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Losing and Finding!

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“Losing and Finding!”

Luke 15:1-7 (15:7) – September 14, 2025

            Lost and found—this concept is very real and meaningful to many people, especially children. I have four children, and at various times, they have had to go looking for various possessions of theirs. You know, small items, things that were very precious to them somehow got lost. And oftentimes, they went looking everywhere for those precious things.

            I can remember when my son was younger, probably in first grade. He had a favorite stocking cap he wore almost every day in the winter. He wore it to school, out to play, on the weekends, almost everywhere. And then, one day it got lost. My son could not find it anywhere. He was heartbroken at the loss of this precious stocking cap—precious to my son, at least. We searched everywhere—and I mean everywhere—in the house, in the car, in his classroom, in his locker. He even looked in the lost and found at his school. Sadly, we never could find it.

Can you relate? Have you ever lost anything that was precious to you? Maybe not valuable in a monetary sense, but precious to you, your very favorite. And let’s go further. What about the things that are worth a great deal? Valuable in a very special way, in terms of both monetary and sentimental value. Losing something precious can be quite a blow.

            This is exactly what our Lord Jesus talked about in our scripture passage today. He tells the parables of the lost things. In fact, one nickname for this chapter, Luke 15, is the chapter of the lost things—the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.

            Dr. Luke sets the scene for us. He says, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Tax collectors and “sinners” were two groups of people who were especially hated by the good, synagogue-going Jews! And, especially by the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law, who had particularly high standing in their local community! How dare that upstart Rabbi Jesus waste His time with riff-raff, with no-good, low-class, dregs of society?  

            And, that’s not all the Rabbi Jesus is doing! “Eating — that is, sharing table fellowship — is a mark of camaraderie, acceptance, and friendship. And so in eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus is demonstrating a deep and abiding acceptance of those society has deemed beyond the moral pale.” [1] 

            In response to this complaining and carping from the Jewish leaders, Jesus has a response. Three responses, in fact. This week we look at His first parable, the parable of the Lost Sheep. As with many of the parables of Jesus, this one starts out in a straight-forward manner, but somehow doesn’t set quite right.

Jesus says, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” In other words, if you are a shepherd, you put the other 99 sheep at risk! You leave them in the wilderness, with no protection or shelter while you go seeking the one that is lost! And, how about that lost sheep? How does that sheep feel? Lonely? Hungry? Injured? Scared?

From an accounting, balance-statement point of view, the loss of one percent of your stock or flock is an acceptable business loss. Why do we need to leave 99 sheep at dangerous risk? Just for one, single, measly little sheep? But, God does not take that point of view!

Sometimes, people – individuals – get lost. Can you and I relate? “Sometimes you can identify why you feel lost and other times you simply feel unmoored — unable to give a name or reason for a sense of confusion, disorientation, bewilderment, abandonment, loneliness — all of which can be manifestations of lostness.” [2]

            I work during the week as a full-time hospice chaplain. It is sometimes my heartbreaking job to go to see patients in dementia, and sometimes even severe dementia. I would like us to listen to this heartfelt vignette from Pastor Janet Hunt, about a longtime family friend.

“Norma became not only a family friend. She was our church secretary (back when we called them that) at my home congregation for forty years. What I especially remember most about that time was that she would listen and answer and go deeper with me about whatever it was we had learned in class that morning. There are a lot of people whose influence factors into one heeding the call to become a pastor. Norma was certainly one of those for me.

“I know that I am blessed to serve not so far from home for I have the chance sometimes, still, to connect with those I knew when I was young. I especially knew it this last Saturday morning for Norma’s son called me up to ask my thoughts about nursing home options here. Both of their parents’ health are failing and her Alzheimer’s Disease, in particular, is making this next move necessary. 

“Sunday afternoon I went to see Norma. I sat down next to her daughter and we visited a while. I don’t know for sure if she really remembered me or not, but her smile was as radiant as it ever was. Before I left, I asked if I could pray with her. She placed her hand palm down on the tray table in front of her. I put my hand on top of hers and her daughter put her hand on top of mine. I prayed simply and briefly – asking for God’s protection and strength and peace. When Norma took her hand back, she wiped her eyes for those words had somehow broken through. 

“She may only have pretended to remember me, but still she knows somehow that God remembers her. Slowly but surely the disease that is erasing her memory will not finally erase what matters most. In some ways, she may seem ‘lost’ to those who have loved her, but she is not lost to God. I expect, or at least I hope, that in that moment she knew God’s persistent love embracing her once more. ‘Found’ once more, I hope her comprehension of God’s tender love for her never leaves her.” [3]

No matter how we are lost, how we are wandering in the wilderness, in the hospital or care center, or when we concentrate so much on our physical or financial situation, or in the busy-ness of life, running from place to place – God never stops seeking us. We know who is loving and caring and seeking for each of us.

Which of you, Jesus asks, would go to such lengths to search and find and then welcome back and celebrate? Truth be told, none of us would. But God would. [4] Our Good Shepherd goes after me, and after you, too. He searches for us, and makes sure that we are back with Him, in the place of security and protection, and says, “Rejoice with me! For I have found my sheep that was lost!” To me, the news about our good Shepherd is the best news in the world. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/lost

[2]  https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/lost-and-found

[3] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2013/09/lost-and-found.html

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/lost

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God Knows Us Full Well

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“God Knows Us Full Well”

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (139:14) – September 7, 2025

If you look at the news online, or on television, or listen to the radio or podcasts, many people often look for knowledgeable experts. Experts in their field or craft. People who know things. Think about it: cooking shows have culinary experts, home repair shows have building experts, news reports have experts in various fields, talk shows have behavioral experts to help solve the relationship problems of society, even newspapers have horoscopes written by psychics who are supposedly experts in astrology. Expert opinions!

            This craving for information, for people who know about things … I am afraid that I get sucked right into it. I go to people who are experts in their fields, and try to pick their brains and get what information I can, so I can masquerade as a sort of an expert, too. I like to think I know about things. And, I do. I know lots of things. I know lots about how to be a chaplain, and about music, and about the Bible, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the amount God knows! 

            God knows—now there is an expert opinion. Let’s look at the scripture reading for today. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me, You know when I sit down and when I rise up, You discern my thought from far away.” That truly is knowing. God knows every part of me. King David wrote this psalm many centuries ago, and its message still strikes home and hits my heart with penetrating directness.

            These verses from this psalm are among the most direct and poetic description of God’s omniscience in the whole Bible. Omniscience. Knowing absolutely everything. That’s a pretty scary thought, if we sit down and think about it.  It’s a good thing that God is loving, caring and merciful. We just have a shadow of understanding about how God knows us, yet it’s a loving, caring and intimate knowing. The omniscience of our knowing by our heavenly Father.

            When a word is repeated in a passage in the Bible, that is a way of underlining that word, indicating that word is particularly important. The Hebrew word “yada,” or “to know,” appears in today’s reading four times. The emphasis of this rich biblical word, this “concept of ‘knowledge’ is a critical element of meaningful relationship. We are to know God, just as God knows us.” [1]

            When you and I contemplate God, the totality, the tremendous experience of God’s knowledge is just “too wonderful” for us! That is us, as limited humans, trying to understand and contemplate the Lord. That is the eternal God who created the heavens and the earth! We read here in Psalm 139 that God’s capacity for knowing is utterly beyond comprehension, so far beyond us limited humans that we feel like we are reaching up to touch the moon, much less the stars in the sky. King David said, “so high that I cannot attain it,” in verse 6. And yet – God wants to be known! Known by us.

            This Sunday is when the church in Scotland celebrates the beginning of the season of Creation, when we celebrate God creating the world, the galaxy, the whole universe. As we contemplate God’s vast creative power, let us consider the creation of a single human life. Our psalmist considers it, too! Verse 13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This is a glimpse of the psalmist’s understanding of the nature of God, of knowing God!

“This points to a God whose love for God’s own creation extends to concern, since this human creation is finite and therefore not perfect. Yet, it does not lessen but instead heightens the amazing and magnificent artistry of God’s creation. Indeed, this recognition becomes reason for praising God and affirming the self’s ultimate worth in the sight of God (v. 14).” [2]

God knows. God knows my circumstances, knows whether I’m sitting or getting up or lying down. God even knows what I’m thinking, before I can say a word. Talk about being an expert! The Lord knows my psychological makeup, my emotions and my heart, so much better than I do myself.

            It’s a good thing to get to know ourselves. It’s a worthy study, and one that would be useful in helping us to understand others. I like to tell myself that I know myself pretty well. I’ve seen a therapist for a number of years who has helped me come to understand my own thoughts and emotions better. He’s helped me to understand how I relate to others and why I act and react in certain ways. At times, after years of therapy, I may fancy myself somewhat of an expert on myself. But in reality, I am not. Sometimes I may think I am, but I’m just fooling myself.

            God knows everything about me, too. Everything. God knows all the flaws, all the rough spots, every praiseworthy feature as well as everything that isn’t. And–here’s the amazing part–God loves me anyway! Even with all that intimate knowledge about every single aspect of our character as well as our character flaws, God loves us anyway!

And, it isn’t just all about me. God knows each of us in the same way. He knows each one of you, intimately, too. The Lord has searched you and known you, and is acquainted with all your ways. And, God loves each of us, even more intensely than we can possibly imagine.

            Sometimes, certain authors have a way of capturing an idea in a special way. It’s that way with Max Lucado, a recent Christian author for both children and adults. I know I have referenced this before, and it’s just so good that I have to quote it again! This is a quote from Prayer: A Heavenly Invitation, which describes just the idea I’ve been trying to communicate.

            ”If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart. And the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.” [3]

            Friends, God knows all about us, and He loves us anyway. What else can we do but fall on our knees before God in praise, thanksgiving and adoration? Thank God for His boundless love towards you and towards me.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-psalm-1391-6-13-18-2

[2] http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=27

[3] Prayer: A Heavenly Invitation – Max Lucado

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Sacrifice of Praise

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“Sacrifice of Praise”

Hebrews 13:5-8, 15-16 (13:15) – August 31, 2025

            Have you ever known anyone who was really proper? Always every hair in place, always did the socially acceptable thing, and never put a toe out of line? Imagine a stern teacher, keeping order in the classroom by a mere look and a slow stare. Someone with high standards. Thinking about satisfying this kind of person makes me anxious, and nervous. I always need to be on my best behavior, minding my p’s and q’s. Just being around someone like this puts me on edge.

            But, what about putting God into the conversation? I know we are probably stretching our imaginations, but it is hard to imagine God wearing a wrinkled shirt, or with a sloppy haircut, or having a dirty face. For that matter, isn’t God perfect? Isn’t God prim and proper, always doing the right thing, never stepping out of line? Doesn’t God have incredibly high standards? Don’t we need to be on our best behavior with God, minding our p’s and q’s? Doesn’t that sum up many people’s conception of God?

Our Scripture reading today can sound like a list of rules. Do this! And, do that! And, don’t do this other thing! I can just imagine several stern Heavenly angels frowning, shaking their fingers at me if I step out of line!

However, the letter to the Hebrews was written to a bunch of scattered Jews who believed in Jesus as their Messiah, scattered in small groups throughout Asia Minor. What we know as Turkey, today. They had been chased out of Palestine by the Jewish and Roman authorities. Many of these scattered Hebrews were refugees. Migrants. People chased out of the land of their birth by an oppressive government that was out to imprison them, if not kill them, because they claimed Jesus as Lord and Messiah. So similar to migrants throughout history who come to other countries seeking asylum, because the place where they were born is very dangerous.

That is the background of the small congregations receiving this letter. This letter was copied and sent from place to place, a breath of fresh air, sound biblical teaching coming to these small groups of believers in Jesus.

Let us turn to our reading today, from Hebrews 13. At the beginning of the reading, the writer of this letter talked about sacrifice—the sacrifice for sin, which was one major way the Jews came before God in worship. In the time of the Jewish temple, it was common for Jews to bring animal offerings to God to make up for sins, to cover their sins and the sins of their loved ones, under the old covenant. One first-century Jewish idea of God was distant, angry, and even vengeful. God had incredibly high standards. God was someone to be placated. Even today, many people have that kind of view of God—a scary view. Not the view of God as loving, caring, and kind, at all.

However, we are going to flip that idea of a distant, angry, scary God. Many, many people are in fear for their religious beliefs. Governments throughout history have been cruel, indeed. Is the fear, anger and disturbance of the powerful governments today much different from the fear, anger and disturbance of the powerful people of Jesus’ day? I think not.

If we consider the wider picture today, around the world, countless followers of Christ are being actively and bitterly persecuted. It’s happening right now, in dozens of countries, officially sanctioned by their governments. Just as it was in the first century, for the small scattered congregations of Jesus followers.  

True, these scattered Hebrews in small groups have good reason to be afraid! On edge! Ready to run again. However, at the heart of this letter is a Kingdom ethic that turns worldly values upside down. Much like my summer sermon series of three years ago, when I preached on the Beatitudes, the first section of our Lord Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. That summer we looked at the Topsy Turvy Teachings of Jesus, talking about our service to others, loving mercy and kindness, and even being glad when we are persecuted, for Christ’s sake

Here, today, we can see the practical teachings in Hebrews chapter 13 as teachings of God’s Kingdom, a topsy turvy teaching which tells us that “greatness is revealed through serving others, worship is expressed in doing good, and righteousness is rooted in trusting God and acting with love. This radical re-ordering of values calls believers to live in a way that reflects the grace, justice and compassion of Christ.” [1] Truly, a topsy turvy way of living, then and now.

Instead of “pie in the sky” theological platitudes, this reading today talks about practical ways of living – and acting. These are practical ways to love others, just as Jesus told us to do. When Meier’s Bakery was donating many baked goods to our church, up until just a few years ago, we would donate those baked goods in turn to a local YMCA, for their men’s residence, which had many low-income residents. And then when we needed to stop that during the COVID shutdown, I quickly found another mission that was very grateful to receive those baked goods.

I’ve spoken about this worthy mission outreach before. A Just Harvest, which is located a block from the Howard Street El station, serves a hot meal to 200 to 250 low-income people every day, 365 days a year. This Christian group with their radical hospitality has boots on the ground. They truly welcome the stranger and reach out. They truly experience Christ’s constancy and amazing grace on a regular basis. In their daily ministry and outreach, they also rely on the Lord, as do the people in poverty they serve.[2]

            As we imitate these friends in welcoming the stranger, can there be a better way for any of us to be freed from fear, and become free to serve and praise and really live for God?

            And finally, as our instructions from Hebrews tell us, we can expand our vision of worship. Not just worship at 10:00 on Sunday morning! No, “True worship, the writer says, includes not just praise on our lips, but generosity and good works. I remind everyone: we are not doing these good works to get on God’s good side! No, the point of our good works is in response to what Jesus has done for us. Just as the whole book of Hebrews tells us!

Our freely given good works, generosity and radical welcome to all are “sacrifices pleasing to God.” It’s a complete picture of faith—one that blends word and deed, praise and practice, belief and behaviour.” [3]

            Yes, we truly bring God our sacrifice of praise! And, with boots on the ground, we can truly welcome the stranger and reach out in radical hospitality. And, we truly experience Christ’s constancy and amazing grace on a regular basis. What a way to live, the Jesus way.

Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/weekly-worship-2025-august/31-august-twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c

[2] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2016/08/to-be-continued/

[3] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/weekly-worship-2025-august/31-august-twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c

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God Says, “Don’t Be Afraid!”

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God Says, “Don’t Be Afraid!”

Jeremiah 1:4-10 (1:5) – August 24, 2025

Babies can be wonderful. The coming of a baby into the world is certainly a big event, with all the attendant hustle and bustle, all of the excitement and exhaustion. With all the babies that have been born into this world over the millenia, we’re going to look at one baby in particular … the prophet Jeremiah.

Here in the first chapter of Jeremiah, we can take a peek at God’s perspective on the birth of a baby. When we look at verse 1:4, the LORD is saying to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Wow. God knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah was just a tiny group of cells, growing inside of his mother’s uterus. Double wow. The same thing could be said about countless other people, too. God knew me before I was born. The Lord knew everyone in this room, too. It is truly awesome to think about how intimately God knows each one of us.

King David talks about this in Psalm 139. We get another glimpse at how intimately God is acquainted with each one of us. Starting at verse 13, “For it was You who formed my inward parts, You knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.” We can see that God surely knows us, far better than we know ourselves.

We are celebrating going back to school this Sunday. God knows each and every student who is returning to school, and I believe the Lord is watching over every school, every training program, and all internships, all over the world. When I prayed the Blessing of the Backpacks, I was thinking of not only the students associated with this church, but all students, across this country and in the whole wide world. Bless each one!

Which brings me back to the young Jeremiah. This is the beginning, the first chapter of his very challenging prophetic book. Our Scripture reading today is Jeremiah’s call story, when he was just a young teenager. He was not even a grown-up! And, God called out Jeremiah for a special purpose, as we can see: “7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.”

 We can all remember times at school when certain kids were picked on. Perhaps even you or a friend or brother or sister of yours was called names! Usually, to establish some sort of pecking order in the classroom. “Still, most name calling makes people look ‘less’ in the eyes of people around them.” [1]  What were – what are – some of those names? Sadly, I can identify some of the names, like wimp, bully, jock, geek, baby, sissy, cry-baby, bird brain, smarty pants, etc. that are hurled at others.

Just think of how differently people look and feel when we say instead “child of God.” Because, that is exactly what each of us is! Each one of us is a unique creation of God, and each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made! And, God knows each of us, intimately!

God mentions all this to Jeremiah, because God was watching Jeremiah from the very beginning. And, God saw Jeremiah even before he was born, and God appointed him a prophet, “This, of course, came as startling news to Jeremiah who, apparently, had not had any previous inkling that this could be his life’s work. Maybe it did not even sound that good to him, either. In any event, he starts to do what any number of divinely appointed figures in the Bible have done: he resists the call. He makes up an excuse.” [2]

We can see that Jeremiah did not feel ready to do what God wanted.  “I’m too young. I’m not a public speaker. What could a child like me have to say anyway, and who’d listen even if I tried? No, no, Sovereign God, you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m no one special!”

Be sure that God sometimes calls each of us to do things we feel we are not ready to do or that we are not brave enough to try. That happens in offices, on the factory or hospital floor, in all kinds of classes and just hanging out at school. “When it does, our challenge is to remember what God told Jeremiah: God had given him everything he needed and God would be with him helping him know what to do and say.” [3]

We can see from this Scripture reading that God touched Jeremiah. God put His hand on the teenager. Wow. What an awesome thing, having the God of the universe call on Jeremiah … and to think that God can put His hand on you and on me, too. But—funny thing—God doesn’t always call us in the way that we expect, or in the way that we want God to, but God is always there for us. God is always available to each of us. God calls each one of us, in God’s timing.

Here is an example of an everyday person who was called by God, saw a need, and stepped up to the plate. One of my commentators tells the story:

“Most people I have ever heard speaking of their start in vocations similar to those of Moses and Jeremiah begin not with a burning bush or an audible voice, but with a deep conviction that whatever else they may do, and no matter how they might or might not establish their bona fides, it is the task itself that draws them in. Eula Hall, who describes herself as a ‘hillbilly activist,’ an Appalachian woman with an eighth-grade education and a burning sense of purpose, told me many years ago how she came to found the Mud Creek Health Clinic in southeastern Kentucky to provide health care for the poor: “I looked, and I said to myself, ‘taint right like this, no medical service here, taint right. Somebody needs to act.’ I guess that somebody was me.” [4]

Often now in such a time as this which is like no other many of us have known, we would do well to hear Jeremiah’s call as our own. For God extends not only the call, but also promises to accompany us as we seek to follow. [5] It doesn’t matter our age, young, elderly, or in the middle. It doesn’t matter where we are, at home, school, work, or on the street.

Yes, God called Jeremiah. Yes, God touched Jeremiah. And God calls to each of us today. God was with Jeremiah through the difficult times of his life and ministry, and the Lord promises to be with us, too, through thick and thin, through the difficult times as well as the wonderful times. We can forever be thankful that God is always there with us.  Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/07/year-c-proper-16-21st-sunday-in.html

[2] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2016-01-25/jeremiah-14-10/

[3] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/07/year-c-proper-16-21st-sunday-in.html

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-jeremiah-14-10

[5] https://dancingwiththeword.com/the-call-of-jeremiah-still-speaks/

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A Foreign Neighbor’s Thankfulness

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“A Foreign Neighbor’s Thankfulness”

The Healing of the Ten Lepers – Luke 17:11-19

Luke 17:11-19 (17:19) – August 10, 2025

One thing I have noticed that is really sad is when someone is left all alone – on purpose! Not necessarily picked on and jeered at, although that can be horrible, too! But, sometimes a person can just be left alone, left out, isolated, even shunned.

In our Scripture reading today, we have exactly that happening. Except, the Jewish community was required to do this, to ignore or turn their backs on someone! This was a serious matter. Skin diseases were not anything anyone wanted to fool around with. Because medicine and treatment centuries ago was rudimentary and simple, there were not many things doctors and medical providers had that was in any way effective.

Plus, the Law of Moses specifically instructed the Jewish people to keep their distance from anyone with a skin disease, and not allow them to mingle with people who did not have skin diseases. All of these people with skin diseases were referred to as “lepers,” and they had to cry out, “Leper! Unclean!” so everyone else would get a warning not to get anywhere near. These people were outside of their society, forever out of reach. Forever away from their families, their friends, their community, and their synagogue.

Just so everyone here knows what the situation was, for these ten people, as we consider our Scripture reading today, this severe, shunning treatment was what happened wherever these poor people with skin diseases went.

Let us listen again to these words from Dr. Luke, chapter 17: “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’”

Here is the situation, the set-up. We have ten men who have banded together, as a group of lepers. They obviously have heard of this Jesus of Nazareth, and are actively seeking healing! The Rabbi Jesus hears them cry out, and responds immediately. Jesus offered immediate and profound healing to all ten men!

This kind of immediate healing is sometimes difficult for us to wrap our heads around. From time to time, I have faithful believers who come to me as a hospice chaplain and tell me, trustingly, “I have faith to believe God, and believe that my loved one in hospice will get well.” Or, “I believe in miracles, and I know that God will hearken to our voice.”

Yes, I believe in God, I believe in miraculous healing, and I believe that God heals in many different ways. Perhaps God wants to have the patient receive ultimate healing, to leave this world and enter God’s presence? Perhaps God wants to see that person face to face? And yes, we all have an expiration date.  

Whatever the reason, nine of the ten men did not return to the Rabbi Jesus to thank Him for their immediate healing. Except – one man did. “The others are too busy getting back into their proper societal position. And who could blame them? After all, they were just following Jesus’ instructions, right? The one who returns is a real outsider – a Samaritan – who took a chance, who followed his heart and gave thanks to the one who really mattered.” [1]

This man, this Samaritan was in a precarious position. Not only was he rejected by the Jewish community because of his ethnicity, he was also ostracized because of his health condition. If you all remember, I have been preaching a summer sermon series on Fred Rogers. Many of these sermons have also been about outsiders, about people rejected by their communities, rejected from their neighborhoods.  

No one enjoys being shut out of their community, and ignored by their neighbors! Not in the first century, and not in the twenty-first, either.

This is the last week in our summer sermon series on Fred Rogers, of the television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which aired on PBS for more than 30 years. As I’ve said in weeks past, I have great respect for Fred Rogers. I have even said a number of times (only partly humorously) that when I grow up, I want to be Mister Rogers.

 Fred Rogers was revolutionary in his treatment of people, especially children. He considered children to be very significant individuals, worthy of respect and caring and love. “The most controversial thing Fred Rogers ever did is tell children that they are special. That their lives have value simply because they exist. That they don’t have to do anything sensational to be deserving of love.” [2] The same could be said of these people with skin diseases, and the same could be said of each and every person in the whole wide world.

These ten lepers were shunned, were passed over, were not even considered “people” by most of those at a distance from them. But, none of that mattered to Jesus. He considered each one a valued, special person, a creation of God. No matter what their health condition, no matter what their ethnicity.

“Jesus offered a gift of profound healing to the ten who approached him that day. I wonder how you and I might be agents of such healing in our world today. Indeed, in a world too often marked by fear and division, might healing just be ours to offer (and in turn, receive) if we simply reached out with a word of kindness, curiosity, or affirmation even to someone we have never seen before who we may never see again? Or to one who we have passed by a thousand times (as those ten lepers must have been passed by a thousand, thousand times) without even noticing before?” [3]

I know I often ask in my sermons “what would Jesus do?” Who would Jesus heal? Who would Jesus love?”

This week, again, I am going to change up my question, and ask “what would Fred Rogers do?” Who would Fred love? Who would Fred call his neighbor? I think, everyone. Each and every person. Go. Go, and do that.

Alleluia, amen.

(A big thank you to the online resources for Mr. Rogers Day – the Sunday nearest March 20th, Fred Rogers’ birthday. These resources come from the Presbyterian Church (USA). https://www.pcusastore.com/Content/Site119/Basics/13792MrRogersIG_00000154465.pdf )

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2013/10/first-and-always-give-thanks/

[2] https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-need-mr-rogers-now-more-than-ever-but-do-we-deserve-him/

[3] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2016/10/the-tenth-leper-and-how-god-is-already.html

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Ganging Up on a Neighbor

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“Ganging Up on a Neighbor”

John 8:1-11 (8:7) – August 3, 2025

Have you ever watched a bunch of people gang up on one poor person? I’m thinking in elementary school, in the playground. Or, what about at the lunch table in high school? Even in the break room at work? A few mean words can turn nasty, fast! Sometimes if it goes too far, a group of people really start to pick on one poor person, or shun them, even ostracize them! And worst of all, the people doing the shunning can be such hypocrites!

Now we are entering the sketchy neighborhood of our Scripture reading for this morning. We have a group of Jewish leaders, big shots in their synagogues. You know what happened. These Jewish leaders have grabbed a woman in the very act of adultery. She may have been a married woman, and she was having sex with a man who was not her husband.  

The Rabbi Jesus has been talking with and discussing with groups of these leaders for some time. And, Jesus has been very successful at dialoging with these leaders, too! But, wait – they finally think they have got a situation that the Rabbi Jesus cannot squirm out of!

“Imagine the sense of urgency and the heightened emotions of the crowd swarming in on Jesus as he taught in the temple. They put this woman in front of the crowd. The Pharisees used her as an item, an object, a thing to entrap Jesus. I can imagine the contempt in the Pharisee’s voice as he asked, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. . . . Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’” [1]

Now, wait just a moment! The Jewish leaders have dragged this woman in front of Jesus, in front of the crowd in the Temple, and are accusing her, with baited breath! I can just see the crowd getting all agitated and upset! “Of course the Law of Moses tells us that adultery is bad! Of course this woman is guilty – our Jewish leaders say so! Of course she should be punished!” I can just hear the voices and noises of the crowd becoming more and more frantic and angry!

And, what does Jesus do? Nothing. He does not respond. He does not fly off the handle, as some people would. He does not react abruptly to the leaders or the crowd, either. Instead, Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. Finally, after the Jewish leaders kept badgering Him with questions, the Rabbi Jesus does respond.

Except, that makes me wonder. I know in our culture, in the United States, we do not stone people. Except, we still will ignore, and even jeer at people sometimes. We still practice shunning individuals in this country, sometimes.

These Jewish leaders and big shots at their synagogues seemed to have it all together. Except, these men were hypocrites, all the way! Saying one thing and doing another is the height of hypocrisy! I suspect these men – because the Jewish leaders were all men – these men felt fully justified in themselves. Fully self-righteous, and they couldn’t be bothered with pesky little things like their own repeated sin, or their conscience pricking them on the inside.

 I want each of us to understand how damaging it is to say one thing but do something totally different. “Do as I say, not as I do!” This is definitely the work of a hypocrite.

 “Hypocrisy creates barriers, harms relationships, and leads people away from God. In Matthew 23:27, Jesus calls out the Pharisees, saying, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones.’ The Pharisees focused on appearing holy, while ignoring God’s call to live with integrity and compassion.” [2]

The angry leaders who brought the woman to Jesus clearly were accusing and vicious towards the unnamed woman, and considered her simply a thing, an object of sin. I wonder whether they even considered the fact that this woman was a person of worth, or that she was created by God, just as much as each of them were? These were ways in which these leaders of the community could certainly live out God’s call to live each day with integrity and compassion – which the Rabbi Jesus did each day.

Jesus did not suddenly react or defend either Himself or the woman. Instead, He slowed down the frenetic emotion and action. Jesus reflected, and listened. Finally, Jesus made a comment. I imagine Him making that comment in a quiet but firm voice: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then, “those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.”

Our summer sermon series features Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. We have considered several serious narratives from the Gospels during this series, and this week is no exception. Fred Rogers was no stranger to serious matters. A number of his television shows discussed very serious things – to children, yes, but also to adults. Divorce, death, war, and even the terrorist activity in 2001, on 9/11.

Fred Rogers excelled at listening to people. “Reflective listening, which does not imply agreement, pauses your agenda and aims to understand first. Fred listened intently and often agreed with the children since he was tuned into their fears and frustrations. [One of Fred’s signature messages,] ‘I like you just the way you are’ can’t get any more validating – pure emotional gold.” [3]

When Jesus practiced reflective listening in this extremely emotional situation in the Temple, we can see how tuned in Jesus was to the crowd’s fears and frustrations. And then, He turned the situation around, even turned it on its head by stating to the accusers in a quiet but firm voice: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Jesus saw this woman as someone worthy of respect, a creation of God, unlike the men who accused her. Jesus’ words and actions offers this woman self-reflection and changed behavior at the realization of sin, just as He offered to the Jewish leaders and the crowds, multiple times throughout His ministry.  “Jesus’s actions were scandalous because they broadened acceptance, extended mercy and forgiveness to the undeserving, and brought justice to the overpowered and abused. Will the church ever do the same?” [4]

Yes, today’s Scripture reading is extremely serious. And yes, Jesus makes His offer of grace and mercy, forgiveness and compassion to this woman, to the Jewish leaders who accused her, to the crowd, and to each one of us today. We can live honest, compassionate lives, with kindness and humility, today.

Here’s a challenge: “try to pay close attention to any moments when you might feel yourself slipping into judgment or hypocrisy. Maybe it’s a small thought about someone’s behavior, or a reaction to something they said. When you notice this, take a step back and remind yourself that we aren’t perfect either. Instead of letting judgment grow, try saying a silent prayer—for that person and for yourself. Ask God to help you see them through His eyes, with compassion and understanding.” [5]

I know I often ask in my sermons “what would Jesus do?” Who would Jesus forgive?

This week, I am going to change up my question, and ask “what would Fred Rogers do?” Who would Fred listen to? Who would Fred call his neighbor? I think, everyone. Each and every person, no matter who. Go. Go, and do that.

Alleluia, amen.

(A big thank you to the online resources for Mr. Rogers Day – the Sunday nearest March 20th, Fred Rogers’ birthday. These resources come from the Presbyterian Church (USA). https://www.pcusastore.com/Content/Site119/Basics/13792MrRogersIG_00000154465.pdf )

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/four-important-lessons-we-can-learn-from-jesus-and-the-woman-in-john-8/

[2] https://young-catholics.com/14808/exploring-hypocrisy-free-lesson-plan/

[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-full-picture/202302/mister-rogers-remembered-since-we-need-him-now

[4] https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/four-important-lessons-we-can-learn-from-jesus-and-the-woman-in-john-8/

[5] https://young-catholics.com/14808/exploring-hypocrisy-free-lesson-plan/

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A Foreign Neighbor’s Faith

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“A Foreign Neighbor’s Faith”

Matthew 15:21-28 (15:28) – July 27, 2025

When I worked as a hospital chaplain at Swedish Covenant Hospital (now called Swedish Hospital), more than 10 years ago, one of the points of working there highlighted was the multi-cultural setting of that hospital and that neighborhood. The ZIP code that Swedish is in is one of the most diverse in the country, in all kinds of ways. In terms of languages spoken, various countries of origin, differing faith traditions, and wide economic differences in that ZIP code alone make Swedish Hospital a unique place to work, of great cultural diversity.

In our Scripture reading today, the Rabbi Jesus traveled up north of the Sea of Galilee, on the border of Palestine. It was in an area called the Decapolis, the Ten Cities, which also was a multi-cultural crossing point. Perhaps not as widely diverse as the ZIP code around Swedish Hospital, but with a number of diverse cultures, faith traditions, and languages spoken.

Our Gospel writer Matthew was quite particular about how he presented the information in his Gospel, which was written specifically for a Jewish audience. Let us look at how Matthew begins this vignette in the life of the Rabbi Jesus. “Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’”

We learn a lot from these two sentences! Matthew wants his readers to know where the Rabbi Jesus had gone – into the area of the Decapolis, on the border of Israel – and that this woman who came to Jesus for help is not Jewish, but instead is a Canaanite woman – what the Gospel writer Mark in his parallel account calls a Syro-Phoenician woman.

The Canaanites were hated by the Jews, and were among those the Jews termed “Gentiles,” since they were polytheists and prayed to various gods like Baal and Asherah.

Up until this point, Jesus had ministered to very few people who were not Jewish. So, here we are, in a cross-cultural situation. Here the spotlight shines on a woman who is not Jewish, asking Jesus for help. And, help not for her, but for her daughter, who is suffering terribly! This request is familiar territory for the Rabbi Jesus, certainly!  

I have mentioned the Rev. Janet Hunt before. She tells a heartfelt story, some of which I repeat here. “Mental illness carries all kinds of stigma today. I have known this since I was a child and we experienced it in our own family. Back then it was something whose name you whispered.  I’m not sure it is so very different now.  When I was young during that time during the prayers of the church where we stood in silence and remembered people in need, I would close my eyes shut tight and silently plead for Aunt Donna’s healing. It didn’t come.” [1]
            In the case of our Gospel narrative, we are not sure what is the matter with this daughter of the Canaanite woman. Certainly, it could well be mental illness! This was often seen as demon-possession in past centuries. Mental illness carried a huge stigma in the first century, just as now, in the twenty-first.

It is Jesus’s response that is surprising. Or rather, His non-response. “The disciples, obviously aggravated by her persistence, ask Jesus to deal with her request so that they can be on their way. Jesus then explains that his mission (under the authority of God) is to call out the faithful remnant of Israel. This doesn’t deny a future mission to the Gentiles, only that for the present, ‘salvation is from the Jews.’” [2]

The all-important point of this narrative comes from this mother, this neighbor from a different neighborhood. Our summer sermon series this summer is all about Fred Rogers. He met with a lot of different people from many, many different neighborhoods. Diverse cultures, and from foreign shores, or neighborhoods, too. As this Biblical narrative continues, the woman speaks to Jesus again. “The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.26 Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Did you hear? This woman from a different culture, from a different neighborhood, had great faith! Jesus acknowledges that, and her daughter is miraculously healed at that moment! It is marvelous that this faithful foreign woman – who knew that Jesus was the Chosen One of God, and called Jesus by the Messianic title “Son of David” – did indeed have great faith!

Except, where does that leave us today? What are we supposed to do with this narrative from Matthew’s Gospel? As commentator Karoline Lewis tells us, “A lot of how we talk about faith indeed ends up being about measurement. Life’s consequences are attributed to whether or not someone had enough faith, whatever the circumstance may be. “Just have faith!” Well, how much? It doesn’t seem like a little will do. And how do you get more? Are you stuck with what you have? Are we genetically disposed to a certain level of faith?” [3]

I sometimes wonder whether I would have had even half, even a quarter of the amount of faith this Canaanite woman had! I suspect that these are the kinds of issues about faith with which all of us struggle — and which we may likely hear in the Canaanite woman’s deep, heartbreaking request. “We wonder at the faith that is already working within her.  Even though she is a Gentile, somehow she sees Jesus as having come for her as well.” [4]

At the same time, I do not want us to assume that because we do not have great faith that the Lord Jesus turns His back on us, or refuses to do anything for us at all. Which is what false teachers of the Gospel often tell their followers: “Oh, you did not receive that healing – or that answer to prayer – because you just didn’t have enough faith!”

No, Christianity is not a cheap marketplace, or a mercenary vending machine in the sky where we deposit our money and miracles and healings magically come forth. No, this Canaanite woman had faith in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David. She developed a relationship with Jesus. And, it all started with a mother’s willingness not only to speak, but to shout.  For the sake of love. For the sake of a much beloved daughter, desperately ill.

Our faith in God – your faith and mine – “lays claim on how you are in the world, how you choose to be, how [each of us] decide to live, in each specific moment of your life…. faith is not a fixed collection of beliefs but a state of being. Your faith is great, not because of what you do, but because of who you are.” [5]

Fred Rogers had a wide variety of diverse neighbors in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. These were both real neighbors in the real neighborhood, and the puppets and people of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. They all interacted with one another with kindness and respect. Fred Rogers tells us, “As different as we are from one another, as unique as each one of us is, we are much more the same than we are different. That may be the most essential message of all, as we help our children grow toward being caring, compassionate, and charitable adults.” [6]

Yes, Jesus healed this daughter of a neighbor from a different neighborhood, a foreign neighborhood. As you and I travel through different neighborhoods in our lives, we can have the same openness, care and compassion that Jesus had. That Fred Rogers had.  

Be like Jesus. Be like Fred Rogers. Go into multicultural places with openness and respect, care and compassion. Go, do that.

(A big thank you to the online resources for Mr. Rogers Day – the Sunday nearest March 20th, Fred Rogers’ birthday. These resources come from the Presbyterian Church (USA). https://www.pcusastore.com/Content/Site119/Basics/13792MrRogersIG_00000154465.pdf )

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2014/08/a-mothers-cry.html

[2] https://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday20ag.html

[3] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/getting-great-faith

[4] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2014/08/a-mothers-cry.html

[5] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/getting-great-faith

[6] https://www.misterrogers.org/articles/he-helped-us-with-our-relationships-with-others/ 

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A Neighbor and His Daughter

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“A Neighbor and His Daughter”

Matthew 9:18-26 (9:25) – July 20, 2025

Welcome to the neighborhood! St. Luke’s Church neighborhood, that is.

I am continuing with our summer sermon series on Mister Rogers. You know, Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I watched the television show with my small children – all four of them, at various times. I so appreciated Fred’s gentle, caring, loving way of speaking to everyone. Not only the children. He was the real deal. Fred was a genuine, caring, compassionate person, interested in everyone and everything. And, especially in children.

We are looking at a Scripture reading today that highlights a child, this week. Actually, it highlights both a girl child and a sick, unmarried woman, two people who were second-class citizens in the society of Jesus’s day. Women, especially unmarried women, were second-class, as were children. The only people who were of any worth in first-century society were males, and especially free males who owned property.  

But, let us leave this social class commentary for another day. I want us to concentrate on, first of all, the man who approaches the Rabbi Jesus, to ask if He could come and heal his daughter who is very sick. Actually, this narrative appears in three of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are slight differences in the telling of the narrative. In two accounts, the sick girl is still living, but at the point of death. In Matthew’s account, she has already died. In any of these narratives, it is a terrible tragedy for this father.

We understand that if two individuals are eye-witnesses to a car accident, but see it from the opposite sides of the street, we will have two different perspectives of the same accident. Just so here. Just so with the three writers of the Gospels. We see slightly different accounts of the same incident. With Matthew’s account, the father comes to Jesus, begging Him to come and heal his daughter – his dead daughter.

The father Jairus is the leader of the local synagogue. Not just a common attender or member, but the leader. He comes to the rabbi Jesus for help in a time of severe need. He must have been at the end of his rope, the end of all of his resources. Except – as the leader of his synagogue, leaders are trained to be competent and in control, and not supposed to be in desperate agony or heartbreaking fear of losing a much beloved family member. In fact, Jairus threw himself at Jesus’s feet, begging Him to come and raise his daughter from the dead. “He is desperate; his love for his daughter has left him utterly vulnerable.” [1]

As the rabbi Jesus agrees and starts to go with the distraught father, we meet the second of these three people we are concerned with today. This unmarried woman has been sick for a long, long time. Twelve years. She has no standing in her community, and “apparently has no advocate to beseech this teacher on her behalf….Mark’s [account] doesn’t make a point of her impurity or isolation from the community, but because this was most likely vaginal bleeding it would have rendered her impure and, just as important, likely unable to bear children.” [2]

So, we have two desperate people. Two people at the end of their rope, vulnerable for different reasons. This unnamed woman was brave enough, desperate enough, to try to touch the cloak of this Rabbi. As she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Both of these people were seriously grieving, and were reaching out for help.

Both of these dear people – dear to our Lord Jesus – displayed tremendous vulnerability. Vulnerability was and is not a trait that is held up to be something that leaders of groups or CEOs of companies or corporations strive to emulate. Actually, Fred Rogers was vulnerable to lots of people, places and things. Willingly so. He considered vulnerability a strength, considering other people and their feelings and emotions. Just like Jesus did, too.  Fred Rogers saw the neighbor in people, just like Jesus, too.  

Mister Rogers said, “It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it.” [3]

We are forgetting the third person in this narrative, though. The girl, terribly sick, at the point of death. It is easy to forget about her. She’s twelve years old, utterly helpless and passive, dependent on others, helpless to do anything about anything.

Here are three characters, three people that Jesus touches, heals in different ways. Life-changing ways. Which one do you identify with? “The leader who finds that all the usual advantages and experience that go with his office suddenly avail him nothing? The one who has endured much and isn’t sure she can bear any more? Or the one who is helpless, utterly dependent on others? Which one do you identify with?” [4]

It is only in our admitting our vulnerability that we are able to receive help, and only by admitting our desperation are we willing to try something, anything, that may give us hope. These admissions are not the end of the world! These admissions – these cries for help show that we are not rugged individualists, going it all alone, after all. We can show that we are part of a community, part of a neighborhood. This is a true way of showing courage, leaving behind the false culture of perfection, individualism and stiff upper lip.

This is what being a neighbor is all about, and what both Jesus and Fred Rogers advocate. Can we show mutual respect to others – all others? These three individuals are certainly from three widely different parts of society, and Jesus met them all where they needed Him most. Can we display inter-dependence freely, even call it what it is – the inter-dependence of the Kingdom of God that Jesus keeps preaching about?

Each of us has our own vulnerable, secret (or, not so secret) places inside that call for attention, call for healing and nurture and comfort. All of us have those places and spaces where we grieve and where we wish we could reach out. We all need a nurturing, healing neighborhood of trust, respect and caring.

 Can we – can you and I commit to being that caring community for others? That safe space where others who are hurting and need healing feel the trust and openness? Jesus definitely had that safe space and healing presence all around Him. Fred Rogers did, too. I strive to be that safe space and healing presence for others. See if you can be that for others, too. For all others, just like Jesus. Just like Fred Rogers, too.

And, the best part about this is that you and I do not need to have it all “together” and perfect to do this, to be that safe space. We just need to be open, willing and available to welcome all others into the neighborhood. What would Jesus do? What would Fred Rogers do? Go, do that.

(Thank you so much to David Lose and workingpreacher.org for the wonderful article on Jesus’ very busy day, https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/come-as-you-are. Much appreciated!)

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/come-as-you-are

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.fredrogersinstitute.org/resources/reflections-on-fred-rogers-healing-power-of-presence

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/come-as-you-are

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Loving Neighbors in the Strangest Places

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“Loving Neighbors in the Strangest Places”

Luke 19:1-10 (19:5) – July 13, 2025

I have rubbed elbows with all kinds of people! I grew up in Chicago in a half-and-half, working-class and middle-class neighborhood. I lived in (and worshiped in) two racially mixed areas of Chicago for some years. I’ve had a number of jobs before I went to seminary at 40 years old, in diverse industries, including the ramp, a huge warehouse, and an order fulfillment center. So, when I hear the Rabbi Jesus getting some guff from the crowd for hanging out with the riff-raff and “sinners,” that surely gets my attention!   

I think today’s Scripture reading is particularly fascinating since it shows someone who was definitely not well liked in his neighborhood. In fact, no one wanted to call him “friend” or neighbor. Zaccheus was a chief tax-collector for the Roman occupation. Yes, he was Jewish, and yes, he was working for the hated occupying foreign forces. And as if that were not enough to get him disliked by his Jewish neighbors, Zaccheus was officially delegated by the Roman government to collect their taxes for them.

The Roman government was not very particular about how they got their tax money – as long as they got it. So, the local tax collectors could be as demanding or dishonest as they wanted to be, all for the purpose of getting money for the Romans. And, if these tax collectors squeezed a little extra money out of their fellow Jews, the Romans did not care. As long as enough money came into the Roman treasury. That was all the occupying force cared about.

I would imagine that Zaccheus was a pretty lonely man. Until – the Rabbi Jesus came to town. This was several years after Jesus had started to preach, teach and do miracles, so I suspect by this time Jesus had quite a following, and quite the reputation! Let’s pick up right in the middle of the narrative: “3Zaccheus wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”

We read next that the crowd started to grumble, because the Rabbi Jesus saw and spoke with Zaccheus, truly engaged with him, and even said “I must stay at your house today.”  

Can you imagine, being the shortest guy in your high school! Plus, being one of the least popular persons in the town of Jericho! Both of those things must have been painful subjects for Zaccheus. I just imagine that he lived an isolated existence, wanting, hoping that someone would see him, notice him and validate him. This emotional response is only human!

We are currently observing a summer sermon series highlighting the person of Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Have you ever thought of someone who is meek and gentle as being a strong individual? Someone who is so strong and confident themselves that they do not care what other people think? I think that is exactly the kind of person Fred Rogers was. Plus, Fred Rogers thought everyone was deserving of attention and respect, no matter what! And, that deep emotions were important things.

“Of the many lessons Rogers gently gifted his audience, a chief one was that all emotions are valid, even the sad and angry ones. They need acceptance from friends and family and, often, expression – so long as it’s not violent. Sigmund Freud called this ‘sublimation,’ the channeling of destructive impulses into socially acceptable actions. It was a pillar of Rogers-ism, and [Rogers] often referred to dialogue about emotions and feelings as ‘important talk.’” [1]  

The Rabbi Jesus obviously thought that emotions were important – even the emotions of someone hated like Zaccheus. Sure, Zaccheus was seen as a hated tax collector by his Jewish neighbors! But, Zaccheus’s feelings were valid, too! Our Lord Jesus went out of His way to single Zaccheus out, see him, notice him, validate him. And, Jesus invited Himself over for dinner!

Salvation came to Zaccheus’s house that day. Jesus followed him home, and broke bread with him at a lonely table. Salvation comes to all of us when Jesus joins us, has fellowship with us. Even when people do not feel worthy, for whatever reason, to have Jesus join them – it doesn’t matter. Salvation is solidarity, hospitality, and yes, ministry.

Our commentator Karoline Lewis relates a modern (and true) narrative, taken from the column of David Brooks, long time New York Times columnist. Brooks tells the story of Kathy Fletcher and David Simpson. “They have a son named Santi, who went to Washington, D.C. public schools. Santi had a friend who sometimes went to school hungry. So, Santi invited him to occasionally eat and sleep at his house.”

“That friend had a friend and that friend had a friend, and now when you go to dinner at Kathy and David’s house on Thursday night there might be 15 to 20 teenagers crammed around the table, and later there will be groups of them crashing in the basement or in the few small bedrooms upstairs.”

“The kids who show up at Kathy and David’s have endured the ordeals of modern poverty: homelessness, hunger, abuse, sexual assault. Almost all have seen death firsthand — to a sibling, friend or parent.”

“It’s anomalous for them to have a bed at home. One 21-year-old woman came to dinner last week and said this was the first time she’d been around a family table since she was 11… Poverty up close is so much more intricate and unpredictable than the picture of poverty you get from the grand national debates.”

“I started going to dinner there about two years ago,” writes Brooks, “hungry for something beyond food. Each meal we go around the table, and everybody has to say something nobody else knows about them. Each meal we demonstrate our commitment to care for one another. I took my daughter once and on the way out she said, ‘That’s the warmest place I can ever imagine.’”

“The problems facing this country,” says Brooks, “are deeper than the labor participation rate and ISIS. It’s a crisis of solidarity, a crisis of segmentation, spiritual degradation, and [lack of] intimacy.”

“The kids call Kathy and David ‘Momma’ and ‘Dad,’ are unfailingly polite, clear the dishes, turn toward one another’s love like plants toward the sun and burst with big glowing personalities. The gift of Kathy and David is the gift of a complete intolerance of social distance,” insists Brooks. [2]

At church, we speak ‘salvation speech.’ This is speech that sees the other, that regards the overlooked. We speak speech that brings together, and unites across barriers and boundaries, classes and cultures. Speech that creates community and family for everyone. Speech that gives life and says that salvation is here and now, in this world as well as the next. [3]

Jesus said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” It is salvation to a house, any house. It’s to a neighborhood, each and every neighborhood. This place where Zaccheus lives is where Fred Rogers would welcome, and be welcomed, too.

What would Jesus do? What would Fred Rogers do? Go. Do that.

(A big thank you to the online resources for Mr. Rogers Day – the Sunday nearest March 20th, Fred Rogers’ birthday. These resources come from the Presbyterian Church (USA). https://www.pcusastore.com/Content/Site119/Basics/13792MrRogersIG_00000154465.pdf )

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/health/mister-rogers-go-ask-your-dad/index.html

[2] David Brooks, “The Power of a Dinner Table,” The New York Times, October, 18 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/opinion/the-power-of-a-dinner-table.html

[3] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/salvation-today

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Approaching God in Community

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(I am on vacation this week, or rather, a stay-cation. Enjoying stepping away from pastoral and preaching responsibilities. Here is a sermon from the beginning of July 2007, when I was co-interim pastor of a (sadly) now-closed little church, St. John’s United Church of Christ in Evanston, Illinois.)

Acts 2:42        July 1, 2007

“Approaching God in Community”

            Life here in America, even here in the Chicago area, in the 21st century can be lonely. People often live alone, drive alone, shop alone, even work alone. Many people do not talk about their lives, are never asked how their day is going, rarely experience a caring touch. Loneliness and a sense of isolation are part and parcel of many people’s daily lives. Unless people intentionally make an effort to interact with others today, whole days—even weeks can go by without meaningful encounters.

            There are lots of reasons for this. The rapid communication trend with ever increasing speed has distancing, impersonal effects on many. The nuclear family is fragmented, now more than ever. Technology will continue to develop, and businesses downsize, fragmenting society and driving people further apart. And then, of course, we need to consider the speed with which everything is going now, so much faster than fifteen or twenty years ago.

            A retired pastor friend of mine told me a while ago about some elderly people at a church he pastored, a number of years ago. Some of them lived alone, either in houses or apartments. My friend told me about the loneliness that drove several of them out to the grocery store every day, because if they did not have that interaction with the checker checking out their food, they would not have a personal encounter in the entire day. A few were so hungry for personal contact, they desperately wanted the physical touch that comes from an exchange of money at the cash register; so simple, so fleeting.

            Similarly, some people today are searching for an interaction with God. George Barna, the guru of surveys, statistics and demographics, found that 49 percent of people who do not attend church, in the 1990’s—less than ten years ago—wanted a close relationship with God. These are people who do not even darken a church door. The percentage is even larger when we consider the people who do attend church. There is a common desire among many to have an encounter with God. Saint Augustine referred to it as a God-shaped hole in our hearts.

            This longing for God, this desire for an encounter with God, I see as similar to longing for human contact. Both longings stem from a deep loneliness, a need for something internally, a kind of relationship. Many people are yearning for some kind of deep relationship in their lives, both horizontally—with other human beings, as well as vertically—with God.

However, there is a problem. This longing cannot be filled. The encounter—both vertically as well as horizontally—that many people want to have cannot happen. Something gets in humanity’s way. Something is in our lives and hearts, and acts as a block, a separation. You know it as well as I do, and this something is sin.  Sin is a separation; it comes between us and other people. Sin comes between us and God.

I won’t dwell on sin much, other than to say that it is a prideful, selfish, sometimes downright rebellious attitude. The “me, first!” attitude that comes between us and other people, and especially comes between us and God. And that deep-down attitude separates us, builds walls, and keeps humanity from developing relationships, from having meaningful, honest encounters.

But there is good news. God wants to break down that separation, and allow us to encounter Him. The Bible tells us that Jesus had willingly taken our sins on Himself to pay the “wages of sin” in our place!  And God the Father made it clear to everyone that He was completely satisfied with this payment by the fact that He raised Jesus His Son up from the dead!  And so, the way is now clear for us to have the relationship with God that we were meant to have! At last, the “hole in our souls” can be filled to our satisfaction, this deep-down longing for God can be filled.

So this is good news! This is very good news! But I haven’t even started to examine our scripture passage for this morning. I wanted to take a brief look at the second chapter of Acts.

Peter—you all remember Peter, don’t you? Peter was just finishing his sermon in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. The book of Acts records one of the biggest altar calls ever. About three thousand people welcomed the gospel message of Peter into their hearts, and joined the brand new group of believers that day. Talk about a soul-winning campaign! God touched the hearts of thousands of people that day, and drew all these people to Himself. God had a close encounter with each one of these people that day.

One of the most amazing things we can learn from this passage is that God not only repaired the way for Him to have a relationship with each person, vertically-speaking, but this lifting of the sin-separation repairs the way for us as individuals to have a relationship, to have an encounter with each other. God causes the separation to disappear, both horizontally, as well as vertically.

Listen again to the passage, starting at Acts 2:41-42. “So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Welcoming the message of the good news is the first part I want to consider. God repaired the separation. About three thousand people came to faith in the message Peter preached. God drew these people to Himself, reached their hearts, and caused the separation of sin to disappear.

Do you hear? Do you understand? God wants to approach us just as much as we want to approach Him—more, even, since God’s love is higher than the highest heaven and deeper than the deepest sea. And God has made this possible by the death of His Son on the cross, reconciling us to Himself, breaking the separation that divides us from God.

But wait—that’s not all. Not by a long shot.

God not only wants to bring us into a close relationship with Him, God wants each of us to come into a relationship with each other. And what an awesome opportunity to do both at the same time. In worship, we have the opportunity to experience a close encounter with God and with other people worshiping with us.

We here at St. John’s Church call this congregation a church family. Well, that’s exactly what Dr. Luke had in mind as he wrote the book of Acts. He wanted to emphasize that separate, lonely, desperate individuals not only developed a relationship with God, but through their heartfelt belief, they developed a relationship with each other. And that relationship, that fellowship has the opportunity to be realized in worship, together.

In centuries past, congregations took the opportunity to worship actively together. Congregational singing, reciting creeds, celebrating communion, reading liturgy, passing the peace—all of these are expressions, activities that congregations used to do together. But, there’s more. Much, much more. God is pleased when we are creative, and what better way to be creative than in worship and praise of our God.

Now, especially in some churches, worship is becoming increasingly a passive activity. Just sit back, and watch the show up front. But this isn’t a way to have a relationship with God, or with our fellow church family! People cannot interact with God and with others if they don’t have anything to do on a Sunday morning in a worship service.

God wants a relationship with us. God wants to get in touch with us. And part of that interaction comes from our getting in touch with each other. As someone here in the congregation mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it is especially at times of deep emotion that a congregation can pull together and show love and concern for each other.

It would be silly to think that a relationship could be built simply on loving thoughts and nothing else. No, a relationship is built on regular interactions, close encounters on a regular basis. The book written to the Hebrews advises these believers not to neglect the assembling of themselves together. They were to assemble regularly for worship. I’d like to go even further, and suggest that we not neglect worship that is interactive—not only between the congregation and God, but between the members of the congregation.

God is offering you, offering me, the opportunity for a relationship with Him, as well as a relationship with our church family. The options are there in front of us—loneliness and separation, both vertically as well as horizontally, or relationship and fellowship, with God and with our church family.

What does this look like? I don’t know, exactly. It’s different for different congregations. God is a God of infinite variation, and I suspect He accepts worship of all different kinds, just as God accepts people of all different cultures and people-groups.

I invite you to start praying about worship, and talking about it with each other, too. Some here may feel rather skittish, or downright silly, entertaining different and new ideas about worship. Some may even feel like they’re “breaking the rules,” but that’s okay.  This interactive worship, both in a horizontal way as well as a vertical way, is truly biblical worship. It is truly a way for us to approach God, as well as each other. And in this day and age, that’s what humanity needs—a close encounter with God, as well as with each other.