Giving as an Act of Resistance 10-21-12

The Reading: Philippians 2: 12-18 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing. Even if I am executed here and now, I’ll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ’s altar, a part of your rejoicing. But turnabout’s fair play—you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for me. The Middle Reading Psalm 119 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. The Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:13-16 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Holy Parent in heaven. Giving as an Act of Resistance 10-21-12 God, we come to you with open hearts. Fill us with your ways and guide us in our steps toward you. May all that we think and all that I say bring you honor and glory. Amen I love cantaloupe—I love everything about cantaloupe. I love its color, its texture and its taste. I love it alone, I love it in juice, and I love it in fruit salad. I love the way the outside gives nothing away about what a cantaloupe looks like on the inside. It’s always exciting for me to cut into a cantaloupe—one that I’ve used the technique my grandmother taught me to use when I pick it out—it’s always exciting to get that first rush of cantaloupe fragrance and see just how good a cantaloupe actually came home with you from the market. Now, cantaloupe has one tragic flaw—no matter where you are, it is only “in season” for a brief while. I still remember the two weeks in August when the NJ cantaloupes appeared in every store or fruit stand in NY—best cantaloupes in the world, and then, woosh, they’re gone. Now, since I love cantaloupe so much, I do not want to limit my eating of cantaloupe to just a few weeks of the year. By the way, when is the true ‘season’ for cantaloupes in Florida? I can’t seem to figure it out. Anyway, I love cantaloupes all year, so what to do about the less than fully tasty ones that find their way into my refrigerator? It’s simple, really—you add salt. When you add salt to a cantaloupe that is less than fully the true taste of a wonderfully ripe cantaloupe, some, if not, most, of the taste is restored. The salt brings out the cantaloupe’s taste and, I am happily eating my cantaloupe once again. As strange as my “ode to the cantaloupe” might seem to you, it is exactly what Jesus is saying to us about salt in this passage. The translation that we used today is from The Message and I love the words that are used. “You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.” How cool is that? Our call is to bring out the God-flavors that are already present here on this earth. The God-flavors that have always been here. Just like my less than tasty cantaloupe was always a cantaloupe with hidden tastiness just waiting to be called forth by the salt I sprinkled on it, we are called to be the salt in a world that has pretty much hidden most of the God-flavors that lie inherently, just below the surface, waiting for the salt that we bring with our words, our actions, our acts of resistance, and our love for God and others. And, Church, the Body of Christ is where we learn about the ways and means of being salt in the world. Now, just like the cantaloupe, the Church has a major flaw. Fr. Henri Nouwen, one of the most compassionate men God ever created, says this about the church: “Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by. Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its center the Word of God and the sacraments of God's healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and again God's promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions.” Nouwen calls us to be the yes, to be the salt that reminds people that “God’s promise stands unshaken”. Not content with just one metaphor, Jesus adds another—“Light”. We are called to be the light in the world. Not “of” the world, “in” the world. That’s a confusion that some, if not many, well-meaning Christians make—we are not to be the light that everyone looks to and admires, we are to be the light that shows the way to those still seeking to find the path that leads to divine acceptance and grace-full peace. President Woodrow Wilson told a story about his experience of this Light in the world. He said, "I was in a very common place. I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself, to have his hair cut, and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. Before I got through with what was being done for me, I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D. L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect that his visit had brought upon the barber shop. They talked in undertones; they didn't know his name, but they knew that something had elevated their thoughts. I felt that I left that place as I should have left the place of worship. My admiration and esteem for Mr. Moody became very deep indeed." Notice that when President Wilson was in the presence of Dwight L. Moody, one of the greatest evangelists of the early Twentieth Century, he remembered, most of all, the “presence” of Mr. Moody. The barbers also knew that something had happened, though they could not explain what it was—they just knew that their own thoughts had changed and they were focused on what they called “higher” thoughts. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, calls this presence “God energy”. Be energetic in your life of salvation, “ says Paul, “reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God willing and working…” We learn from Paul that the energy to be the kind of presence in the world that D.L. Moody showed in the barbershop that day comes directly from God. And what happened in that barbershop is called “influence”. What kind of influence do you have as a Christian on your world? Do I have as your pastor? Does this church have in this community? How are we shining a light in this world to make a difference? Because we are in this world, in this community, we will have influence—we will make our community better or worse because of what we do. Jesus calls us to take seriously the impact that we have on this world. Knowing that some, indeed, put the lamp of their influence under the nightstand, Jesus calls us to break free from all that would tell us to stay under cover. Jesus calls us to shine the light of God’s love into every corner of the universe. Do we take seriously the impact for good or evil that we have in this world? I’m not sure that we always do. In the early 19th Century, there lived a man named Elihu Burritt. Because of the death of his father, he was forced to become an apprentice to a blacksmith at age 15. He continued to study, though, especially languages from around the world and he became a great and well-known advocate for world peace. He helps us figure out what we are saying and showing with our own lives by this statement. Please listen carefully: "No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness. Not only of the present, but of every subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach himself [or herself] from this connection. There is no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark niche along the disc of nonexistence to which [she or] he can retreat from his relations to others, where he [or she] can withdraw the influence of his [or her] existence upon the moral destiny of the world. Everywhere, his [or her] presence or absence will be felt. Everywhere, [she or] he will have companions who will be better or worse because of him [or her]. It is an old saying and one of the fearful and fathomless statements of import, that we are forming characters for eternity.” How does all this salt and life talk fit into our conversations about giving? The title of the sermon is “giving as an act of resistance”. I believe that anytime we are salt and light in this world, we are resisting what the world, itself, calls us to be. We are resisting the call to materialism, the call to hatred and mistrust of the stranger, and the call to put our needs before the needs of others. I love the short, incredibly packed with meaning quotes from Albert Schweitzer. This man, who spent over 50 years of his life working in the African jungle as a medical missionary, was meeting with a group of students who admired him. He said this to them: “I don’t know what your final destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." In our living and giving, we have the ability to seek and find how to serve. This week, we have the opportunity to seek and find how to serve right here, right now. And when you do, your life and the lives of all those around will be brighter and more full of the flavor of God’s grace because you sought and you found—the grace-filled life of service. Amen and amen.