates conflict, subversiveness, and criticism. Dramas also lack gentleness, with a focus on the drama of conflict. There may be periods of gentleness, but that belies the harshness underneath. And most comedies find their humor in the bite of repartee and witty criticisms.

            You know, it’s because of the need of for the fruit of gentleness that Fred Rogers—Mr. Rogers—got into television in the first place. He had been a seminary student at my seminary, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, in the 1950s when he first saw television at his parents’ home. He was shocked by its harshness, especially in children’s television. Instead of walking away from it, though, he was fascinated with it. He was convinced that television could be a gentle influence on children’s lives. So he postponed his seminary education and moved to New York City to work in this new medium with NBC.

            Eventually he moved back to Pittsburgh and started working for WQED, a new public television station. His focus was children’s programming. For the next eight years he developed characters that would eventually find their way onto Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. During that time he also took classes at Pittsburgh Seminary, eventually graduating and being ordained as a Presbyterian pastor in 1963.

            In 1963 he moved to Toronto to work for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and developed a 15-minute show, Misterogers. Moving back to Pittsburgh and WQED in 1966, he bought the rights to his show, and developed it into Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. The purpose of his show was to gently teach children principles of the Gospel and of life. Mr. Rogers was an icon of gentleness in an otherwise harsh world, and through his actions he embodied the gentleness of Christ.

            In a lot of ways, the fruit of gentleness is the simplest of the spiritual fruits, but it can be really hard to forge deeply in our lives because of the pressures of culture. This is especially for men. We’re taught to be strong, tough, not to cry, and to be mini-John Waynes. We tend to confuse gentleness as weakness, and we think that to be gentle means to have no backbone. To be gentle as a man can feel as though we are breaking a taboo, which says that we must be tough and gruff.

            What helped me to work my way through this gentleness dilemma was was something Adrian van Kaam taught. He said that to live a deeply Christian life we need to be both firm and gentle. We can’t become so gentle that we become sacrificial lambs, but we also can’t become so firm that we become rigid and harsh. When we are firm with others, we need to be so in as gentle a way as possible, seeking what is good and best for everyone. When we are gentle, we need to also maintain a sense of firmness with others that tells them that we have limits and boundaries that need to be respected.

            Jesus was the epitome of gentleness and firmness, and what is most interesting to me in this context is that Jesus was gentle with the weak and hurting, but firm with the strong and powerful. This is a reversal of what’s typical in our culture, where we are gentle with the powerful and firm and harsh with the weak.

            We are called to be a gentle people—gentle with each other, gentle with strangers, gentle with life. How is this fruit growing in your life?

            Amen.
at

Reaping Spiritual Fruits: Faithfulness




3 John 1-8
September 16, 2012

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.
I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

            I might be testing your powers of observation with this one, but If you haven’t noticed, I’m a guy. And one of the prerequisites to being a guy is that we have to like sports movies. It’s part of our DNA. If we don’t like sports movies, we get kicked out of the guy club—whatever the “guy” club is.

            Like a lot of guys, I get a little misty eyed over sports films such as Remember the Titans, which is the true story of the 1971, T.C. Williams High School football team, in Alexandria, Virginia, that was forced to integrate along with the school. Their new football coach was African-American, and the movie followed the struggles of the team to integrate on its way to winning the Virginia state championship. Another film that gets me misty-eyed is Miracle, which is about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that, against all odds, beat the Russians and also won the gold medal.

            The funny thing is that these are really the only two films I like that involve my favorite sports. I’ve seen a bunch of football and hockey movies, but for me most of them aren’t memorable. The irony is that the sports films I like best are in the sports I like the least. There are a number of baseball films that I love, Bull Durham, A League of Their Own, The Rookie, and Field of Dreams. There are a number of golf movies that I love, such as Tin Cup and The Greatest Game Ever Played. Also among my favorites is a basketball film, despite basketball being my least favorite sport of all. This film is called Glory Road. It chronicles the 1966 Western Texas University basketball team during its one and only NCAA Division I championship season. The team was notable because the players were predominantly African American, and the coach of the team decided to take a stand against the country’s bigotry by playing only the African American players against the all-white University of Kentucky in the championship game. The Western Texas team had suffered a fair amount of racial slurs and incidents, including the mugging of a player and the desecration of the players’ belongings at a hotel, during their championship season. The coach of the team, Don Haskins, made a monumental decision to only play his African American players to stand up against the bigoted belief by many whites that African Americans were too stupid and ignorant to win without white players in the mix.

            I didn’t bring this up so that I could give you a review of my favorite sports movies. I brought it up so that I could give you some context before talking about an inspiring scene in Glory Road. There is one scene that stands out to me because it reflects our passage and spiritual fruit for this morning:  faithfulness.

            The Western Texas team had a center and power forward named Neville Shed. He was a talented player, but he was also a timid player. In one scene, he and David Lattin, the towering starting center of the team, go up for a rebound. Shed is timid and gets bounced to the ground. The coach yells at Shed, calling him out for his timidity. The next day he busts into Shed’s dorm room and begins to pack Shed’s bags, telling him that he’s too scared to play for the team. Shed is devastated, and begs the coach to take him back, but Haskins is resolute, saying, “Here’s your ticket home.”

            Shed doesn’t know what to do. He spends time alone reflecting in anguish. Finally he shows up for practice the next day. The coach is in the middle of giving a speech to his players, telling them that they are talented, disciplined, but above all care about each other. This is important because Haskins is telling them that one of their fundamental qualities is their faithfulness to each other—they’re willingness to sacrifice and do what’s necessary for each other.

            After the speech, Shed comes up to Haskins and says that he’s ready to play. The coach dismisses him, telling him to go home. Shed persists, eventually yelling, “LET ME PLAY!” Haskins relents, letting him practice, and an inspired and tough Shed competes under the hoops. Gathering a rebound away from Lattin, he falls to the floor and breaks his nose. But he won’t leave the court until the coach finally tells him to get his nose fixed. Shed comes back on the court with cotton in his nose wearing a baseball catcher’s mask. He tells the coach that he won’t leave the court. Finally Haskins says, “Go get your nose fixed. We’ll need you in the game tomorrow.” 

            This was an important moment for Neville Shed because it turned around his whole life. He eventually was drafted by the Boston Celtics, played in the NBA for 12 years, and returned to Western Texas (later named the University of Texas at El Paso) as an assistant coach to Don Haskins.

            This scene from the movie inspires me because it speaks to the importance of faithfulness in overcoming obstacles. But even more importantly, it speaks to living life together. Without faithfulness to each other in our relationships, no matter what the situation is, life becomes harder.

            Teams cannot win unless their players are faithful to each other—unless the players are willing to trust, sacrifice, and give of themselves completely to others. Faithfulness is a key element of living a deeper life. Faithfulness is different from faith. Faith is trusting in God, but faithfulness is being able to be fully trusted by God, and a lot of Christians are missing this part of faith.

            So many people demand that God be available to them when they’re in need, but they’re not necessarily available to God the rest of the time. They’ll blame God for not answering their prayers, but they never ask the question, “Have I been a person through whom God can answer prayers?” They want God to be completely available to them when they are in dire straights, but are they available to God during good times, when life is going okay, or when they aren’t in need? Are they available to God when God is calling them to worship, prayer, study, service, and love?

            Paul emphasized faithfulness because he knew that to really experience Christ in our lives, to really discover the Holy Spirit, we have to be faithful and be committed to God and to each other. We can’t truly be Christian if we’re all about ourselves. Part of being authentic Christians means being available to others and being able to be trusted by others. John praised this kind of faithfulness in our passage.

            Our passage is a letter from John, or someone writing in John’s name (no one’s really sure, but that’s an issue for biblical scholars), praising Gaius for his faithfulness in taking in missionaries. Gaius not only took them in, but was generous with them, acting as a faithful host for Christ. John and Paul are saying that the willingness to be faithful to each other has to be at the foundation of our love for each other.

            We live in an unfaithful culture. People don’t want to be committed to each other. This is especially true in terms of faith. You hear people say that they are “spiritual but not religious.” I tend to be sympathetic to them because I recognize that they are accurately saying that most of our churches are religious but not spiritual. And in many cases they’re right because churches tend to be more about religious conformity or theological orthodoxy. Still, there’s a major problem with the “spiritual but not religious” way of thinking. Its fundamental flaw is that it is also a way of saying “I have faith but little faithfulness.” It says that we are not willing to be committed to others on the spiritual journey, and in that way it says that we aren’t necessarily willing to be committed to God on the spiritual journey. People today lack the willingness to commit to God as much as they want God to commit to them.

            Add to this all that we live in an entertainment culture, a culture in which we will only commit to that which is fun or has a payoff. Many people lack faithfulness because commitment isn’t always fun, and they don’t see church as being fun. I don’t know that I would agree that church isn’t fun (we try to make worship at Calvin Presbyterian Church both enlightening and fun), but I’ll admit that church isn’t fun like watching football. There’s a reason. Church isn’t meant to be entertainment. It is meant to help people grow spiritually, to grow closer to God, and to become mature. The fact is that like anything else designed to help us grow, whether it’s school or training programs, fun is secondary to learning and growing.

            Many of the non-denominational, contemporary churches recognize that they compete with entertainment. So they try to be entertaining. Let me give you an example of this. This past week one of the pastors of a local, non-denominational, contemporary church in Cranberry put this on his Facebook page to coincide with the start of the NFL season: “Know guys who think church isn't for them? Invite em to [our church] tomorrow. Promise the experience will be more ‘football’ than ‘church.’"

            That phrase, “more ‘football’ than ‘church’” says a lot about our culture, but it also hides the fact that faithfulness to God, as well as each other, takes work. I say this because I’ve done the work, as has Connie Frierson, our associate pastor.

            As pastor I’m trying to lead you to where I’ve been. I didn’t get my Master of Divinity to become a pastor. I did it because I had questions about God, and I was willing to do the work to get answers. I went on to get a Ph.D. in spiritual formation because I still had questions—more questions as a result of getting an M.Div.—and I wanted answers. I certainly didn’t do it because I would make more money from it. I’ve gotten no boost financially from my Ph.D. No one pays me more for it, but I was willing to do five years of work on it because I wanted to be faithful to God and work to grow.

            Connie and I also try to lead you into this kind of faithfulness—an availability to God that says we will not only trust God with our lives, but we will be people God can trust with life.

            I’m going to challenge you this morning. Look at your life. How are you faithful, and are you willing to grow in faithfulness not only to God, but to each other? For instance, if you worship every week, what else are you willing to do to take that next step? If you worship semi-regularly, are you willing to step that up and become more available to God? If you only come to church once in a while, are you willing to become more committed so that you can become more available to God? The point isn’t to get more people in church. The point is to get more God into you. What are you willing to do to become more faithful to God?

            Amen.
at

Reaping Spiritual Fruits: GENEROSITY




2 Corinthians 8:1-7
September 9, 2012

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints—and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you.
Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

            I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot of odd lessons as a pastor, some of which go against common wisdom. I’ve learned that there are some things in which what most people think makes sense doesn’t make sense. And what doesn’t make sense often does.  For example, I’ve learned that how long a wedding is has nothing to do with its length.  What?  Of course it has something to do with its length? Nope, it doesn’t. Here’s what I mean. 

            Imagine that you are at a wedding ceremony, and the pastor comes out and begins to talk. In the most dull, flat, unemotional voice possible he speak at a pace much like the pace of snow melting on a cold day. Get into your imagination someone like the teacher in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or the most boring professor you ever had. The pastor says, “Good morning,… welcome to the blessed nuptials of our bride and groom. I am Reverend Boring, and I am pleased to welcome you here today. Let us pray: ‘Almighty, omniscient God. Be with us in your blessed providence. Blissfully bestow upon us your sanctifying presence so that we can be lifted into your prevenient grace…’” You get the idea. Now imagine that the whole wedding is like that. He talks in lofty language at a snail’s pace, making it tedious, impersonal, and just plain boring. But it only lasts fifteen minutes. You would think that was the longest wedding you had ever attended.
           
            Now, imagine another wedding that lasts an hour-and-a-half, but Elton John plays the piano as Aretha Franklin sings songs. The wedding sermon is delivered by the greatest preacher you’ve ever heard, and his interaction with the bride and groom is intimate, down-to-earth, and funny. Kevin Costner or Meryl Streep reads the scripture and a poem. Oh, and the wedding is in the National Cathedral or somewhere like that. My guess is that you would be so taken with the wedding that the time would pass like that.  You see, how long a wedding is has nothing to do with its length.

            Another thing I’ve learned is that as a pastor, the things that get us criticized the most are often what earn us the most praise. The fact is that one of the most difficult aspects of ministry for any pastor is that we do get criticized, both personally and behind our backs. People criticize us for a lot of things—mostly for not being what they want us to be, doing what they want us to do, or saying what they want us to say. We get emails, phone calls, and personal visits from people who are disappointed in us. But on occasion we also get that dreaded anonymous letter blasting us for this or that. Yet the funny thing is that often the very things we get anonymous letters for are the things that we also get praised the most for, whether it’s for a sermon, a program, or an intervention. I had a great example of that ten years ago. As I was walking out of the sanctuary one Sunday morning, I overheard a member say to two others, “THAT was the worst sermon I’ve ever heard.” Later that morning another member came up to me and said, “I was in Fellowship Hall, and there were about 6 or 7 people at a table, and they all were saying how that was the best sermon they’d ever heard.” 

            I’ve also learned another important lesson: just as an accumulation of plaque kills your teeth, an accumulation of plaques kill your church. Too much plaque in your teeth gives you gingivitis, which you then have to clean out. Too many plaques in a church give people cringe-ivitis whenever a plaque-bearing item is moved or gotten rid of. People wince and say, “You can’t move that or change that. It was given by my great-great grandmother.” It’s because of this that we’ve developed a “no more plaques” policy in the church. Churches with too many plaques have a hard time adapting and growing.

            Final lesson I’ve learned: stewardship sermons reduce giving in a church. I learned a long time ago not to give stewardship sermons during the fall stewardship season because people tune them out. People don’t want to hear about giving money, whether it’s to a church or anything else. If we listen to public radio or watch public television, we turn the station or channel during pledge drives. Often churches that struggle financially talk more about the need for people to give more. The problem is that the more they do this, the more people get irritated and start to withhold their giving, or leave the church.

            What makes this final little factoid so odd is that “generosity” is considered to be so central to spiritual growth. We don’t like to hear about giving, but the Bible is very clear that you cannot grow spiritually or close to God if you are also not generous.

            We’ve been doing this sermon series on the fruits of the spirit since early August. Paul basically says that if we grow in the Spirit, and are really open to God in all of life, these are fruits that will naturally grow in our lives. So, in this series we’ve covered the fruits love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. Could you imagine tuning these other fruits out in the same way as we do the topic of generosity? For example, Rev. Frierson preached about kindness last week.  Can you imagine listening to her sermon last week and thinking to yourself, “Awwww man, they’re talking about kindness,… I can’t stand it when they talk about kindness. If they keep this up I’m leaving this church!” Why is the fruit of generosity so hard to hear about?

            By the way, I don’t bring up our not wanting to hear about money in church as a criticism of anyone in Calvin Presbyterian Church, but to point out human nature. One of the reasons I’ve been at this church for seventeen years has to do with your generosity. This is an incredibly generous congregation. As a result, I haven’t had to give a stewardship sermon for 15 years or so. And this sermon isn’t one, since we are months away from any kind of fall stewardship campaign. I preach on this topic this morning because it’s the fruit of the spirit that came up this morning.

            Many people want to grow spiritually and grow closer to God, and they recognize the power of love, prayer, peace, worship, and faith to get us there. But how often do people recognize the importance of giving, whether it is giving to church, charity, or someone in need? We are offering a class this fall from the Dave Ramsey program, Financial Peace University. Ramsey, who was a financial mess years ago, developed this program to help himself climb out of financial turmoil. Along the way he read the Bible and developed a fairly simple biblical formula. Give 10% back to God, put 10% into savings, and use the remaining 80% for your life. Ramsey says that financial peace begins with generosity with God.

            Paul makes generosity one of the central fruits, and he writes about the need for generosity constantly in his letters. Our passage for today is about generosity. He is praising the Corinthians and all of the other churches in Greece (what was then the Roman Province of Macedonia). Paul praised them for giving so generously to a mission in Jerusalem for widows. Back in those days, women were considered to be somewhere between human and chattel. If their husband died, it would be up to the husband’s family to take care of them. If the family decided not to the women would often be left to beg on the street or become prostitutes. The early Christian church created a mission to help them, house them, and love them. Paul praised the Corinthians for being so generous to help people they would never see or know.

            For Paul, generosity is a tangible, empirical measure of our spiritual growth. He recognized that if we say we are spiritual, but aren’t also exceedingly generous, our spirituality is hollow. Bob Leverenz understood the connection between spirituality and generosity. Back in the middle 1980s, the Allen-Edmonds Shoe Company had a catastrophe. Their factory burned to the ground, causing them to lose everything. They lost 50,000 pairs of shoes, sales records, machinery, files, everything. It threatened to destroy their whole business, leaving hundreds unemployed. In the midst of their struggle to figure out what to do, Bob Leverenz, president and chairman of the Leverenz Shoe Company in Wisconsin, threw them a life preserver. He called the president of Allen-Edmonds and offered him the use of their New Holstein factory until they could rebuild their factory. 

            His plan was that his company would work four ten-hour days from Monday through Thursday, letting Allen-Edmonds use the plant from Friday through Sunday. This radical plan captured the attention of the media throughout the country. Reporters from all over the country, including Dan Rather, interviewed Leverenz. The one question they asked was “Shouldn’t you be dancing with glee over the demise of a major competitor, rather than extending a helping hand?” Bob Leverenz would have nothing to do with that kind of thinking because his way of thinking had changed deeply a decade earlier.

            Back in the early 1970s, Bob Leverenz had gone to a conference in Miami, Florida, where he heard Leighton Ford, a lieutenant of Billy Graham, speak. Ford had challenged the business leaders to renew their commitment to Christ in the workplace, seeking what God wanted, not what people or convention wanted. Leverenz came back from that conference determined to commit himself to serving Christ in all of life. In the process, he read Romans 3:27-28, which says that we can do nothing to merit salvation, but that salvation has already been given to us as a gift. Reading this changed his life. He realized that he had been going about it all wrong. He had been trying to get into heaven by doing good things like going to church each Sunday, teaching Sunday school, and raising money for charity. They were rooted in self-preservation, not in Christ. He was trying to merit his own salvation. He realized that salvation was a gift given in love by Christ, and he needed to live his life sharing that gift of God’s love with others. This change in his understanding of what it means to be a Christian changed the way he managed his company.  

            You can see why reaching out to the Allen-Edmonds Shoe company was not a hard decision. It was a decision that emerged out of prayer, and the result was that both the Leverenz and the Allen-Edmond companies emerged as healthier companies. It is amazing what can happen when we root our thinking in God’s kingdom instead of the world’s (story adapted from “The Vote Was Unanimous,” found in Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul).

            Giving is about money, but it’s about so much more. It’s about adopting a generous spirit. How generous we are is a measure of how close we are to God. If we horde and hold things close, we are very far away. But if we are willing to give, especially when it cost, we are very, very close

            Amen.
at

Reaping Spiritual Fruit; Kindness, Rev. Connie Frierson


      
Psalm 103  Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness
Of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, 
 bless his holy name. 
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 
4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. 
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger for ever. 
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; 
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. 
13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 
14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word. 
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. 
22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
    

         Here we are again continuing our fruity series.  The fruit of the day is “Kindness.” Actually I started thinking about a guy I knew in law school. I hadn’t thought about him in years.  Perhaps I started to think about this guy because he was one of the kindest law students I knew.  The words law student and kindness do not always go well together. But they did with this guy. Ken was so nice. He would do things just to make your life easier or because he saw a need. Once a friend of mine came down with a fast moving flu and he drove her home.  That was a good deed in and of itself given the daunting task of catching a bus while sick. But Ken went on to go to the grocery store and buy some chicken noodle soup, Kleenexes and Tylenol.  Ken was that kind of guy.  He went the second mile out of kindness. He was also very good looking. He was working his way through law school as tennis pro at a country club.  But frankly lots of people in law school thought Ken was a little bit of a “himbo” That is the male equivalent of a bimbo. Ken had a problem.  He was failing law school. And this failure was really hard to understand. Ken wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t lazy. But he was really struggling.  No one wanted this guy in their study group. Because law school is all about getting ahead and class rank, many study groups didn’t want a student who was dead weight.  They wanted a study group member that would bring the whole groups GPA up. But Ken was so kind that a group of us invited him to study with us. 
     As we would study together I realized what Ken’s problem was.  He couldn’t connect the dots. He looked at every case we read and every fact in every case, and Ken tried to remember it all, each and every dot. For Ken all the legal precedent looked like a huge polka dot world.  He was drowning in little pixels and couldn’t see the big picture.  Ken didn’t know what was important so he tried to remember everything. The fact is we can’t remember everything.  But if we remember the most important things, then we will get it right.
         God knows this about us.  We are limited people who used to be dust. You can’t expect a pile of dust to remember everything. Every dot is too much for us. But we can remember nine things. These are the big themes, the primary colors that give life meaning.  The nine colors that we paint with in life are the Fruit of the Spirit; Love. Joy, Peace. Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  Nine things. That’s one less than a telephone number and area code.  Get these right and we will be bearing the right fruit.  Get these things right and we will bear a resemblance to God. You see we often need to draw back from every little dot and see the whole picture. Whether it is Ken’s study problem or our hectic lives we need a way to sort out the most important things.
         But why? When we talk about spiritual fruit I don’t think we get it. But listen. You identify a tree as an apple tree because it grows apples, a pear tree because it grows pears. You identify the tree by its fruit.  God says we should be able to look at our lives and see where we are coming from. A tree should look like the parent tree. It is the same with spiritual fruit. We should start looking more and more like God. We don’t get to BE God, but we should start to bear a resemblance. We were made in the image of God. But we drifted or wrenched ourselves away from that good root.  Now as we grow, we should start bearing all the characteristics of God.  Those dots of our life should start to come together to create and image of God’s character in us.
         Back to my friend Ken, he needed to know what the big idea was.  Every case should stand for one legal principal, not 500 facts. When he got the big picture Ken’s understanding took off.  We need to know the themes, the essentials, the basic colors that God uses to blend our life into God’s image.  Our scripture today is Psalm 103.  I chose Psalm 103 because it talks about the fundamental essential characteristic of God. Four times in this psalm the character of God is described in our translation as steadfast love. The Hebrew word is hesed. The primary characteristic of God is this heavy hitter word, HESED, STEADFAST LOVE or LOVING KINDNESS. This loving kindness is essential to how we understand God and how we imitate God.
            We need to examine this word. In fact “word” is too narrow an idea. Hesed isn’t a word. It is a star.  More than a star, it is a constellation of stars, a constellation that shows a profound aspect of God. Hesed is the big dipper in the points of light that is God.  Hesed is used 240 times in the Old Testament. It is translated with these words, loving-kindness, steadfast love, covenant loyalty, grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness and mercy. This definition includes four of the Fruits of the Spirit rolled into one concept. In general, one may identify three basic meanings of hesed. These three meanings always interact -- strength, steadfastness, and love.[i] Any understanding of hesed that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. Love by itself easily becomes sentimental mush. Strength alone is daunting and distant.  Steadfastness alone suggests only the fulfillment of an obligation. But hesed is not only a matter of obligation but is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law. Hesed is not merely love, but loyal love; not merely kindness, but dependable kindness; not merely affection, but affection that has committed itself.  The Bible often speaks of someone “doing,” “showing,” or “keeping” hesed.  Hesed is always about action not just an idea or psychological state or an attitude. Love in action is Kindness.
         We think of kindness as the little things we do, small dots of light in our life.  But they are hugely important because they help us be the image of God. This is what the loving kindness of God is like. A man was fishing off a community-fishing pier. As he cast his line into the water he suddenly finds himself falling off the pier, down, down, down into the bay. Weighed down by his clothes and fishing gear, he begins to struggle to stay afloat. And so he lets out a cry for help. A fellow fisherman rushes to the end of the pier and asks the fisherman what he can do to be of help. The struggling man in the water shouts back, “Give me something to hold onto.”  Loving Kindness and Steadfast Love is what we hang on to about God. This is what we give to each other, not small things but little things that mean everything.
         One of the best examples of loving kindness is the story of the Good Samaritan. But what the Good Samaritan did is simply a series of small kind acts.  He stopped instead of walking by. He bent down and covered a wound. He gave someone a ride on his donkey. He walked to an inn. He gave two coins to the innkeeper. He said he would come back with more if necessary. Each item in the chain was a small step that led to the next and the next. They added up to a life saved.  These were the dots of action that God connected with the big theme of Loving Kindness. You never know when one small kindness may lead to another. You never know the results of some little gift of kindness.
         We don’t even know the good those little acts of kindness do for our own health. Bob Hope said, “If you don’t have any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”  Well the opposite is true too. A little loving kindness does wonders for your heart, and your mind and your soul. Kindness makes us happier.  On a biochemical level doing a small kindness raises your levels of dopamine.  So you get a “Helpers High.”  Kindness makes your heart healthier. With emotional warmth a hormone oxytocin is released.  Oxytocin relaxes blood vessels, lowers high blood pressure. Kindness slows aging. It reduces inflammation and free radicals. Kindness helps your relationships. It creates bonding.  Kindness is contagious. One anonymous 28 year old donated a kidney.  This one act had a domino effect of creating ten donors from the families, friends and acquaintances of the recipient.  It seems so logical that imitating God and growing into the person that God envisages in you would create a climate for health and happiness.  God is growing you dot by dot into God’s image.
         God’s love is contagious if it is lived out. You see this in our Psalm today.  The ending is a crescendo of blessing.  Angels bless. Hosts bless. Works, that is you and me and mountains and hills and leviathans and fish, all blessing. All that blessing leads to blessing the Lord with our very souls. Maybe we should do a little more blessing with kindness. Barbara Taylor Brown in the last chapter of her book, An Alter in the World suggests that we should start a spiritual practice of blessing.  We have gotten the wrong idea about blessings. We think only clergy can bless or only God can bless. But what if we lived lives that blessed. What if wherever we are we looked around and blessed, at the airport, in our work, at the store, in Fellowship Hall. We don’t bestow holiness with our blessing. We are just recognizing that God is already present with whoever we are looking at. Our blessing just says we want to be in on what God is doing. We want to look and act with steadfast love, with loving-kindness. Try it as a discipline for a week, for 40 days, for a lifetime.  When we do this we start to see God’s hesed everywhere and we get to be part of it. That changes us so we look more and more like the image of God, a fruit off the God tree. 
         Connecting the dots is important if it helps us to see God. We want the image of God burned into our heads and into our actions. So before we close our eyes for our closing prayer I have an activity for you all. Look at this slide and stare at the four dots in the center. There are four small dots horizontally spaced in the center.  Look hard at these four dots for about 45 seconds. As you do ask for the gift of sight, that you will see God’s face before you and so see the world more clearly.  As I pray us tilt your head back and close your eyes.

Holy and Gracious God.  Help us to see what is most important in life.  Let your spirit guide us as we seek to bless all we meet. 

 Amen.

[i] Vine's Expository Dictionary, p. 232
at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)