Keeping Your Focus

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 11-Year C

June 21, 2013

Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

One of the important aspects to many different things in life is finding a center, or centering yourself.  We employ all sorts of words and phrases in order to express finding that center.  In martial arts, especially in Aikido you need to find and focus on your center, and use that central force in your moves.  Many eastern religions and philosophies use meditation and chants to assist a person in finding their central point or being.  Often, regardless of what the activity may be, we will often pause and calm ourselves, find our center before beginning.  You see it in athletes of all kinds as they pause moments before they begin in still silence focusing, concentrating, finding their center.  I think about high divers who pause for a moment before launching themselves into the air.  I think about the basketball player at the free-throw line that pauses before sending the ball through the hoop.  I think about the archer who breaths deeply and quiets their body before shooting their arrow at the bullseye.

Finding your center, your calm place, your happy place, is important in athletics.  Without pausing  to quiet the mind and body, the arrow would not fly straight, the basketball would clang off the hoop and the diver could very easily belly flop.  But it’s not just athletics.  I remember when I was in college and had a big music performance, I would pause in quiet silence, soaking it all in and striving to find a place of calm in order to allow myself to perform best.  There are many times when the time I spend at the altar at the beginning of the service in prayer is also a time of centering myself, calming myself, clearing my mind of unnecessary thoughts,  so I can be fully present in worship.

Life itself often needs to be centered.  In the next week I need to find the time to take my car in to have the wheels balanced.  They may be round, but their weight is not centered.  At certain speeds I get a rather uncomfortable shake that passes through the steering wheel into my hands.  The shake doesn’t always happen at exactly the same speed, and it seems to come up without warning.  At lower speeds, I can’t feel it; at speeds higher than the shake, it also seems to disappear.  Yet, it’s still there, hidden by how fast the wheels are turning.  My tire’s need to be balanced, they need to be centered; if I don’t I will eventually cause damage to my car.

Life is a lot like that too.  There are times when we go along without a care in the world – everything seems fine, hunky-dory.  Then suddenly, out of the blue we find ourselves out of balance, shaking as we go.  Go a little slower and the shaking disappears, go a little faster and the business of life hides how out of balance we are.  We all need to find our center in those moments, or risk coming apart from being out of balance.  We find ourselves in those moments being pulled in different directions, seeking to find that place where we can be centered between all the forces pushing and pulling, dragging and shoving us here and there.

In our text about Mary and Martha we see someone being pushed and pulled off center in different directions.  That’s what the Greek (periespato) really means when we read that Martha was ‘distracted’.  Martha was out of balance, she had lost her focus she was spinning off kilter and out of control.  Jesus’ words to her about Mary choosing the better part in contrast to Martha’s distraction can easily be understood to be words advising her to refocus herself, to concentrate on what is of importance.

Now, there are many ways to think of what is of importance.  This text has sometimes been used to elevate study of the word and meditation above that of service.  This text has sometimes been used as a critique on the role of women in the church.  But, this text (as with most texts) is about relationship; our relationship with God and God’s with us.

Rather than dwelling on the specific acts of Martha and Mary, let’s look at their motivation, their focus, the reason they are doing whatever they are doing.  At the beginning of the situation, Martha invites Jesus to her home; probably because she wants to be of service.  He’s passing through, he could use a place to stay, a good meal to eat, a cool glass of water.  She invited him into her home, and she heads to the kitchen to work – probably whistling, and in joy and happiness that she can serve Jesus in this way.  Mary too is happy.  Thrilled to have the opportunity to spend time at Jesus’ feet listening to his teachings.

But then something happens, Martha is no longer happy.  So what happened?  Let’s look at her words.  Martha complains that she has to do all the work herself.  Her focus has shifted.  She is no longer focused on serving Jesus, she’s focused on how hard she is working in that service.  Her focus is no longer Jesus, it’s herself; she’s become distracted.  If you think about it, she’s trying to turn the focus away from Jesus to herself, how hard she’s working, all that she’s doing.  “Lord, do you see how hard I’m working?, and all by myself.  Isn’t that wonderful?  Don’t you think I’m worth praising and thanking?”

Martha is a wonderful example for us of what can happen when we lose our focus.  It’s not that the work she was doing was any less important than the time of reflection that Mary was involved in.  It’s not that work is somehow bad, or that reflection is somehow better.  There wasn’t a problem until Martha got distracted, pulled in different directions – pulled between focusing on Jesus and focusing on the work she was doing.

This passage comes directly after the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I think Luke put them together for a reason.  In the parable we are shown the importance of service and good works.  Jesus lifts up the selfless service of the Samaritan as an example to be followed.  Then in these verses, we read of Martha and her service and Jesus points out a truth.  The work we do in service to our neighbors, even to the Lord himself, must be done with a focus, must be done in faith, if they are to lead to life in Christ.  Mary’s better part was her continued focus on Jesus.

As people of God, we know the importance of service and good works.  In the second chapter of James we read how faith without works is dead.  It’s a verse that is lifted up often as calling us to live out our faith in service to others.  Here, in this passage, we see the contrary is also true, that works with faith is also dead.  Without faith, all that we do, no matter how good it might be is not going to win God’s blessings. 

Faith and works are both necessary parts of life in Christ.  As I talked about in the children’s time one without the other really doesn’t work very well.  But they both need a focus.  To continue with the jump rope imagery from the children’s time, I can hold both ends of the jump rope and swing them in unison, but unless the goal is to jump over the passing rope, all I’m doing is creating a breeze.  But, if the focus is on doing what the jump rope is designed for, when I swing both ends, when I focus and jump, everything works well.  But, I must maintain my focus.  When my focus lapses, when my swinging of either side of the rope lags behind, or one side is swinging faster, when I don’t jump, the rope bumps up against my body, and the rope stops.

The focus of our faith, the focus of our service, is Jesus.  We serve others in love out of thankfulness to God for the love and service that was first shown to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We look to God in faith, in belief, because of the life, death and glorious resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus is the focus, our reason for doing what we do, for believing what we do.  It is the better part.  To have our focus on anything else, regardless of the depth of our faith, regardless of the nature of our service, is to be like a jump rope swinging around without being jumped.  It might be pretty to look at, it might be awe-inspiring, it might even be inspirational.  Only when we maintain our focus on Jesus do our faith and our service swing together in coordination.  And that is the better part.  Amen.

Fences

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 10

July 14, 2013

Luke 10: 25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Our gospel text today is probably the most well-known parable that Jesus told.  All of us know it well, all of us have heard it time and time again, all of us have studied it, and had Bible studies and devotions dedicated to it.  We hear it with ears that have been trained time and time again to see things in certain ways, to see ourselves and others in specific characters.  Sometimes when we know a story too well we stop listening to it.  There is always a battle within our minds and hearts when we encounter such a well-known passage to allow ourselves to be open, to allow God to show us something new, to allow God to work in us.

Most of the time we read this story as being a lesson that we should reach out to those who are in need, that our definition of who a neighbor is should be wide enough to include all, not just those who live in our locale, or look and think like us.  We add to the story by reminding ourselves that the aid the Samaritan gave was full and complete, he didn’t just feel sorry for him and bind his wounds, he cared for him until our traveler was well enough to go on.  Our aid, our compassion, should not be limited to reaching out at the moment of need, but being there through until the time for need is well and truly passed.  We all know those readings and interpretations; we’ve all studied this passage in the past, and may have studied it multiple times.  What more is there to learn?  Are there new perspectives that may be open to us, new ways for God to speak to us through this story?

The lawyer (more accurately translated as a teacher of the law) asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  It’s a question that if we are honest with ourselves is also a question many of us would ask.  We too want to know what we need to do to ensure our homecoming into heaven.  Jesus responds to the lawyer by asking him what he understood he needed to do based on the law.  The lawyer’s response pleases Jesus, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."  Jesus tells him, that if he does this he will live, he will inherit eternal life.  Jesus doesn’t tell him that he also needs to go to temple a certain number of times a year, he doesn’t say he needs to go to a certain temple, he doesn’t say that he needs to be part of specific religious acts or experiences.  He is simply to live his life in love and devotion to God, and treat his neighbor as he would himself want to be treated.

But, it can’t be that easy.  There have to some restrictions on this, some guidelines to make it not so open.  For a good Jew, devout service to God was normal and expected, so the lawyer looks for his wiggle-room with the definition of neighbor.  If the identity of the neighbor was known, you could make sure you treated those people well, devote your energy to them, and not waste your time or energy on those ‘others.’    Jesus responds to him with this parable, and then stuns him with his question and statement following the parable.

This is not the only time in the Gospels that Samaritans are used as actors in Jesus’ ministry.  Samaritans were an easy example to use as they were a disliked, and excluded people.  They claimed to worship the same God as the Israelites, yet they spoke of Mt. Gerizim as the religious center, not the temple in Jerusalem.  They were Jews, yet not.  They were there for all to see, they lived out their religious differences right in front of the rest of the Jews, and took pride in their differentness.  Yet, Jesus does not use their differentness as a reason to exclude them; he uses their differentness as a lesson in how wide God’s love and mercy is.

If the Gospels were to be written today, if Jesus were to be telling this parable today, who would his Samaritan be, who would his wayward traveler be?  Illegal immigrants, people of Middle-Eastern descent or appearance (just think for a moment about this country’s reaction to these folk following 9/11), young people whose bodies are covered with tattoos or pierced with pieces of metal, single mothers, the unemployed and homeless, LGBT people?  Who would we pass by if we saw them in need?  Who are the travelers in our lives?  Do we have perspectives from our own religious understandings that may cause us to pause and react more slowly, if at all, when need is encountered in a traveler ‘like that?’

Our house is divided from our neighbor’s houses by a fence.  Now, in all reality the fence is there so that our dog can be let out at 5:30 in the morning without us having to stumble around in our robes and slippers, but it’s still a barrier.  Fences between houses separate more than yards.  They say, “This is mine, that is yours.”  “Keep out!”  I know when I was a kid and I had to jump the neighbor’s fence to get the runaway ball, I always felt like I was doing a bad thing.  We put up fences to keep things to ourselves, and to keep other things away.  Sometimes those fences are physical things, sometimes they may not be physical, but they aren’t any less real.  And whether we intend it or not, fences have an effect.

A few years ago I was visiting a friend.  They had a big beautiful house, and a big dog.  They had lived in the house with the dog for years, actually since the dog had been a puppy.  When I visited them they were in the process of doing a major landscaping job.  The fence that had surrounded their house forever had been removed the day before.  As I drove into their yard their big dog came bounding toward me, only to stop in the middle of the yard.  He stopped where the fence had been his entire life, he stopped where he had become used to stopping.  He had never gone further, he didn’t seem to realize he could go further (even though the fence was no longer there.)

So often we center ourselves on the question of, ‘who is our neighbor?’  After all, that is the question that the lawyer asked.  Then, we look at the example Jesus gave, the story of the Samaritan and the wounded traveler, and assume we have found the answer: everyone is our neighbor.  That is true, but there is more to it than that.  The lawyer asked ‘who’, Jesus answered with ‘how.’  Rather than focusing on the identity of who a neighbor is, Jesus turned the tables and said let’s see how a neighbor acts.  Let’s get rid of the labels, the identifiers, and instead focus on how we are or are not in relationship with one another as neighbors.

Jesus doesn’t say that the Samaritan is correct in his religious perspective regarding where God was to be worshipped, but he does use his giving of aid regardless of difference as a lesson on neighbors, and thus on eternal life.  It’s interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t ask the lawyer who did right by the law, but who showed mercy.  Mercy trumps law.  Jesus doesn’t say that the scribe or the Levite were wrong in their actions, he doesn’t pass judgment on them (other than to declare them less merciful than the Samaritan), their actions were within the law.

As Christians, we live our lives doing our best to follow and live by the model of Jesus.  We live our lives with understandings (sometimes personal and sometimes communal) of what is right or wrong.  Every day, we must make decisions about how we are going to live out our faith, where do we follow the letter of ‘the law’, and where do we follow something else.  What is it that guides us when we move away from the letter of the law?  Is it mercy, or something else?  Are there fences around our lives?  Who put them there?  Us, our families, our beliefs, our insecurities?  What would happen if we took down the fence?  What would happen if we opened a gate?  Who would come in?  What might leave?  Can neighbors have fences?    Can we follow the example of the Samaritan and go and do likewise?  Amen.

The Chicken or the Egg?

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 9 – Year C

July 7, 2013

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

A few days ago it was the Fourth of July, the celebration of our declaration of independence from Great Britain.  I’m sure ours was not the only family that grilled out for the Fourth.  To not grill out seems somehow not right.  When you think of the Fourth, most people think of grilling hamburgers and hot dogs.  And, if you’re like me, whenever you grill out, you get an echo of the Fourth of July regardless of what time of year.  Grilling and the Fourth of July go perfect together. But, which came first in the relationship?

One of the questions that armchair philosophers like to bat around is: which came first? the chicken or the egg?  Was the chicken first, and from that first chicken was the first egg laid?  Or did the egg come first, and from that egg the first chicken hatched?  But if the chicken came first, where did it hatch from?  And if the egg came first, who laid it?  Now obviously, this is a question that has no real answer (except to say that God made whichever came first).  Of course, that answer isn’t sufficient for armchair philosophers so the arguments go back and forth, with people staking their positions on either side of the issue.  On one side you have the egg people, and on the other the chicken folk.  And from those positions they set forth their arguments.

Some arguments go on and one without either side really coming out ahead in victory.  It’s like an argument between two children about which teacher is their favorite.  Or, which is better Coke or Pepsi?  Or, how do you pronounce potato – Po-tay-to or Po-tah-to?  There are some arguments that are as much about personal preference as about what is the correct answer, because there is no answer.  Or at least not an answer we know or can find.

In Christian circles, one of the questions that probably falls into that category is: do you have faith because you were saved?  Or, are you saved because you have faith?  Does the fact that you have been saved, that God has claimed you as a child of God awaken within you the faith to recognize God as the source of that salvation?  Does the awakening of faith within your soul bring you to recognize that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the door to paradise, salvation itself, has been opened to you?  Which brings us to our text from 2 Kings about Naaman.

Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram.  He was in charge of thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers.  He had proven himself again and again in battle – he probably had multiple wounds to show for his efforts.  Yet, it wasn’t the sight of his wounds that caused people to look upon him with fear or disgust.  He had a skin disease.  Most translations call it leprosy.  He was marked by the disease.  No matter where he went, it was clear there was something wrong with him.

The thing about a disease in difference to a war injury is contagiousness.  A horrible disfiguring scar across the face may make you very uncomfortable to look at, but you would never be worried about catching such a scar from him.  Yet, if you saw someone whose face was covered in boils, or whose nose seemed to be rotting off their face you would not only look upon them with great discomfort, you would be worried about catching it from them.  Naaman may have been at the top of the pile as far as his career went, but every where he went people avoided him.  Little boys in Aram dreamed of growing up to be like Naaman, but not like him.

           

Naaman, because of his position was far from poor and had most likely already been to every healer and physician in Aram, so when he heard about some prophet in Samaria who would be able to heal him, I’m sure even though his ears perked up they didn’t perk up that high.  So he goes to his king, his boss, and asks for a letter of introduction.  And of course, a little something to grease the wheels; well, more than a little.  Naaman brought with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten full sets of sumptuous garments. It can be difficult to understand in modern terms just how much all this would be, but suffice it to say that the silver alone weighs some 750 pounds; not to mention the gold or the fancy clothing.  If it was possible to buy healing, Naaman certainly brought enough with him.

Of course, in the end Elisha doesn’t want money – he actually refuses it.  And when Naaman gets to Elisha’s door, the prophet doesn’t even come out – he sends his messenger instead.  Naaman was a powerful man, he wanted a powerful healing, something to match his prestige.  Naaman wanted a miraculous, and powerful healing – Elisha to wave his hands over the diseased area and it would be healed.  He wanted the prophet himself.  This close to the Fourth, we can say he wanted to see fireworks.  Instead, he’s told to take a bath.  And not just a bath, he’s told to take 7 dips into a muddy river.  He came all this way to be told that?  It’s an insult of the highest degree.

When he is finally convinced to enter the water, he doesn’t do so expecting anything to happen.  In fact, I’m sure he did it just to shut his servants up.  Yet, even though he doesn’t expect it, even though he thought that Elisha was a joke, he entered the water and found his healing.  Only after he had been healed did he make a declaration of faith – in the verses following our reading.  Naaman’s healing came before his faith- it was his healing that caused his faith to bloom.  In religious terms, healing is often synonymous with salvation.  So, in this story, Naaman was saved first, and because he was saved, he came to believe in the God of Israel.

The question about faith and salvation though, is a lot like the question about the chicken and the egg.  There may not be an answer – at least not one we can see.  At times, it seems as if salvation comes first – or at least an awareness of God reaching out to you, and after that comes faith.  At other times it seems as if faith develops and grows until salvation becomes apparent.

One of the ways we in the church speak about faith coming about is with the means of grace – a fancy label for the word of God, baptism and communion.  We claim that in these three things, in the reading, speaking and hearing of Scripture, in the waters of baptism, in the sharing of the bread and the cup, the Holy Spirit comes to us and ignites and sustains, within us our faith.  Yet, even here, we see the chicken and the egg.  Does our faith cause us to listen with hungry ears to the scripture, or does the scripture cause us to hunger for something more?  Do the waters of baptism serve as a confirmation of our faith, or as the beginning of a lifelong journey?  When we gather around the table of our Lord, do we come to the table in faith, or do we come to faith at the table?

These are questions that we may never answer.  Today we will gather around God’s table, and share in the cup and the broken bread.  We will come to the table in faith, yet also praying and trusting that in this meal our faith will grow.  We will be sustained in our journey; we will be recharged and refueled to continue.  All of us have come to this place from different places, even though we may have family connections they are no guarantee that we agree in all aspects.  We all probably come to the table with differing thoughts regarding the sacraments, how we think about them, how we understand them, how we see God active in them.

Some of you I’m sure have noticed that my 2 young girls take the bread when the plate is passed.  Do they have a deep, theological understanding of communion?  Can they speak about the differences between transubstantiation and consubstantiation?  No, yet they do know that in communion, when they eat the bread, they take a bit of Jesus into their hearts – and in that is faith.  As the years pass they will grow in their understanding and in their faith.  Who am I to withhold from them one of the declared ways in which the church understands that faith grows?

Please, understand, I am not saying that you need to follow our example.  I’m not saying that my way is the right way – it’s probably another of those chicken or the egg things.  I’m just asking you to think about it.  Naaman came to faith only after experiencing God.  How often in Jesus’ ministry did he bring healing and salvation before faith?  Did not God send Jesus to bring salvation to the world before the world believed?

Come eat and drink, taste and see the goodness of God.  And in that moment may our faith grow, may we find our salvation and may we experience our unity with the entirety of the Christian faith; those who have been, those who are, and those yet to come.  Amen.