“Ending Deathliness”

For Sunday, April 4th, 2010

(graphic is the "Empty Tomb" by Dr. He Qi, professor at the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. He Qi is a tutor for master candidate students in the Philosophy Department of Nanjing University. He is also a member of the China Art Association and a council member of the Asian Christian Art Association. Graphic used under Creative Commons license)

Lectionary Scripture - I Corinthians 15:19-26

"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

“Ending Deathliness”

Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, once wrote that through the resurrection of Jesus, God broke all the world’s vicious cycles of deathliness. In doing so, a weary old heaven, jaded old earth, and conflicted old Jerusalem could be broken open to new and healthier possibilities. Brueggeman says that the first breaking of the deathliness tradition occurred when “uncredentialed” women became the first to declare to “credentialed” male apostles that Christ had risen. So Mary Magdalene’s declaration to the male apostles that she had “seen the Lord” caused great bewilderment and astonishment. And even for Mary and her companions, Brueggeman says that what they witnessed in seeing a resurrected Jesus was beyond any means they had for explaining such an exhibition of God’s power over death and life. Brueggeman then comments that this singular event is what the church stakes its life and witness upon. As the Apostle Paul put it, it’s the defeat of “the last enemy” which is death itself. Brueggeman closes his commentary with saying that, “Easter invites us to imagine, embrace, and live in a world that is without fear of death or guilt."  It is no wonder then that the religious and secular authorities of Jesus time recognized the Easter proclamation to be dangerously subversive.  They recognized it as such because the world of their time organized itself around all the death and guilt it could propagate.

Many of us today would question the idea that the world’s viciousness and deathliness have been broken or have come to an end. It seems that we continue living upon a jaded old earth and certainly a conflicted Jerusalem still stands. My guess is that a good many of us feel increasingly hemmed in by these realities rather than freed of them. And for some, their world may feel increasingly like a choke hold that’s growing tighter and tighter, constricting one’s breath to the point that it’s barely enough on which to survive. And friends let’s be honest because for thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children each day that is their experience, i.e. they simply don’t survive. It’s the case since between 160,000 to 180,000 precious lives leave this earth daily -- many of which succumb to the ravages of poverty, disease, hunger, starvation, non-existent or inadequate healthcare, war, greed, environmental degradation, religious intolerance and the unremitting violence and oppression that accompanies all this deathliness.

One might ask the question that if from your easy chair or whatever comfortable life situation you have, God expected you to witness each episode of deathliness as it happened through the course of a day and you had to do so despite whatever you would witness, how much of that deathliness could you take before you yourself would not want to live any longer? How long would it be before you cried out, “Lord, take me away from all this death, from all this suffering?” Would it take five minutes, ten minutes, an hour, a half day, the whole day? Or would you not be impacted at all? Would you summon some damned inane excuse to shield your psyche from the horror and say, “It’s not my problem. I’ve worked hard to establish the comforts and securities I have. Everyone else can do the same and pull themselves up by their bootstraps just like I did.” If you or someone you know has arrived to such a place in their thinking, then God have mercy.

My guess for most of us is that the world’s deathliness overwhelms us. It’s not that we don’t want it to be different. It’s simply that we feel helpless in the face of it. And due to that helplessness we give up and settle for what we have and live in the mediocrity of it no matter how gilded our cage is. So we settle for a lack the creativity and resourcefulness and ultimately a lack of resolve to force change when and where it’s needed -- whether that has to do with a rather small matter or situation or something of much greater importance. But then there’s also the collusion we do with the world’s deathliness because we like the comforts and securities it provides if we agree in turn to continue propping up the faulty premises or mediocrity upon which it exists.

In case it isn’t obvious already from what you’ve read above, there’s one assertion I have absolutely no affection for in this world and it’s what I call the “bootstrap premise.” But another premise with which I have little patience is when we allow unjust behavior to keep on happening because it fails to rise to someone’s sense of what warrants intervention. Institutional Christianity is so replete with examples past and present that it makes any sane person stop and cringe. The childhood sex abuse scandal rocking so many faith traditions these days is one example.

I can also remember a much different circumstance at my church when serving as a pastor in Vancouver, Canada. This incident followed the decision by a United Nations’ coalition of member countries to invade Iraq in the early 1990s. At a congregational prayer meeting as the invasion was taking place, a lay minister waxed on with pride that not since the Crusades had the Christian nations of the world come together to take down an Islamic foe. Fortunately a new young adult member took the individual on and stridently condemned his thinking as un-Godly and most certainly un-Christian. Thankfully in her faith journey to that point, she had already arrived to the place that Brueggeman mentioned above, i.e. she had already begun “to imagine, embrace, and live in a world without fear of death or guilt.” Looking back on that incident now, she was in the place and space that the authority types in our lives dread. They dread it because it’s subversive and because it speaks out and refuses to be organized around fear, death, or guilt.

There is too much riding these days on humanity’s future. Too much riding on it to let ourselves collude with the world’s deathliness and mediocrity and the way it tries to keep us in our place with fear, death, and guilt. So as God resurrected Christ and as Jesus made that an undeniable reality in the minds of a precious few who society and culture then dismissed as unbelievable, let that same undeniable reality resurrect you. Move on from any vestige of something or someone organized around fear, or death, or guilt, or complacency, or mediocrity. Move on from the work supervisor who’s threatened by your resolve and creativity for a better and healthier world. Move on from the minister who wants you to join him or her in their confining constricting little box of religious or supposedly “spiritual” ways. Move on so that when the end comes you’ll be standing with Christ for having helped to bring down any form of evil that ever organized around fear or death or guilt or complacency or mediocrity. Do so because what you will be a part of is nothing less than handing over the Peaceable Kingdom to the one who is our God, our Father, our Mother.

"Be Isaiah. Be Christ. Be You!"

For Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Lectionary Reading - Isaiah 50:4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens-- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

(Graphic is of the Prophet Isaiah from a "Panel from the Maesta Altarpiece of Siena"; date 1308-1311; artist: Duccio di Buoninsegna c.1250/60-1318; located in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)

"Be Isaiah. Be Christ. Be You!"

Chris Haslam’s commentary from the Anglican Diocese of Montreal for the above scripture notes that chapters 40-55 of Isaiah contain four servant songs. The first song acknowledges that there is a “choosing” by God of those who will be called to serve and further God’s purposes. The second song is that in answering God’s call, the servant can expect that some of their fellow human beings will abuse, denigrate, or ignore them. However the third song affirms that such humiliating experiences will strengthen the servant, helping the individual to remain disciplined and steadfast. The fourth and last song is that others -- even those who are strangers or foreigners -- will be touched and amazed by the servant’s story for the lessons and teachings it taught the servant will benefit their lives. And then in time, God will vindicate the servant and prove the servant’s calling right and true.

As I read and reflected on the above commentary, it seemed to describe my life’s journey and experience at various junctures. I can think of quite a few times and occasions that a situation or set of circumstances in which I tried to help, or tried to teach, or tried to redirect, or tried to move toward something healthier and more positive resulted instead in negative outcomes. Typically those outcomes resulted in being ignored however there have been situations in which I was rejected, undermined, -- even humiliated and abused.

Over time through repeated experience with such dynamics and then seeing the outcomes that I had predicted come to be, I have arrived to a kind of confidence about making assessments or observations related to such things. Mostly, it’s that my observations tend to bear out. They tend to bear out whether they involve toxic relationships, toxic communities, or the abusive demeaning undermining things that happen in such circumstances. And over time for me, it has provided the means by which to remain steadfast in a situation where there’s hope despite the evil or ignorance that must be confronted. Such things have also taught me when to advocate, and if necessary, fight for what is right. But then to also know when to let go and move on either because it useless to struggle any longer against a broken system or because I have done all that can be done to help that system or individual or family or community become healthier. And what these things have taught me as most important is that like Isaiah, I must never let my voice or hopes or expectations be silenced or compromised.

As most of us know, there are many means by which the world tries to silence our voices, our hopes, or our expectations. The evil and the ignorant try through a variety of them. They try through exercising their supposed authority. They may also try through making the excuse that their way is better or more preferred than yours or that your way or your voice or what you advocate is too risky or constitutes too great a threat. The Prophet Isaiah didn’t buy such tripe so why should you if you’re a Peaceable Kingdom advocate like him. Instead, Isaiah kept his voice strong and resilient in the face of those who criticized or tried to undermine him and the calling and vision God gave him. It bears repeating what Isaiah said, i.e. that morning by morning God taught him and he was not rebellious and did not turn from what God placed in his heart.

Most of us would also say that Jesus didn’t buy such tripe either. So why should you or I let our voices be silenced by the world around us if we like him are Peaceable Kingdom advocates too. Family and friends and followers and religious officials and governmental authorities all tried at one point or another to silence Jesus’ voice and his message. But as we know, Jesus didn’t buckle or cave in. Instead he remained strong and at times he was about as reactionary as it gets. The Gospels quote such examples as the times he called certain individuals poisonous snakes, or when he told his mother that she wasn’t really his mother but that all are his mother. Then there were the occasions he called others Satan or evil. Once he even made a whip and ran around lashing out at people with it and overturning tables and chased them out of the Temple. And then there’s the occasion he sighed and asked God how much longer he would have to tolerate the faithless and perverse generation that surrounded him. Yep, Jesus said it pretty plain and pretty straight whenever he wanted or felt the need to do so. And since that was the case his voice and his way of doing things resulted in him going all the way to the cross.

There are those of you who regularly visit this blog from different countries all around the world. For most of you, I don’t know what specifically draws you here and it’s probably not important that I do. But if what brings you here is your compassion and your hope for a world that’s just for each and every living soul – and if what brings you here is a sense of God’s calling in your life coupled with the need to give voice to that calling and the vision you’re to advocate but you’re running into resistance, then know this: You have been very much in my heart and thought and prayers this past week. I don’t know if you’re in China or Singapore or Sweden or the UK or US or Israel or France or India or Africa or wherever. All I know is that you have been struggling and you have been unsure about what you’re feeling and what you should do. Believe me. I have been in your shoes. I know what it’s like. What I urge you to do is that you bring into the light of day what God has put into your heart. I urge you not only for your own sake, benefit, and need but for the sake, benefit, and need of those for whom you care and love. Let your expectations be known and not silenced. Let your voice be heard. Share the calling, share the hope God’s placed in you.  Be Isaiah. Be Christ. Be you!

“Turning myself in Mr. Beck”

For Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Lectionary Scripture - Isaiah 43:16-21


Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

“Turning myself in Mr. Beck”

Sojourners sermon preparation (www.sojo.net - subscription required) for the above lectionary scripture provides commentary from Walter Wink, professor emeritus at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. In his commentary, Wink quotes philosopher Alfred Whitehead who once said that it can take a thousand years for a truly new idea to be universally accepted in human experience. Why does it take that long? The answer shouldn’t be hard to determine; it’s because we’re so resistant to change.

To provide an example, Wink notes what the Prophet Isaiah had to say about the Hebrew Exodus from Egyptian slavery and what is said is that the Exodus was the first time a divine being sided with the powerless, i.e. the slaves and not the masters. Now some eight hundred after the event, Isaiah declares that God is about to do a “new thing” and in time that “new thing” will be a restored creation and nonviolent world in which human beings have finally learned to live justly and peaceably and in ways that honor nature.

So after all these millennia has humanity listened and arrived at what God’s prophet envisioned? Has it changed its ways? Has it helped God’s “new thing” make headway? Many would probably say there’s been little progress.

Throughout time however, God has sent agents of his “new thing” to help us along. One agent who arrived on the scene had many call him, “Son of God.” Jesus Christ, as this son was known, demonstrated in three short years how God’s “new thing” of Isaiah’s prophecy could be reality. This Peaceable Kingdom as God’s “new thing” would change us so completely from a world that more often seemed depraved than compassionate. Yet the world wasn’t ready to change its violent nature enough and would not tolerate another prophet proclaiming a call to peace. So Jesus was executed. The problem however is that the world was a bit too late trying to silence Jesus. His message about the Peaceable Kingdom got out and could not be silenced. And so other great teachers and prophets followed, persons such as Mohammed, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Anwar Sadat, Mother Teresa, and the list goes on. Through what they gave and modeled to the world, the cause of Isaiah’s Peaceable Kingdom rooted itself even further into our lives.

Yet we continue to struggle to make that vision reality and why so? Well I think the answer lies in what’s the profit in it? For how will one reap all that one can possibly want from this world and possess all the comforts and control and influence one could possibly have if there’s to be the kind of social justice and economic justice that God’s Peaceable Kingdom expects for each and every person? The answer is that such appetites will not be able to be unfettered or controlled only by the forces of what the marketplace will bear. If the marketplace in all the millennia that it has existed had been the answer and proved itself capable of a global conscience that benefitted and provided for all of the Earth’s seven billion inhabitants, then God’s Peaceable Kingdom would have arrived by now. Since that hasn’t happened, we human beings must continue to call one another to the task of social justice and economic justice until it’s a reality for everyone. What that will mean is that of the 170,000 children, women, and men who die every day on planet, that number will be reduced to where it no longer reflects those who die each day due to violence, war, poverty, disease, inadequate healthcare, hunger or starvation.

There are those however who are hostile to such justice. For me, one person projecting such hostility toward the kind of social justice and economic justice needed to accomplish the vision God gave Isaiah is Fox News personality, Glenn Beck. According to James Wallis, President of Sojourners (www.sojo.net), Beck said on his March 11th show that social justice was a “perversion of the gospel” and that social justice and economic justice were nothing more than “code words” for communism and fascism. Below is a sampling of Beck’s statements over the course the past week or so:

Where I go to church, there are members that preach social justice as members–my faith doesn’t–but the members preach social justice all the time. It is a perversion of the gospel.

and

Social justice was the rallying cry—economic justice and social justice—the rallying cry on both the communist front and the fascist front. That is not an American idea. And if we don’t get off the social justice economic justice bandwagon, if you are not aware of what this is, you are in grave danger. All of our faiths–my faith your faith–whatever your church is, this is infecting all of them.

and

I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!

and

If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, “Excuse me are you down with this whole social justice thing?” If it’s my church, I’m alerting the church authorities: “Excuse me, what’s this social justice thing?” And if they say, “yeah, we’re all in that social justice thing”—I’m in the wrong place.

I couldn’t resist and had to share the above comments with a conservative Republican ministerial colleague. On hearing Beck’s comments, my colleague shook his head and said, “I have no idea where Beck is coming from because following Jesus and being a Christian have always been about social justice.” As a liberal progressive Christian, I would agree. If you feel similarly, then there’s something that James Wallis and I would like you to do. We’d like you to report yourself to Glenn Beck as a social justice Christian. We’ve done it and you can do it too by following the link below:

http://go.sojo.net/campaign/glennbeck_socialjustice?rk=GpafgXEajJ8pE

If you decide to report yourself to Beck, may you have and enjoy Christ’s Peace for doing so! And then be a pal and let me know that you’ve done it. Have a great weekend.

"To Confess or Not"

For Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Lectionary Scripture - Psalms 32 (NRSV)

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. (Selah) Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah) Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. (Selah) I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

To Confess or Not

Chris Haslam’s commentary for the above lectionary scripture notes that the psalmist tells us what he has learned in life, i.e. that happiness is having one’s sin forgiven and taken away by God. With such an undertaking, the psalmist witnesses the benefits of a clear conscience and renewed health. For the distress involved with covering one’s sin is so consuming that it eats away at one’s well-being and easily makes a person ill. In time -- without relief -- it brings on diseases wrought by stress, isolation, and alienation. But when sin is acknowledged, discontinued and forgiven, life becomes renewed and one enjoys new sources of energy for daily living. It’s particularly true if from the point of confession one can allow oneself to be led in God’s way through God’s instruction and counsel rather having to be coaxed or coerced like a stubborn horse or mule whose behavior must be curbed with bit and bridle. As Haslam puts it, “Use your initiative in being open to God” and then rejoice over the blessings that come your way.

Confession and its importance are at the center of what the psalmist and Haslam write. Some faith traditions honor and provide sacred ritual for meeting this need while other faith traditions experience discomfort with it or avoid it altogether. Those uncomfortable with it tend to act as though the need for confession doesn’t exist. For me, I can’t say that I have any conclusive or authoritative position on the matter but what I have observed over 34 years as an ordained minister is this:  Those who are uncomfortable with confession, especially before one’s community, are individuals who need confession most.

Yes, I’ve heard countless complaints from parishioners when serving as a pastor how we ought to get rid of the sharing time before morning worship. How there shouldn’t be a time for people to openly share how God is blessing their lives nor a time to ask for prayer, either for oneself or others, because all it leads to is embarrassing comments or an excuse to gossip later. Yet in all the years I have been a pastor, I experienced precious little of such things. And if embarrassing things or inappropriate things or unjust things happened it tended to come from those persons living in denial of their own need for confession or “Come to Jesus” moments. For me, my thought is this, “What is more embarrassing or unjust when a soul cries out for confession and the sanctimonious in our midst won’t allow it because it offends their sensibilities?”

What I and many of my fellow congregants experience instead is the person making confession who we actively nurtured toward a healthier and more complete lifestyle. For instance, the young woman who took a chance on visiting our faith community and who a few months later “confessed” that her faith journey had been mostly televangelists. She had not experienced community like ours before. In time, she chose to become a full member of that community. In time, she met the love of her life, a member of our international community. In time, she moved overseas to be with him. Soon they will marry and embark on a whole new adventure.

What I have also experienced are the prayer requests for someone in our community who relapsed back into their addiction and how children had to be taken out of the home, but then that person returns to recovery and after a hard journey to get it right this time re-obtains custody of the children. And then that individual “confesses” during the sharing time before worship the mess their life had been and the gratitude they feel for a faith community that did what had to be done to protect the children and how with “bit and bridle” the relapsed person was forced to confront the consequences of relapse.

Or how about the “confession” of marital infidelity by a Thanksgiving guest at our holiday table who acknowledged with much gratefulness the friendship and support we had extended during such a troubling time. As we continued on around the table expressing thankfulness prior to prayer over the meal, I marveled at the individual’s courage to acknowledge the damage inflicted on family and friends and how from that point forward honesty and openness would be the fabric of life.

While I can understand that a time of confession might be challenging or even unworkable for a worshipping community of hundreds or thousands, a previous presiding officer in my tradition put it best as to why we need room for confession in our faith communities and his words make sense when one considers the life examples above:

I remain convinced that some opportunity for worshipers to acknowledge their sinfulness and dependence on God, and to be assured of God’s forgiveness, is vital to authentic worship. Confession is that humble expression of vulnerability that allows us to experience our deep connectedness with God and others. Without confession, life in community becomes grounded in self and ego and fosters an environment where competition and barriers persist. -- Peter Judd, “Up Front,” Herald, March 2003

Uncomfortable with confession? Then try a bit of vulnerability and honesty about your ego needs, your competition needs, and the barriers those needs create for you, others, and even your faith community. Give it a shot and try it, you might just like it.  For the holes in our souls will only be healed where confession and the importance of confession are honored, affirmed, protected, and upheld.  In the places where such things be, therein exists God’s Peaceable Kingdom.

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Fruitful Lives or ????

For Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Lectionary Reading - Luke 13:1-9 (NRSV)

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Fruitful Lives or ?????

Homiletics Online commentary for the above scripture shares some rather intriguing thoughts. First off, the scripture probably references some well-known tragedies that are not represented well in historical texts. The first tragedy reflects the cruel and bloody nature of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. He had a pet project of an aqueduct bringing water to Jerusalem from a spring about thirty miles away and decided to raid the Temple treasury to pay for it. Understandably, this upset people and when Pilate visits Jerusalem his arrival is met with enormous protest from huge numbers of his angry Jewish subjects. Pilate decides to put down the protest. He does this by disguising his personal guards and sending them into the crowds. There they kill people who seem to be inciting others.

The persons reporting this incident seem to be saying to Jesus that the killings happened because the protestors behaved sinfully in how they protested Pilate. But then another story is also told about the aqueduct project. It involves the tower of Siloam which collapsed in some freakish accident killing eighteen people. The discussion seems to have taken a morbid turn as some suggest that those killed by the tower and those killed by Pilate were sinful and therefore their sin brought about their deaths.

Jesus challenges these ignorant comparisons and says that such was not the case, i.e. the people killed for rebellious protest and people dying in an accident do not have “sin” as the root or shared cause of their demise. And then quite pointedly to those participating in this obtuse discussion, Jesus tells them to beware and says the same end could befall any of them at any time in terms of accidents or random acts of violence. What he tells them to focus on instead is the standing of one’s relationship with God when one leaves this life. For whether one’s death happens suddenly or tragically and unexpectedly or whether it comes after a long and full life and one dies peacefully in their sleep, a judgment awaits every person for how they have lived and what they have done in life. Yet even then, a measure of mercy will be extended as evident by Jesus’ story of the landowner, gardener, and non-producing fig tree. However, Jesus makes clear that even mercy will have its limits as evident by giving the fig tree one last opportunity to be nurtured into producing fruit. Failing that, its fate becomes sealed and it is ripped from the ground and cast off for ever.

Years ago as an intake counselor/evaluator at a community mental health center, the loss of two lives through “suicide by cop” left me with much anger, sadness, and helplessness. Over the course of three or four months, two individuals had been released from prison to return to our community where they had resided prior to their convictions. One had been convicted of felony assault and the other for sexual assault. Both individuals had histories of mental illness for which they have been treated while incarcerated.

Having completed their sentences, the state released them back into the community and referred them to our services. In my evaluation with each individual, the experience was nearly the same. Each one reported long histories of psychological damage in their childhood upbringing. Each one reported substantial history of sociopathic behavior and repeated confrontations with law enforcement. And each one reported overwhelming fear of the community and the likelihood they would not be able to make it outside of prison. Lastly, each one said the exact same thing to me, “They should have never let me out.” At the close of each of these sessions, I felt a terrible foreboding that little of what we had to offer these men would help and that something awful would happen to them.

And something awful did happen. The first man became despondent and one evening paced menacingly back and forth on the sidewalk in front of his residence, but he did so with an axe. Eventually police showed up and despite valiant efforts from officers to diffuse the situation, the man charged them with the axe and was fatally shot.

The second man, being a sex offender, found the community most unwelcoming. He could find no place to live and was reduced to homelessness. Essentially he met face to face with a common community attitude toward sex offenders, i.e. “You’re not living in my neighborhood!” Before long, the man ended up in a makeshift tent alongside a river outside our community. The rainy weather and demoralizing conditions rendered him despondent. One day he managed somehow to lay hands on a rifle and went to a popular tourist spot near the river. He began pointing the rifle at people. The last person he pointed at was an armed off-duty FBI agent who pulled his weapon. When the man would not put down the rifle, the agent shot him dead.

I realize that there are plenty of folks today who would look at these men, their situations, and their ultimate demise and probably say, “They got what they deserved.” For me, such thinking represents the kind of ignorance and insensitivity that Jesus confronted in the above scripture. Who of any of us can look at these men’s histories and not say, “But for the grace of God there go I.” In case you don’t know the origin of that saying, it was first spoken by the English evangelical preacher and martyr, John Bradford (1510–1555). What he actually spoke was a variant of the phrase, "There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford". Apparently he said it as criminals were led to a scaffold for execution. Ironically, that grace wasn’t to last as he was burned at the stake in 1555. Reports are that he remained calm about his fate and said to a fellow victim, "We shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night". (For more information visit http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/there-but-for-the-grace-of-god.html)

For me, when I think of the men’s situations described above, I think of the sin we bear together as human beings and as communities. We are like the gardener in Jesus’ parable. We have responsibilities to the community to keep it safe from harm and productive but we also have responsibilities to the non-producing non-productive fig tree, i.e. our fellow human beings who by history and lack of adequate nurturing or through some form of disease or health disorder (mental health in the men’s cases above) can’t quite make it without special care and support – even extraordinary care and support.

Yes, there will be those individuals who ultimately choose to be uprooted and cast off forever, yet there will also be those who have been so frustratingly unhealthy and criminal and unproductive in the past that can be reclaimed into the life of our communities. Reclaimed that is if we will but extend the effort to help as new and more effective means of helping come into our understanding. In turn we can help lives to bear fruit where there was none before or where the fruit had been completely spoiled and rotten. We can achieve these miracles through new and innovative means like Wraparound and through similar ventures like Open Table which seeks to lift families and individuals out of dysfunction and poverty one at a time through connection and relationship with a local faith community.

Remember friends, the landowner cometh – both for you and for me.