Community Church Sermons
August 21, 2005
Romans 12:1-21
We
seem to have found the theme of “children’s games” running through our sermons
this month. Last week, we played “Connect The Dots.” Today, I want to invite
you to the “Three-Legged Race”.
Do
you remember that? That’s the race where one of your legs is tied to the leg of
a partner. Then, after the “Ready, Set, Go!”, the object is to run –
together - toward a finish line somewhere out in the distance – oftentimes with
hilarious results.
Now,
when I was a kid, my best friend Dennis Astrella and I used to own that race!
We were unbeatable! You see, Dennis and I were about the same height and build,
we were both pretty athletic, and we played so many sports together that we
knew each other’s moves like a book. Over the years of our childhood, we had
developed a kind of synergy. We were like Siamese twins. When one of us zigged,
the other one zigged. When one of us zagged, we zagged.
And
we cleaned up on the three-legged race. World champions!
Until
the day a teacher at our school decided to split us up. Dennis almost threw a
conniption fit – do you know what one of those is? – when he was assigned to a girl.
He looked over at me as if he had been given a disease! Of course, in those
days, all us boys believed girls had “cooties.” And against all his vehement
protests, they tied Dennis’ leg to the leg of the girl, and that was that.
Fortunately,
I did not get a girl. I got another boy who was 4-feet, 8-inches tall and
weighed about 695 pounds. They had to get an extra length of rope just to have
enough to get it around both our legs.
I
wasn’t too happy, but at least it wasn’t a girl. I looked over at Dennis and
made one of those faces that says, “I pity you!” But, for some reason,
he wasn’t looking at me. In fact, Dennis seemed to be looking out the corner of
his eye at the girl!
Ready
– set – go!
We
were off! Dennis and the girl took off like a shot, but they were different
sizes, different builds, had different life-rhythms! They teetered to the left.
Teetered to the right! And all at once they collapsed on each other. And Dennis
didn’t even seem to be mad! In fact, he even had a SMILE on his face. Go
figure!
In
the meantime, my partner and I were going nowhere fast. He zigged. I zagged. He
weighed 4,000 pounds. I weighed 130 pounds soaking wet. What do YOU think
happened?
You
know, I’ve often thought it would be so much easier if you could choose your
own partner for the three-legged race. If I could be matched up with someone
like Dennis – someone just like me, with the same moves, the same size, the
same level of ability – I’d never lose! I’d always win!
But,
I’d never grow.
Both
of our Scripture readings today paint a picture of faith as a great
three-legged race in which you don’t get a chance to select your partners.
Psalm 138 describes a very lowly person living among the proud. That’s a tough
match! Life is hard and difficult for the person of faith whose leg is tied to
those who have no faith. Yet, at the end of the Psalm, he sees purpose in this
mismatched three-legged race:
“The Lord will fulfill his
purpose for me;
your love O Lord, endures
forever;
do not abandon the works of
your hand.”
St.
Paul in Romans 12 makes the same observation. We are not alone on this planet,
we are not alone in our society, we are not alone in our church, we are not
alone in our families. God has placed each of us in a community of
people whose sizes, shapes, outlooks, experiences, values, strengths, weaknesses
are all different. And yet, Paul declares, each individual is an important part
of the whole. And Paul is not just writing to Christians! In verse 9, the
subject broadens to include those who persecute us and who we think are less
than ourselves. Listen to Paul’s words:
“Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute
you…Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to
associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited…live at peace with
everyone…if your enemy is hungry feed him…”
To
be a follower of Jesus means to have the whole world tied to your leg in the
great race of life. We believe – along with the Psalmist that God does not
abandon any of the works of his hand, including those who are not like us.
Along with Paul, we believe that followers of Christ are to live in
relationship not only with each other – which is hard enough! - but even with
our enemies!
And
learning to run with your leg tied to people different than yourself is both a
most difficult thing to do in life, and a most wonderful way to grow!
Henri
Nouwen was a wonderful example of this great truth. Born in the Netherlands,
ordained a priest, educated as a psychologist, a professor at Notre Dame, Yale,
and Harvard, an author of many books on Christian spirituality, Henri left it
all to go live his life among a community of mentally handicapped people in
Toronto. In one of his messages, Henri wrote:
I would like to speak
to you about the spiritual life as the life of the beloved. As a member of a community
of people with mental disabilities, I have learned a lot from people with
disabilities about what it means to be the beloved. Let me start by telling you
that many of the people that I live with hear voices that tell them that they
are no good, that they are a problem, that they are a burden, that they are a
failure. They hear a voice that keeps saying, "If you want to be loved,
you had better prove that you are worth loving. You must show it."
But what I would like
to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to
listen to a voice that says something else, that says, "You are the
beloved and on you my favor rests."
What
a lesson learned because Henri Nouwen’s leg was tied to a community of persons
who suffer with mental disabilities!
Those
among us who live life joined in the three-legged race with family members and
friends who suffer in similar ways know for a fact that it is a hard race to
run. And yet, in that race there is life to be learned, faith to be deepened,
and growth to be found. To discover that those who suffer with mental illness
are God’s beloved children and not mere objects to be pitied, ostracized, or
scorned is one of life’s great discoveries.
In
the News Sentinel this past week, there was a remarkable article about the
efforts of Roman Catholics in Chattanooga to come alongside people suffering
with HIV/AIDS. Often rejected by their own families, such people have no place
to go to die, or to live. So these Catholic believers are working with Catholic
Charities to provide something called the “Home Place.” Victor Brown, the
manager of the Home Place says:
"The Home Place was started as a
place to die with dignity, yet with advances in treatment and more and more
community resources available, people are living longer, people are living
better. We are no longer a place to die with dignity but are a supportive and
compassionate place to live with dignity. And it's beyond the two staff members
and doctors. The entire community helps us."
The
entire community, tied together!
In
this day, when so many Christians mistakenly feel that it is better to withdraw
from the larger community, to isolate ourselves, and to make our churches and
our families protected Christian enclaves where we insulate ourselves from
those who look different, think different, and believe different, it is
crucially important to return to the Gospel Jesus preached. The Great
Commission tells us to go INTO the world, not OUT of the world.
And
make no mistake about it, there is a REASON we are to let our legs be tied to
others.
A
number of years ago, the members of a youth group from my church came down to
the Cumberland mountains along the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. They came
to work within a poor community, to help the people who lived there, to offer
their gifts and talents in their behalf. But by the end of the week, our kids
had made a stunning discovery: they had not so much given as they had received,
not so much taught as they had learned, not so much helped others as those
others had helped them.
The
reason Jesus joins our legs to people different from us is not so much so they
will benefit from the wonder of our success, strength, and spiritual wisdom,
but so that you and I – in the company of people who are different but who God
loves – may discover the very nature of God’s love for all the works of his
hands!
My
super-sized partner in the great three-legged race I’m sure got nothing from
me, but when we fell down that day in a great big painful heap, I sure got a lesson
on how hard life is for him - to be laughed at, and teased, and called names –
and yet to not react in kind. And in some miraculous way, I caught a glimpse of
the love of God in the life of a beloved child!
What
will we discover about God and God’s love through a Muslim friend? What will we
discover about God’s faithful and relentless love through our gay son or
daughter? What will we come to discover about God by way of people who have
come to hate God? What spiritual truths will we encounter among people of other
religions? What would we learn about what it’s like to live as a Palestinian or
a Jew? What might we discover about why some people choose to
become…Episcopalians?
To
follow Christ is to follow Christ – to fishermen, and doubters, to tax collectors,
and prostitutes, to Jews and pagan worshipers, to prodigal sons and daughters,
and to the whole mass of humanity in all its diverse conditions – and to be
willing to let Christ tie your leg to other human beings far different from
you.
And
then, in learning to run together, to discover love for one another, deeper
understanding, and the power to share our faith openly with those with whom we
hardly speak today.
Most
importantly, running the three-legged race of faith brings us face-to-face with
a God whose love is greater than we can imagine, and who never gives up on any
of the works of his hand!
May
I invite you today to make a commitment to go out this week and simply make
friends with someone different from you? Don’t do it because you think you’re
the second coming of Christ and have something to give or show the other
person. No, do it so you can experience the gift of the other, and in that gift
find the love of God..
Faith
is like a great three-legged race! It’s a real challenge when you’re matched up
with someone different, but it’s the only way to grow into the person God
created you to be, and into the community God created US to be together!
Ready?
Set! Go!