"Hurry and Come Down!"

For Sunday, October 31st, 2010

(Graphic from http://www.churchpowerpoint.com/, used with permission)

Lectionary Scripture -Luke 19:1-10 NRSV

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.

All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Hurry and Come Down!

Over the centuries, the primary theme emerging from this scriptural story has been that Jesus came to save the lost. According to that theme Zacchaeus is among the lost, mostly because he’s a tax collector. Distain for him was even greater distain since his life brimmed with wealth, power, and influence. For most Jews, he personified evil. As things go with this particular theme, the good in Zacchaeus won out over the evil. Jesus helps Zacchaeus see the error of his ways and subsequently he invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home. Zacchaeus’ sinful ways turn to ash. He no longer forestalls the transformation taking place within him. Scrambling down from the tree to stand before Jesus, he publicly renounces his former evils. He then offers restitution for any and all he has offended or harmed by his actions in this past. Following this, Jesus declares Zacchaeus and his household saved.

There is however a lesser known alternative theme. It revolves around a certain verb tense that gets lost in translation. If that verb tense receives the full and just attention it should, as some Bible scholars and theologians think it should, it changes the entire lesson or teaching the scripture has to offer. For instance, when Zacchaeus talks about fraud and the poor in front of Jesus and the crowd, he describes what he’s already doing rather than how he will change his ways. In this way, the scripture would read a bit differently and have a much different tone. The tone becomes in essence Zacchaeus protesting to Jesus the crowd’s perspective of him, e.g. “Look Lord, half my possessions I give to the poor. And when it’s clear that I have erred in my tax collection and have taken more than I should have, I restore the error to that person four times over.” In the course of things, Jesus discerns Zacchaeus to be an honest man doing the best he can at a very difficult and unpopular job. The proclamation from Jesus to the crowd is largely a slap to their faces. How so? Well after Jesus learns from Zacchaeus how he lives his life and how he always endeavors to do right by others, Jesus proclaims Zacchaeus part of the family of God and most decidedly a child of Abraham. To seal his point, Jesus goes to Zacchaeus’ home and shares a meal with him and his household, all of which delights Zacchaeus.

The teachings and lesson one can glean from this alternate theme/approach are several. First, it speaks to the prejudice a society and culture can have toward one of their own simply because of a job that must be done which few others are willing to do. Second, it points out the injustice of shunning behaviors from those who live judgmentally toward others. Third, it reflects the vulnerability we all have toward the herd mentality. Lastly, the scripture speaks powerfully to the importance of authority figures pre-emptively standing over and against prejudice, ignorance, and bigotry.

Regarding the above, I am reminded of African American, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was a person highly despised by numerous segments of Americans for taking on the job of ending racism in America and ensuring civil rights for all, particularly the voting rights of African Americans in the state of Alabama in 1965. At the time, society and culture of the 1960s employed various means of ignoring and shunning persons like Reverend King, even turning to violence against him and his fellow advocates in Selma, Alabama in March 1965 through beating men, women, children, ministers, and civil rights protesters -- all of which had been sanctioned by varying levels of Alabama law enforcement. In response to the violence, Reverend King issued the following call to action:

“In a vicious maltreatment of defenseless citizens of Selma, where old women and young children were gassed and clubbed at random, we have witnessed an eruption of the disease of racism which seeks to destroy all of America. The people of Selma will struggle for the soul of the Nation, but it is fitting that all Americans help to bear the burden. I call therefore, on clergy of all faiths, representative of every part of the country to join me in Selma for a ministers’ march on Montgomery Tuesday morning.”

Progressive faith leaders from across the country were enraged at the violence that had taken place. By the busloads and planeloads they left their pulpits and congregations in the spring of 1965 to go and walk alongside King in the “Ministers March”. Fearing that the worst might happen, people from all walks of life pressed then President, Lyndon Johnson, to intervene with Alabama authorities before all that was left of the Minsters March was human carnage. In response, President Johnson took to the bully pulpit that was his as president. He spoke out against the ignorance and bigotry and violence that had taken place in Alabama. The following is a portion of his words to the American people, delivered before Congress, at that critical time in our history:

“I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in what is happening here tonight.

For the cries of pain, the hymns and protest of oppressed people, have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government. In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself, a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or our security, but to the values and the purposes and meaning of our nation.

The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue, and should we defeat every enemy, double our wealth, conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and a nation. For with a country as with a person, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Last time a president sent a civil rights bill to Congress it contained a provision to protect voting rights. That bill passed after eight long months of debate. And when that bill came to my desk for signature, the heart of the voting provision had been eliminated. This time, on this issue, there must be no delay, no hesitation, no compromise.

Even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. It is not just Negroes, but all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

I say to all of you here and to all the nation tonight, that those who ask you to hold on to the past do so at the cost of denying you your future.

The real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests – his courage to risk safety and even life – have awakened the conscience of the Nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, to provoke change and stir reform. He has called upon us to make good the promise of America. And who among us can say we would have made the same progress were it not for his persistent bravery and his faith in American democracy. For at the heart of battle for equality is a belief in the democratic process.

President Johnson’s speech had the desired and intended effect. Congress subsequently sent him the Voting Rights Act which he signed into law on August 6th, 1965. The State of Alabama had to once and for all cease its bigoted, violent, and discriminatory practices. Within one week of the Voting Rights Act becoming law, federal registrars set up shop in Alabama and six months later nine thousand African Americans in Selma, Alabama were registered to vote.

For me, the events and dynamics surrounding Selma and those involving Zacchaeus have important things in common. The first is that none of us have any business denying rights to happiness and affiliation and association to anyone. Jesus forced that realization upon the crowd regarding Zacchaeus. King forced that realization upon a nation as did President Johnson in terms providing civil rights to Africa-Americans. In my book, there are many persons today striving for the same in terms of ensuring the happiness and well-being of our gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendering brothers and sisters. For them, there is a continuing “struggle for the soul of the Nation” and a “crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice” in this country and those who rise up against them seeking to obstruct their right to happiness want little more than “to hold on to the past at the cost of denying” us our future.

Progressive persons of faith and progressive faith leaders everywhere, there are far too many people forcing far too many other people “to hold on to the past” over so many different things; all of it happening at the “cost of denying” us our future. We’re long overdue for doing the right thing. The task before you is simple. It involves little more than saying, “ Zacchaeus, hurry and come down….”

"But for the Grace of God"

For Sunday, October 24th, 2010


(source for graphic unknown, if you have information for it, please let me know)

Lectionary Scripture – Luke 18:9-14 NRSV
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

“But for the Grace of God”

“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” It’s a saying we often hear and may even use ourselves from time to time. Supposedly it was first said by a Church of England priest named John Bradford around 1553 when he saw a criminal led to execution in the Tower of London. Imprisoned himself at the time on trumped up charges of stirring up a mob, Bradford was eventually executed as well; a deed sanctioned by Catholic Mary Tudor. Zealous upon her assent to the throne, Queen Mary (aka Bloody Mary) sought to abolish the Church of England set up by her father, King Henry the Eighth. Called “Holy Bradford” out of respect for his deep dedication to God, Bradford had embraced the Church of England. Coupled with his popularity among the people, Bradford constituted a serious threat to Mary and her inner circle. He was a threat that had to be eliminated so Mary could restore England to Catholicism.

Humble to the end, authorities burned Bradford at the stake before a large crowd that came to witness his execution. Reportedly before executioners lit the fire, Bradford encouraged a similarly condemned prisoner to, “Be of good comfort brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night.” It is also said that before Bradford died he asked for forgiveness from anyone he had wronged. He then extended forgiveness to those who had wronged him. Vilified eventually for her murderous arrogance trying to return England to Catholicism, a marble tablet monument commemorating martyrs like Bradford was erected three hundred years later in Smithfield London. Known as the time of “Marian Persecutions” the monument in Smithfield is named obviously enough as “The Marian Martyrs Monument.” There are several other such monuments in England honoring those whom Mary burned simply for being Church of England adherents.

“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” It’s something I can even imagine Mary saying, or at least thinking, on an occasion or two of the burnings she allowed. Out of arrogant self-righteousness like that of the Pharisee in the scripture above, she felt justified and acceptable before God for the actions she took. I can also imagine that she pitied most everyone she burned. She pitied them like the Pharisee pitied the tax collector for not seeing and understanding and obeying God in the manner she did. Unfortunately this strange, distorted, and dangerous thinking has but one end and Jesus makes clear what that is, i.e. such persons will not be justified but split off from God and in God’s own time they will be forcibly humbled.

Human history is replete with other examples of sanctimonious arrogance like Mary’s. Hitler and his Nazis are one example. Saddam Hussein and his followers are another. Idi Amin and his murderous band killed hundreds of thousands in Uganda. One can also add those who are religious and/or political extremists of any stripe. All are individuals who proclaim their way as the right and only way to live before God. It’s a kind of arrogance that exists not only at the national or macro level but also at the micro level such as a faith community or even a family. In Mary’s case, one might wonder that if her relationship with her father, Henry the Eighth, had been stronger and more loving, perhaps Mary herself might have been burned at the stake by some religious zealot.

For most of us, we can probably see the Pharisee’s arrogance and personal aggrandizement. He strokes his ego. He exalts himself. He anoints himself with his own brand of salvation. He makes the assumption that he and God are in good stead with each other and there’s tremendous personal satisfaction as a result. But Jesus’ take on the Pharisee is something quite different, “Not so fast,” he says, “things aren’t quite what they seem. You won’t be the one leaving the Temple justified. Instead, it will be the tax collector prostrate on the floor who is justified. See him, he’s there beating himself up for everything he is now and all that he’s been in the past.”

All the above begs a certain question, i.e. “Who of the two men would you rather spend time with and why?” For the persons who answer that they’d rather keep company with the Pharisee, they probably have certain things motivating them. My guess is that one of the motivations is this, “I would rather keep company with an educated person like the Pharisee.” Another comment might be, “The Pharisee looks successful. If I hang out with him, some of that might rub off onto me.” Others might say, “The Pharisees are part of the societal upper crust. I want to be part of that even it means that I get but a few crumbs.” Others might be attracted to the authority the Pharisees wield, so their thinking might be something like this, “The Pharisees have power over others because of rigidly adhering to certain ways of living and being in the world. If I do as they do and live as they say I should, I too will become influential and powerful.” There are also those persons who simply need someone to look down on them condescendingly because it’s all they have ever known. Such individuals lack the means, perspective, energy, and perhaps the courage to tackle a more constructive and empowering life journey. They choose to live in such space because they have been beaten down all their lives by those wanting dominion over them.

Again however, Jesus makes one thing clear, i.e. justification will not happen for such persons. It will not happen for the Pharisee nor will it happen for those seduced into following the Pharisee. This is why Jesus offers such a parable to his followers and raises their awareness to its lesson which is that justification cannot be self-administered. It is alone an act of God and the experience of such forgiveness is so incredibly phenomenological and emotional that it can never be forgotten. And as Jesus points out, this will be the case for the tax collector.

So let’s further consider the tax collector. Jesus declares that this person will be forgiven, justified, and made righteous. What can be said therefore of his condition and station in life? Well most of us know that in any established society or civilization there will be taxes. Most of us know that taxes must be collected and that workers will be required to collect those taxes. Then, like today, most people experience tax collection and tax collectors as scary. To a large degree, we want their involvement in our lives to be an absolute minimum. Many of us shudder at the thought of going through a tax audit. Some people even revolt and don’t pay their taxes. I have a relative who felt that way and behaved accordingly for quite a few years. Eventually however the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) caught up with the person and back taxes had to be paid. Hardship resulted. Lastly, I’m sure there are situations that break the hearts of even tax collectors. Today those stories are probably countless such as families being foreclosed on and their homes seized because of taxes that couldn’t be paid. Families get evicted to the streets because of parents who lost jobs as a result of the follies of Wall Street and the mortgage and banking industries. If you’re a tax collector with a conscience and you’ve had to seize property and people experienced hardship as a result, my guess is that you have had occasions of feeling like the tax collector in the above scripture.

While I have never had to seize property, I can recall heartbreaking occasions of forcing others to do things they didn’t want to do. One example comes from enforcing civil commitment laws a number of years ago. The situation involved a poverty-stricken mentally ill young adult suffering schizophrenia. He would not work with me to get attention for medical issues debilitating his physical health and jeopardizing his community boarding home placement. The time finally arrived that either the young man hospitalize himself voluntarily or I would commit him involuntarily. The young man refused and told me to leave his room at the boarding house. Later that day, deputies took him into custody and transported him to the hospital. That very night, his hospital roommate attacked him and blinded him in one eye. For me, there was no forgiving the guilt I felt.

A couple of weeks later I saw the young man in the community. With a big smile he eagerly approached and said it was great to see me. In my mind, I did not deserve the friendliness and I felt my guilt all over again as he showed me the injury to his eye. “Why are you not cursing me,” I thought, “why are you not angry with me?” In time I realized the young man did not hold me responsible for his misfortune. Yet for me, I would always feel responsible and always feel regret for what happened. Perhaps however in the young man’s demeanor, there was something I needed to consider – something which said that even God forgave me when I could not forgive myself.

This week at a community appreciation luncheon for local faith leaders, one of our number reminded us of the importance that people of faith hold for the community in these hard and difficult times. She challenged us to see that our only reason for existing is to care for the poor and if that’s not happening then there is really no reason for our existence. She then issued a call to care less about our churches and public images and to do more in terms of keeping staff on board and keeping staff resourced for their jobs. This is not for our benefit, she said, but for the benefit of the burgeoning numbers of the poor who we must be care for. They are our responsibility now because of the sanctimonious self-serving arrogance and greed that brought on their plight. Whatever may or may not have been our collusion in this state of affairs, our collective guilt must drive us to the altar of their care. There, like the tax collector, we dare not look up nor dare we declare ourselves justified. Only when God has declared our task done, when poverty and injustice and war have been eradicated along with the evil that begets them, then will God justify us. And perhaps something like a blinded eye or a martyrs’ monument will remain behind to remind us forever of our culpability so in the Temple of our souls we will pray unceasingly for the mercies we so desperately need.

Computer Down!

Greetings Readers, I must apologize for not posting last week or this week.  My computer crashed and I have had much to do to get back online with some semblance of a usable workstation.  My hope is to return to regular blogging sometime next week.  Meanwhile, may Christ's Peace be with you. --  Brad

"It's All about Humility"

For Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

(graphic from ChurchPowerpoint.com, used with permission)

Lectionary Scripture - Luke 17:5-10 (NRSV)
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"

It’s All about Humility

The worship resource my denomination makes available for the above scripture says that a small amount of faith can bring big results. It also says that faith exists for the purpose of bringing life and bringing grace to oneself and others. Faith however is not for purposes of demonstrating or obtaining power which at its core is fickle, impulsive, self-serving, self-aggrandizing, and capricious. Such displays of counterfeit faith defeat the purpose of genuine faith. Why? Because genuine faith exists for one reason alone and that reason is to deepen our relationship with God and with one another. The resource therefore asks that we closely examine our motivations when seeking an increase of faith. Part of that examination must include discerning if we want God to do something that we ourselves should do. We’re then asked to reflect on a time when we experienced an increase of faith and how it helped in the situation or circumstance and what was subsequently accomplished. Hopefully this contemplation leads to understanding when it is appropriate to ask God for increased faith and when it is not.

For me, when I see displays of counterfeit faith, I am often intrigued. I remember traveling to a congregation some years ago to preach. Church school classes were still in session so I decided to wait in the lobby until classes were finished. It wasn’t long before I started hearing one of the teachers emphatically yell the name of God every few words or so. God’s name was being used appropriately but the pronunciation was loud and angry. It carried the kind of intensity of when someone uses “God” in a swearing tirade. I then imagined being in that adult class and probably blanching each time the fool repeatedly yelled “GOD!” Before long, I recognized who was teaching the class and smiled to myself. I smiled because I knew the individual’s longstanding reputation for being full of himself. In fact, it always amazed me the number of people willing to follow this person year after year given his blatantly obvious self-serving, self-aggrandizing, impulsive, temperamental, capricious personality style. Furthermore, he never really did any heavy lifting as a minister. For that stuff, he always cajoled, ordered, or intimidated someone else into doing it for him. In my estimation, there was little about his faith that was remotely genuine. I suspect however that he would say he has the richest spiritual life of anyone he knows.

Fortunately, there have been many other people in my life whose faith I can gladly affirm as genuine and even as real as mustard seed. They are people devoid of any ego dynamics related to control issues. They are devoid of needing to impress others, or impress themselves, or seek high office, or for that matter seek any kind of position or influence over others. Extending compassion is, and will always be, their first order of business. They are persons so humble and comfortable in their own skin that it would take a tree uprooting itself and being cast into the sea before they’d get ruffled or nicked by someone’s careless insult. Honesty, integrity, humility, and generosity define their way of being in the world. One needn’t ever feel self-conscious in asking for their help and support. These people of faith live in ways so utterly foreign to those whose lives comprise drivenness for position, influence, achievement, power, or riches. People of real faith – people of genuine faith – seem like aliens from another planet for they see the world so utterly and wholly different from the rest of us. They realize that we are caught up in an eternity, an eternity in which the current ills will last but a short while. Year after year, this is the faith I want and the faith I seek after. Jim Wallis of Sojourners is someone who exudes that kind of faith for me.

Wallis’ faith became an inspiration for me when we were arrested together in Washington D.C. in December 2005 for protesting cuts to the federal budget. The House of Representatives wanted those cuts, which would have harmed the most vulnerable persons in our society, so at the same they could also wanted generously decrease taxes upon the richest of the rich; talk about robbing the poor to pay the rich. Wallis wasn’t going to have it and neither would I. He therefore summoned people of faith from around the country to protest and be arrested in Washington D.C.

The evening before our arrest by Capitol Police, Wallis led a prayer service vigil at a local church. The intent of the prayer service was to keep our spirits and faith motivated for the next day’s protest. Wallis closed the service that evening with a text from Hebrew Scripture in Habakkuk. It’s a scripture he carries with him at all times. It reads as follows, "Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay." The vision of course is nothing less than God’s Peaceable Kingdom. After the scripture, we joined hands and sang the spiritual, "We Shall Overcome." Following a benediction, we were asked to turn to each other and say, "Hope to be arrested with you tomorrow." Laughter and hugs followed as we left the church sanctuary. These people of faith made the protest a peaceful success the following day.

Thanks Jim for your faith and for your courage. To me, they are the real stuff, nothing counterfeit about them. They are more than mustard seeds. They are the boulders, uprooted trees, and obstacles that must be placed in the way of counterfeit faith whenever and wherever we find it. Long and short of it my friends, ask for the genuine article, i.e. genuine faith, whenever and wherever you need it. For God will supply and provide.

"Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay."