which way did our last chance go
& can we get out if we go right now
Did you know
that a second century theologian said the blood of Christian martyrs are the
seeds of the church? His name was Tertullian, and he did say that.
This week in
the Hawk Eye there were two stories with two very different depictions of
courage. In fact, if one were to describe the actions of these two different
parties as "heroic," you would have to admit, that these two
depictions are diametrically opposed.
First there
was the op-ed about the "courage," of those actors, film-makers and
financiers who created and distributed the film "Innocence of
Muslims." This film was obviously meant to offend, and now that there are
consequences to distributing this hate, all parties are attempting to wash
their hands of responsibility.
And, I must
sarcastically add, that it gets better still. When the president tried to be
diplomatic in handling these contentious issues and opposed interests, others
have had the "courage" to attack the president for any sort of
apologizing.
Apparently
the courage we need these days excludes the courage to apologize, the courage
to cultivate relationships, the courage to try to see all sides of the problem.
So there are
actions that some have called heroic.
And then there
are actions that, if they have been described as heroic, have not been made
publicly. The cover story was about little Remigio Ramirez. This five-year-old
was consistently physically assaulted as he simply got on the bus to go
to school.
We can only
image the courage it took that child to get on the bus each day and sit next to
someone who he knew would probably hit him. Sure, we all know how hard it can
be to go to school some days, and we can remember the times we needed to muster
up the courage to go to school for one test or another, but I doubt many of us
can fathom the courage Remigio must have mustered.
Still, one
has to wonder why it took at least a few weeks, the intervention of a mother
and story in the newspaper to stop this violence...
What if one
other student had stood with Remigio as he was hit? Would the bullying had
carried on so long? Researchers have found that when a crowd is around someone
being attacked, they are less likely to intervene. Isn't that tragic?
I remember a
rainy D.C. day when I got off the metro to see a man wallowing in the mud on
the curb. All I did was call the police from my cell phone, but as I went on
with my day to study the love of God I had to keep wondering why even that
little amount I did was more than all those other, more than likely, good
people...
Anyway, it
seems courage, like faith, is so needed for the very same reasons that it is so
hard to find...
Rather than
the courage to intervene, it seems like we live in a world where the only kind
of courage that exists is the courage to increase the threat, increase the
violence, the courage to constantly one-up each other...
We all agree
Martin Luther King Jr. was an important man, in fact he was probably one of the
most important figures in history.
Well, did
you know that very early in his career as a fighter for civil rights he almost
gave up?
He did.
One night in
Montgomery, Alabama a racist, more than likely a Christian, threw a fire bomb
into Martin Luther King Jr.'s house. Brother Martin was not home, he was at a
public gathering. His wife and child, however, were home.
No one was
harmed, but after that night Brother Martin had, what we call, the "dark
night of the soul." He had to search deeply to consider whether he was
going to continue this pursuit for civil rights.
Well we know
what happened, don't we. He did continue this work, and he paid the ultimate
price. On April 4, 1968 he was assassinated. I've been to Memphis and I wanted
to see the memorial. Well, let me tell you, it is a lot harder to find than
Elvis' house.
Regardless,
there is a rock there that has a poignant Bible verse, "Here come the
dreamer. Come now Let us kill him and see what becomes of his dreams."
Well we
know, Brother Martin's dream, thank heavens lived on. And although we have not
fully reached his dream, it still lives on and inspires people of many faiths.
But
honestly, we all know how hard it is to muster up that kind of courage. The
courage to get on a bus knowing full-well you are likely to be assaulted. The courage
to go to bed after your house has been bombed, and the next morning to get up
and continue the just-work that brought that bomb to your house in the first
place.
It seems we
cannot bring about that change in ourselves to end that cycle of violence.
Rather than committing to doing the right thing, peacefully; all too often we
resort to violence and threat-making. It seems, try as we might, we cannot
jettison the fear, and live courageously.
And, at the
end of the day, we must all wonder how our failure to turn from that fear keeps
us from living courageously, how that fear holds us back.
It isn't
hard to imagine how fear must have held Ramigio's friends from standing with
that boy as he was hit. It isn't hard to imagine how fear must hold leaders
back from commending a leader for apologizing to sincerely offended faithful
people.
Is it hard
to imagine how fear holds us back from following Jesus? Is it hard to imagine
how fear keeps us from living out our mission?
Personally,
there is the way other folks might look at us. If we follow we might look
funny, we might have to stand up for that dirty man who everyone is stepping
away from. If we follow we might have to stand next to that person no one will
speak up for. If we follow we might have to do something that would make our
friends think we're odd, weird, or even heaven-forbid Lutheran.
Or as a
congregation, there is the sacrifice we might be asked to make. We might have
to change ourselves, this place, the practices we have. If we follow we might
be asked to give doing things the way we've always done them. If we follow...
Well, we all
know those lists could go on ad nauseum.
That's the
problem with those never-ending lists, isn't it. It seems that, rather than
courage, all too often it is fear that motivates us.
Let us just
admit, we have been, we will be and we may even be afraid.
Think about
those fears. Now, breath in. Hold that breath. Now, release not just that
breath, but also those fears.
It isn't
that easy, is it?
So what
then, what will it finally take for us to overcome our fears?
What will it
take?
Well, I
don't have a magic answer for you. But I do have a message to proclaim to you:
Jesus calls you to follow him, follow him past those fears.
"Those
who want to save their life," he says, "will lose it."
Conversely, though, he goes on to add, "those who lose their life for my
sake and the sake of the Gospel, will save their lives."
In other
words, if we always stay afraid of those threats, spending all our time and
energy running, we're already dead, we've already lost our lives. We've spent
our God-given life running in fear.
But!
Oh, but
sisters and brothers, those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus and that
Gospel, will save their lives. Our lives will be saved because we will find
that in losing them, we're given a new life where we're freed from running from
our fears. We're given new life because we no longer live under those threats
that fearfully keep us from following.
Remember how
Tertullian said the blood of Martyrs is the seeds of the church? This statement
wasn't metaphorical.
When Jesus
first invited that crowd to lose their lives for his sake, or take up their
cross; he meant it. The cross, for as often as it is sentimentalized, was a
tool of death and humiliation.
When Jesus
invited that crowd to take up their cross, many of them did. Many of them
literally took up their cross, and they really died upon that cross.
But that
following of those in that crowd is the reason the movement Jesus began over
two-thousand years ago, still continues today. And there have been others,
Brother Martins and Oscar Romeros, who have given their life and in doing-so
have taken up their cross and found their lives in giving them up for Jesus and
that Gospel.
And here we
stand, a part of their heroic work. Here we stand, on the other side of their
fear.
Now, Jesus
does not ask us to pick up our crosses, to lose our lives for his sake and the
Gospel, because he is some kind of sadist.
No, Jesus
invites us to lose ourselves for his sake because, as Brother Martin and other
martyrs know, in a world that only knows the courage of violence, followers of
Jesus will find themselves upon a tool of death and humiliation.
So, although
that is the logic of the world, violence, Jesus invites us into another way of
life. A way that loses ourselves, and in so doing, finds a new way to live. A
way that is freed from the fear of that violence.
Jesus
invites us to lose our lives, not only because that is de fact what the logic
of violence will finally try to take from us, but also to live faithfully and
so freely.
This summer
many of us wrote the reasons we follow Jesus on these colorful little feet.
These feet have been glued to a large piece of paper and now they cover my door.
If you
didn't write why you follow on one of those feet, well there is still feet
cut-outs and glue on our activity-table by the door. Take one of those feet,
write why you follow and glue it to that paper.
But now,
think of the reason you wrote for why you follow, or the reason you're going to
write why you follow.
Think of
that reason. Think of the path that reason leads you down.
And now,
think the hard thing, think what keeps you from following. What fears keep you
from fully following the path your reason for following leads you down.
Now, hear
Jesus' invitation all over again, "Those who lose their life for my sake
will save them."
Find your
saved life in the promise of Jesus. Find that saved life and the path it leads
down in the hands of God's promise.
Find that
life, that life freed from fear.
Imagine that
life, that path. A life freed from fear, a life following.
That life,
fellow followers, is the life Jesus granted you in baptism. That life, sisters
and brothers, is the life God abundantly gives over and over in our
repentances. It is a life, members of Trinity, that is nourished by word and
meal. It is a life led by the Holy Spirit.
It is a life
God gives you. Claim that freed life. God offers it to you.
Amen.
Very nicely put. I like the idea of the feet following Jesus, propelled by the reasons of the walkers. On a side note, this scene popped into my head as I was reading your sermon.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8uoGTJmp3Q