This is an excellent resource on prayers celebrating the gifts of women in the church: http://www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/pw/pdfs/2013_celebrate_the_gift.pdf
Today’s Scriptures offer some difficult stories, and show us that the questions people had for Jesus back in his time, are not so very different from the questions of faith which we hold deeply today.
Today we have stories of people suffering and being struck down, stories warning us to be mindful of our own morality, and how not to end up like those other folks. And maybe these days, we might have a question in our minds of just how troubling these stories can be.
When Bad Things Happen To Good People*
In the Gospel story, people are asking Jesus the fundamental question, Why did these bad things happen to these people? After all, they suffered unspeakable acts when the local dictator killed people trying to practice their religion. And we hear from the people an even deeper suspicion then than now that might those who suffered might have deserved it; morality, etc. Yet Jesus reminds them that the people who suffered are no better or worse than anyone else. Simply put, tragedy is not God’s punishment for sin. That’s pretty radical talk, and often overlooked. And Jesus goes on to say that trying to insulate ourselves from the bad which has happened to others, is more likely to lead us on our own short-sighted paths to destruction.
And in Paul we hear phrases that are so often misinterpreted by people trying to comfort others going through suffering. But what does it really mean to be tested? And that phrase that God never gives us more than we can handle--not actually what Paul says--says that everyone faces tests; rather; God gives a way out somehow, and that is what allows us to endure a situation, because there is some glimmer of hope. And that way out may entail some extremely difficult choices.
It’s important to realize when reading this passage that Paul is trying to coerce the “know it alls” at Corinth, who think that they’re better than others and can get away with doing things that cause others to stumble, because they’re invincible. Paul is warning them that they’re just as human and just as vulnerable as anyone else.
When we see someone else who is suffering, we have this saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.” It’s supposed to be a sympathetic phrase, that we could just as likely be the one suffering as the person we’re observing. But it’s not really God’s grace that allowed us to live a more privileged or less harrowing life than someone else. And it doesn’t mean that God didn’t extend grace to a person who is suffering. Instead, I think the more appropriate questions are: How much grace does God extend to us? And, How much grace do we need to extend to each other?
Women, Self-Righteousness, and Grace
As you’ve already seen in the bulletin, this weekend of focus on the gifts of women in PCUSA, and it’s the ‘kickoff’ of sorts to our One Great Hour of Sharing.
And I’m wondering if you’ve heard the phrase, “hating on each other?” It means to have a certain amount of self-righteousness about someone else, especially the kind that we get together in groups to express. Well, I’m going to be honest with you, just as the Scripture stories all have people who are kind of doing this to others today, we’re pretty good at doing this as women. If you want evidence of this today, you need look no further than the websites called “mommy blogs;” where you can hate on those who use disposable diapers, or daycare, or formula, or just parent their children somehow differently than you do. A generation ago, before the Internet, the more familiar term was the “mommy wars”--with deeply drawn lines between women who stayed home to raise their children and those who worked outside the home. It really is the same war, now just fought on different media.
However, as a world, we’re making a little more progress when it comes to ‘hating on,’ or blaming, women who experience domestic violence or sexual assault. The rhetoric in this country is dying down about whether the woman in question did something to “deserve it,” whether by wearing the wrong outfit or burning her partner’s supper--and more emphasis is being put on women’s rights not to be abused in the first place. Yet, there is still work to be done in our society, and work to be done around the world on this very topic. And we ourselves can probably be more helpful when talking about these things in other places by not saying it happens because the men in those countries are somehow morally or culturally inferior to the men in our own, as a result of their race or ethnicity or religion. Perhaps when we say this, we do so in the vain hope that it will not happen to us.
And there are so many other circumstances in which women can find themselves, that we are more willing to judge or regard with disgust, rather than compassion--for example, teenage pregnancy, or prostitution. We heap shame on women who do either of these things, while probably hoping that either situation doesn’t happen to anyone we know. And yet, even in the Bible, God brings blessings through pregnant teens and prostitutes. It’s not an easy life, to be sure, but we don’t need to make it harder.
Remember that phrase again, “God never gives you more than you can endure?” Well, maybe God doesn’t, but others do? What is harder to face, the suffering of our situation, or the stigma we receive from others?
And then, there’s the tension that exists closer to home, that might be in any of our homes, which is the tension between Mothers vs. Daughters; or especially mothers and daughters in law. We consider ourselves lucky when a relationship is good; and almost inevitable when the relationship is not--perhaps because years of heartache are so deeply felt and remembered. Whatever role we play, it’s easier to commiserate with our friends than to really work on the brokenness in the relationship itself.
[And let’s be honest, the world has changed and it exacerbates that tension: Everything that we thought we knew about raising children 20 or 40 years ago is considered wrong now: should the baby always sleep on its back, or on its stomach?]
Of all the things I’ve described above, then and now, I think we do well to hear those words in Isaiah, when God says: My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. The heavens are higher than the earth--well, we all know that taking the high road, and truly doing so, is hard!
And yet, we too, whether we have faced misfortune, or are tempted to judge others who have, we might know deeply the words of the Psalmist, that God’s “Steadfast love is better than life; my soul clings to you, you have been my help.”
The Outreach Factor: God Abundantly Pardons
This will be even more important for us as we seek to grow. As Isaiah says, People we wouldn’t even consider associating with might turn to us, and when we reach out as a church to our community, we might be surprised whom we find waiting for us, if we are really practicing God’s welcome!
Why waste our efforts on anything less than what God seeks from us? Whether cliquishness or fashion or denigrating others?
After all, God abundantly pardons. What if the housekeeping isn’t perfect? God pardons. Did you make a costly mistake at work? Have a family fight? Did you sleep in and miss church? God abundantly pardons. Forgot to exercise last year? Your Doctor might not be so understanding, but God abundantly pardons. The point is not to give up and stop caring as if nothing matters--but at least to reduce our anxiety about failure, so that we can begin to practice love. Begin seeing world as God sees it --and not wandering around in self-righteousness, because that is a problem. I think we all have to be reminded of this from time to time, because it’s so easy to do, to think we’re doing it all right, we’re going to church every week, we’re watching our mouths, we’re doing a little volunteer work here and there--but it’s too easy to judge others. We get too fixated on what others doing wrong, probably missing something looming large in our own lives. Paul says, “If you think you’re standing, watch out that you don’t fall. Everyone faces the same kinds of tests in this life.”
Finally, let’s go back to that fig tree in the garden. When we’re ready to cut others down, God pleads for another chance. When we’re the ones who feel like we’re a waste of space, God may simply have put our feet in manure a while until we are ready to thrive again!
When we have been shown such abundant grace, why wouldn’t we want to respond in kind? Why wouldn’t we want to bear good fruit?
Tragedy is not a punishment for sin. In judging others, we risk destroying our own lives as well as others. God has shown us the ways of love, through extending grace to us, that we might lend our own acts of healing to a hurting world. Go and do likewise. Amen.
*There is an excellent book by this title, authored by Rabbi Harold Kushner. I highly recommend it.
Children’s sermon: Why do bad things happen?
Sometimes we do things that aren’t wise, and bad things happen. If we tease someone, they might cry. If we don’t study, we might get a bad grade. If we let our cat out, it might get lost. Other times, we have accidents, where we didn’t do anything wrong, but something bad happens anyway. In Biblical days, people thought that if something bad happened to you, you must have done something wrong to deserve it. This is done to scare other people into being good, but didn’t work very well, and people were afraid. Jesus says that this is not true, and that we should not judge people by the bad things that have happened to them, because they could happen to anyone. Rather, we should focus on God’s love for us, trust in God, and show God’s love to other people.
Prayers:
For those recovering from stroke
For those struggling with mental health
For those struggling with addictions
For all who face abuse in their homes and families
For all who face hunger
For all women who struggle to gain access to education, work, and safety in their daily lives around the world
For the Catholic church, as they seek a new leader, that they may discern with wisdom
No comments:
Post a Comment