Loving Kindness: the Impossible Becomes Possible Preached on February 20th, 2022 For Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 6:27-38 This week our gospel reading continues on immediately after the passage we read last Sunday. Jesus has been on an overnight retreat on a mountain, praying alone and in silence. Then he comes down the mountain to preach to the assembled crowd of people. Many of these are already followers of Jesus: they are disciples. In spite of the large group, this seems like an intimate moment. Jesus raises his eyes to meet the eyes of his disciples directly. He speaks to them on the level. This is Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. We can imagine that he speaks gently, not rushing, making a safe space for the hearers. He wants them to pay attention because he is delivering the very core of his message. He does this with mercy and loving kindness. “Love your enemies, do good for those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” he says. As current day disciples, we might well stop Jesus at this very first verse. We ask: How are we supposed to love our enemies, the ones who wish us harm? This teaching is disarming. To practice it would leave us vulnerable and open to more harm, more abuse. Who would ever do this to themselves? This teaching sounds impossible. We might begin by asking Jesus “who is our enemy, we are supposed to love?” Who is my enemy? Putin? ISIS? Foreign and domestic terrorists? Enemies like terrorists pose a corporate threat. The way they operate means that they instill fear in entire communities, besides the individuals they actually target. Black American communities and churches may fear white supremacists. Jewish communities and congregations may well fear anti-Semitic hate groups and terrorists. And yet there are some luminous examples of these communities finding the courage to love and show forgiveness for these kinds of enemies. On June 17, 2015, the senior Pastor of Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, SC welcomed a troubled young white man to their Wednesday evening Bible Study. This turned out to by white supremacist Dylann Roof. The Chicago Tribune reports “The Rev. Clementa Pinckney … even invited the stranger to take the seat beside him … He wanted him to feel at home, comfortable," says Sylvia Johnson, the minister's cousin. "Nothing to be fearful of. This is the house of the Lord, and you are welcome." An hour later eight members of the Mother Emanuel Bible Study group had been shot and killed by Roof. They included: “Tywanza Sanders, Doctor, Coleman-Singleton, Hurd, Jackson, Lance, parishioner Myra Thompson, 59, and Pinckney, who in addition to serving his church was a state legislator for 19 years. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74, a retired minister who'd became a regular attendee at Emanuel, died at the hospital.” The Chicago Tribune reports that Roof’s trial took on the air of a church service. “One (disembodied) voice after another shared with [Roof] the lessons they'd learned at Emanuel, and from their lost loved ones. They had been taught to forgive those who trespass against them; to hate the sin, but love the sinner … Roof lowered his head slightly when Nadine Collier, Lance's daughter, tearfully offered her forgiveness. ‘You took something very precious away from me,’ she said, choking back her tears. ‘I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you and have mercy on your soul.’” [1] The saints of Mother Emanuel embodied love and forgiveness for a most feared enemy at that trial. Another example shines through in the actions of Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of synagogue Congregation Beth Israel in Fort Worth, Texas. On January 15th, this year, the Rabbi and four members of his congregation were held hostage by armed gunman, Malik Faisal Akram. This has been described as a terrible anti-Semitic act of terrorism. Mary Louise Kelly of NPR reports “Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker let the man who had knocked [on the door] into his synagogue ... The man was cold so Rabbi Charlie, as he's known, made him a cup of hot tea.” The man stayed in the synagogue as the Rabbi began prayers with a small congregation. During silent prayer he heard a click and so he left the bimah and went to talk with the guest: "I spoke with him one on one, quietly … I said that he was welcome to stay for the rest of the service or that if he had just come in to get warm, he was welcome to leave. He didn't have to feel that he was being rude. While I was talking with him, he pulled out a gun." [2] Akram held the Rabbi and his congregants hostage for 11 hours. While the perpetrator was drinking juice, the Rabbi threw a chair at him allowing an escape. Akram was subsequently shot dead by security services. When asked if he would do anything different if he had the time over, Rabbi Charlie said he would invite in the stranger and given him tea again. 'We can't live in fear': “hospitality means the world.” Rabbi Charlie was asked if he had a message for the hostage-taker’s family. “Give me a moment — a moment of compassion” he said “while I try to respond. I've not been asked that before. I would say to his family I am so sorry. I am so sorry that you had to endure this tragedy. It's horrible for all of us.” I pray that I may have the grace and the presence of mind to act with the same love and compassion as the members of Mother Emanuel, or the Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, if I am ever in a similar situation. But I have never been held hostage at gunpoint, nor have I ever been subject to an active shooter situation. We, you and I, as disciples of Jesus, have been called to love when we have been more inclined to fear. Now, no one should ever hear a sermon, from me or anyone else, that says they should put themselves in harm’s way with an enemy or abuser. In the case of an abuser, distance is may be necessary. Secrecy about the abused person’s location may be needed. Physical threats must be taken seriously. When someone really is a threat, love must be from a distance. Or, perhaps we are not able to love at all. We might pray from a distance. Or, perhaps we are not be able to pray for them either. This is OK. We’ll talk later about extending our circles of love and blessing gradually as we are able. And yet, there are circumstances where our fear of the enemy is “in our own heads.” The perceived enemy may be someone we allow to push our buttons and trigger us to anger or breakdown. It may be someone who we let under our skin, so that we are irritated. It may be someone who seems prickly and rude to us, simply because they need love but are afraid to ask for it. On occasion I have needed to walk into a situation of tragic loss and I’ve feared that I will not know what to say or do. People might be so embittered they become reactive and defensive. They may yell “Call yourself a pastor! How will your pious prayers help us now?” How do I summon the courage to love in that kind of situation? Other times, I’ve been asked to provide spiritual support for someone whose behavior is unpredictable, due to mental illness or addiction. The person appears to be threatening, and yet what they really need is someone to listen with patience and love. In those situations, I’ve been mindful of putting measures for my physical safety in place. Then I need to find the courage to face the challenge to my emotional and spiritual safety. Over the years, I have learned that this requires me to be centered in God. If I walk into a fearful or threatening situation without centering, I can be thrown off balance. I’m inclined to react defensively when fear comes to the fore. A couple of years ago, I was introduced to tool that enables the kind of centering I’m talking about. It is the Buddhist practice of the “Loving Kindness Meditation.” I’ve experienced this meditation in a number of groups and settings. It has always centered the group, with compassion for themselves and indeed compassion for the whole world. The loving kindness blessing begins with the self, and moves outward in circles. The next circle includes someone who is a benefactor: a spouse, parent, or mentor. This is someone it is easy for you to love and respect and care for. In the next circle you focus on someone you feel neutral about, perhaps your mail deliverer, a grocery store clerk. This is someone you see from time to time but don’t know well. In the next circle, the blessing is extended to someone you find difficult to love. Most leaders of this blessing will say that this is not your “worst enemy” or someone you find impossible to love. Instead the participants are invited to simply extend their circles of blessing incrementally. That way they show compassion for themselves and their own limitations. They also have the courage to extend their love just a little more than the last time they prayed. The circle of blessing may be extended to all the people and the creatures of the world. Or it may remain within the participants’ circles of family, friends and acquaintances. It is particularly powerful when the final circle extends to those who are joining together in the blessing. And so, we have circled back to Jesus and his Sermon on the Plain. He looks us in the eye and says, with loving kindness, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who wish you harm.” And then he goes on to lead a life that shows the way to practice this teaching, even in his death on the cross. As we close this time together, let’s show one another the way to become so centered in God, so filled with courage, that we might be able to begin, just begin to extend our circles of blessing and love to our enemies and those who would wish us harm. The congregation was then led in the Loving Kindness Meditation Amen [1] https://www.chicagotribune.com/sfl-you-are-welcome-the-night-emanuel-opened-its-door-to-evil-20150620-story.html [2] https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074191124/hostage-synagogue-texas-rabbi
0 Comments
Who Will Laugh Last? (Told Plainly) Preach on February 13, 2022 for Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 6:17-26 This morning we read a passage from the gospel of Luke that is not often acknowledged. When Christians talk about the Beatitudes or “blessings”, they generally refer to verses from Matthew’s gospel. These teachings are given during Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” a text that is understood to be central to Jesus’s message. But Luke presents his Beatitudes a little differently. Jesus stands on a level place with the disciples and the crowd, the language is subtly different. Today we look at the Beatitudes from Luke’s perspective, and we meet Jesus’s gaze as he looks us in the eye. There is no squirming out of it. Jesus had recently gone up onto a mountain to pray. He spent the night praying amidst the craggy rocks. In the morning he calls his followers to join him. This is when he chooses the 12. These are the ones who will be the apostles, the ones who are sent out to bring Jesus’s message to the world. Having done all this, Jesus comes down with the disciples to a level place. This is where our gospel reading for today begins. There is a great multitude of people from far and wide and there are a many disciples who are already following him. The people press in on Jesus. They want to hear his words and many seek the healing touch that they have heard so much about. The people, the disciples and Jesus are all on a level. Then Jesus makes eye contact with the disciples. Perhaps they know what is coming. Perhaps this teaching is especially for them. He begins: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets." (Luke 6:20-26) I wonder if some of the hearers break eye contact with Jesus, as he recites these uncomfortable “woes”. Or perhaps they gaze at him in awe hearing these counter-cultural statements. The world says that the poor are to be pitied, they are not blessed. And isn’t wealth and prosperity a sign of God’s blessing, not a woe? In this teaching there are echoes from earlier in the gospel of Luke. Mary sang of the hungry being filled and the powerful being cast down from their thrones while Jesus was yet unborn in her womb. And when Jesus first spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth, he proclaimed “good news for the poor.” This theme is known as “the Great Reversal” of Luke’s gospel. God does not see the world with the world’s eyes. Worldly values are reversed. While the world rejects or pities the poor, God lifts them up and pronounces them blessed. While the world admires those who are wealthy, God anticipates their spiritual demise. God sees blessing where we see misfortune. God shows favor for the poor, the outcast, the mourning, and the hated. God sees misfortune for the materially rich, the ones who are full, the laughing, and the ones who are held in high esteem. Their reward is already here. Sadly their material reward causes them to separate from one another and from God’s purposes. They are poor indeed. It is as though Jesus is saying: “If you don’t mourn now, you will mourn later.” “If you cut yourself off from God, with wealth and status, you will suffer later.” “If you make jokes about the unfortunate ones on earth, you will be the one who is laughed at later.” It is not that God wants people to be poor. Rather, God shows compassion for the poor, and grieves that the wealthy who could help them, keep too much for themselves. And listening to the text, we may think that God wants us to refrain from laughter. I can’t believe that is true. Perhaps what the beatitudes have more to do with why we laugh? Sometimes people laugh because they enjoy flaunting their wealth. Or they laugh at others who lead miserable lives, glad that they are better off. Or they laugh at people they call “crazies”, the mentally ill and the addicted. We laugh at what we fear we might become. But, this is a lonely hollow laughter. And at the same time, life would be unbearable without laughter. Laughter is welcome in worship and in church life. Where would we be without it? But our sense of humor is better when aligned with the coming kingdom. Lasting laughter will be found in the joy of the hungry when they are filled with good things. Or it will be found in the joy of someone who has come through grief and has begun to live again. Last week I watched the movie “The Mauritanian” with my husband. I can recommend this movie, but I have to warn you, it has some very disturbing scenes. It’s not for everyone. The movie tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a young Muslim Mauritanian man who was held in Guantánamo Bay for fourteen years. For many of those years Slahi was held without a charge. He now lives in the Netherlands, at the invitation of the Dutch government. Slahi is portrayed as a gentle person in the film. He is arrested while celebrating a family wedding in Mauritania. He fondly kisses his mother good bye, assuring her he will return home soon. American lawyers, Nancy Hollander and Teri Duncan, travel to Guantánamo to learn about Slahi’s case and to defend him pro bono. Their first objective is to find out the charges against Slahi and bring his case to trial. This does not occur until Slahi has been in prison for 8 years. It turns out that Slahi’s only connection with the September 11th attacks is that he had one of the bombers stay overnight in his apartment while he was studying in Germany. Over the course of his imprisonment Slahi is tortured because he will not confess. He endures all kinds of abuses and degradations. Gradually any kind of comfort is removed from his cell. He is expected to sleep in the freezing cold and unrelenting bright light. Heavy metal music is blasts day and night. Somehow Slahi survives. He prays at the prescribed times of day whenever possible. He continues to appeal to God to protect him, if that is God’s will. We had watched about three quarters of the movie when my husband turned to me and said “his faith is the only reason he got through it.” When the interrogators threaten to arrest his mother and bring her to Gitmo to be tortured and raped, Slahi finally breaks down and confesses. Slahi’s mother died in Mauritania while he was still imprisoned, he never saw her again. Slahi finally has his trial and is cleared. Then he is kept seven more years in Gitmo before being released. Tahar Rahim portrays Slahi in the movie, but film ends with shots and and a brief interview with Mohamedou Slahi himself. Slahi had written a book while imprisoned in Guantánamo called “Guantánamo Diary.” He laughs as he holds up many copies of his book in many different languages. He plays with his young son and revels in his freedom. This man speaks the truth about what happened to him and he is also full of joy. Perhaps Slahi is one of the reviled and defamed that Jesus is speaking of, when he talks to us on the level. Jesus eye contact with the disciples reminds me of my mentor who stops me when I joke at my own attempts to avoid what God would have me do. She smiles and then she looks me in the eye with a serious expression. She asks: “What are you afraid of?” “What are you afraid to let go?” I think the joking will distract her, but she doesn’t let me get away with it. “What is God’s invitation for you in this?” she asks as I attempt to skate around an “invitation” that is challenging me. I can be flip when I’m faced with a serious situation. This is an avoidance tactic. Making a joke allows me to wriggle out of uncomfortable conversations. It allows me to hold back tears of compassion and grief that ought to flow. As the Apostle Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans, we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And so, we may ask ourselves who is weeping now? Certainly people of Ukraine, as they brace for war between powers on either side of their country. And also the suburban community where my children grew up. They are grieving the loss of a High School student who died in a tragic single vehicle car accident in the early hours yesterday People who have been bereaved are weeping whether their loved ones were taken by COVID, by other diseases, or by violence or accidents. People who are lonely and alone are weeping. Those who are addicted or love someone who is addicted weep now. And those who are homeless, without housing, or refugees who do not even have a home country. Friends, we may and we must laugh now, because life would be unbearable without laughter. And we must also grieve now, because our world – our families – our communities – are broken and bereaved. But we leap with joy at the prospect of the kingdom coming in our midst, where the hungry are fed, and the mourning are comforted and the poor are lifted up. Jesus tells us this plainly. May all God’s people say, Amen Exhausted? Go Deeper Preached on February 6th, 2022 for Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 5:1-11 Today’s story, from the gospel of Luke, is the first of many miracles and parables set at the Sea of Galilee. Simon, who is renamed Peter later in the gospel, and the other disciples will have a many adventures with Jesus on this lake. Several of Jesus’s miracles will involve fish and he will tell and act out parables centered on the stormy lake. These stories will tell of God’s care and provision for all people even in the storms of life. In the passage we heard this morning, Jesus calls the first disciples who are fishermen. Jesus arrives on the shore of the lake. He has already gathered a crowd, who are following him to hear more of his teachings and witness his healing miracles. Much of Jesus’s ministry will take place around the lake. Jesus decides to preach to the crowds from the water. Simon and his fellow fishermen are mending and cleaning their nets nearby, and so Jesus asks Simon to take him out in his boat a little way offshore. We don’t know what Jesus told the crowds that day, although we do know that they had come to hear the word of God. Our story focuses on the conversation in the boat. Once the sermon is over, Jesus tells Simon to put out into deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Now, Simon is exhausted. He has been fishing all night in the shallow waters with his partners James and John. The night’s work was a wash, they had caught nothing. Add to that, they have spent the last hour cleaning their nets of weed, sand and gunk. The fishermen want to go home for breakfast and then to sleep. Putting out into the deep water is the last thing on their minds. Still, Jesus commands respect with Simon. “Boss, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." Simon resigns himself to taking the boat into the water further out from the safety of the shore. The nets will need cleaning yet again, but there is something about this Jesus that makes him go along. Low and behold, the nets become filled with a huge catch. The other fishers in the cooperative have to be called. It takes two boats to bring in this haul, and even so they begin to sink. Simon suddenly realizes he is the presence of holiness. He falls down, saying “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” But Jesus isn’t looking for confession and subservience. He tells Simon not to be afraid, he has a new vocation. From now on he will be seeking out people, not fish. Simon, James and John become the first disciples. I come from a seafaring nation. I live closer to the ocean now than ever before, but when I think of commercial fishers I usually think of the British coast. When I was young, my family would often visit the seaside towns along the North Sea coast. Scarborough, in particular, has a fabulous harbor and a long history of trawler fishing. I remember walking along the harbor wall slippery and treacherous, with slimy weed and tightly clinging limpets. The salt and whip of the sea breeze and the smell of the fresh catch is unforgettable. The fishermen worked, throwing weather-worn ropes around the concrete bollards and sorting through their orange nets, picking the shellfish from the weeds. They seemed oblivious to the noisy gulls swooping and squabbling around their heads. The massive catch of cod or haddock was already safely stowed in large tanks on the ship. If we continued our walk along the sea front, we’d be met by the aromas of fish and chips and paper cones of shellfish. This was an ocean to table experience. I’ve never really known a commercial fisher. They have always seemed to be a breed apart. The weather-beaten men I used to see on those trips to the coast looked tough and hearty. They spoke with such a strong dialect I couldn’t quite grasp it, probably using curse words I had not yet learned. I was reminded of the hazards the fisher folk faced daily, when I heard the cryptic shipping forecasts broadcast the radio with warnings of gale force winds and severe storms. I imagine that Simon and his partners were more integrated into the community than the commercial fishers of today. And the Sea of Galilee is a lake not an ocean. But life was still treacherous for the fisher folk of Jesus’s time. Fishing was and is the most hazardous occupation. Simon most likely witnessed many of his fellow fishermen being injured or drowning. These frontline workers of Jesus’ time were certainly a tough and hearty breed. Simon and his partners fished close to the shore, using the same trawling technique as the fishermen of North Yorkshire. Fishing in the shallows was more of a sure thing. They could get back to land quickly if a storm blew up. Perhaps they were more likely to make a catch closer to the shore, where their nets could reach the bottom. Perhaps they feared the deeper waters because of the unpredictable storms and the very real possibility of drowning. Perhaps they had heard rumors of strange lake monsters and wanted to stay away. When Jesus asks Simon to put out into the deep, Simon is also exhausted. He’s done his work, even though he has nothing to show for it. He’s ready to quit. But when Simon does as Jesus asks, the experience is not terrifying in a life-threatening kind of way. It is terrifying in a holy way. The abundance of the catch is totally unexpected. Simon is suddenly aware that he is in the presence of divinity. Perhaps you can relate to Simon in his exhaustion. Two years ago, when the pandemic hit us, many people were already exhausted by their work and daily life. Healthcare workers, first responders, teachers, school bus drivers, transportation, food supply and restaurant workers were already worn too thin. Patients dying alone and in great numbers; irritable, uncooperative customers and passengers; and fellow employees out sick, have added to the exhaustion for essential workers. These circumstances have pushed many people over the edge. It’s not surprising that so many have quit. These past two years we have witnessed “the Great Resignation.” Perhaps you have quit your job. Perhaps you had to, even if you didn’t want to. Retirement has come on suddenly for some of us and we wish that we had more control over the situation. Others want to retire but cannot yet, because of financial constraints or a sense of responsibility. When the pandemic first began, many congregations and pastors, felt the same exhaustion Simon experienced having worked the whole night to no avail. We lamented; “Really God? How do you expect us to carry on now? We were already working to the max.” Many Sunday Schools have folded, as parents feared bringing their children to church and were also weary of online learning. And when churches returned to in-person worship, attendance was diminished. And at the same time, the appeal of online services has waned. Many pastors have reported to me their weariness with pivoting from in-person to online and back again. They are tired of dealing with frustrated congregants; they are exhausted by an unrelenting feeling of responsibility for their congregation and worry for their own health. Many pastors have conducted far too many funerals and not enough baptisms these past two years. There have been a great many resignations and retirements in ministry. In some ways, Wollaston Congregational Church has fared better than many churches. I tell my colleagues that we were ahead of the curve. We were already dealing with the major cultural changes that resulted in few families coming to church. We were already thinking and talking about what it will really mean to be church in the future. Staying in the shallow water means keeping on doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome. We know that is the way of insanity. Fortunately, Jesus has already gotten into the boat with us and is saying, “I know you’re exhausted. That’s why I’m saying ‘do something different’.” This is something like the advice “don’t work harder, work smarter.” Friends, I am proud of this congregation because we have already begun push out, albeit tentatively. We are entertaining the possibility of selling our premises, so that we can rent back the space we actually need. We are handing over responsibility for maintenance of the building and for providing community space. And so now we venture into the deeper waters. What is in store for us, what will be the great yield? Is our yield tied to the number of attendees at Sunday worship, or is it something deeper than that? Is our yield the bottom line on a budget sheet, or does it have more to do with lives transformed – our own lives, and those of our community members? The answer to these questions is still hidden from us, somewhere in the depths. Perhaps our yield has something to do with the satisfaction of knowing that we began turning this great ship, the Church, by facing into the future with courage. The deeper water is scary, it’s uncertain, it’s unfamiliar. But Jesus reminds us “I am there with you … there is abundance to be found here.” In these times we may feel disappointed, imagining that our work is done in vain. However, Jesus reminds us that we are not alone in our boats. He is here with us and is calling us to summon the courage to go into deeper water. Will we quit because we are tired, or will we discover what abundance Jesus has in store for us in the deeper places? May all God’s people say, Amen Honoring the Body Preached on January 23rd, 2022 For Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a In our reading this morning from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the early church in Corinth, Paul uses an analogy. The human body represents the Body of Christ, the Church. Each member of the body has a different function, and all work together under the leadership of the head, to perform the work that the body must do. At the time Paul was writing, this was not a new idea. The notion of members of the body working together at an organized group was well known in the ancient world. The “society-as-a-body” metaphor would be familiar to Paul’s congregation. Only in the Greco-Roman world there was a clearly define hierarchy or caste system. The slave class was dispensable. Individual members of it were unimportant. When one slave was hurt and could not work, there were many others to replace them. The Greco-Roman family also operated under a strict hierarchy with the patriarch at the head. When everyone functioned as they were supposed to, being appropriately subservient, things ran smoothly. But this is not what Paul is saying about the Body of Christ. Paul address peoples who have been deemed “unimportant” in the body of society. Paul tells them, that while they may be seen as weak and dispensable in the culture, they are to be honored in the Body of Christ. He says “God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the (supposedly) inferior members.” The recipients of Paul’s letter need to hear this message, because instead of being honored, their own bodies are being dishonored by the community. Even today, there are bodies that are not honored in our culture and in our religious communities. And, when individual bodies are dishonored, the Body of Christ is dishonored as a whole. Perhaps you have heard the expression “put on your own oxygen mask first.” This is the guidance offered by airlines in the event of an in-flight emergency for which oxygen will be needed for survival. Anyone in a position of caring for someone else should not delay accessing their own oxygen supply. Once a parent has put on their own mask, they have the ability to deal with their infant’s need for oxygen. If they prioritized the infant, the parent may suffocate in the process. If the parent dies, the child would be orphaned. And there would be one less capable adult to assist the vulnerable ones on the airplane. Caring for self is not only a matter of emergent life and death situation, though. Self-care means understanding our own wholeness as being intrinsically connected to our bodies. And self-care is essential if we are to recognize the value of other bodies, and indeed the value of the whole Body of Christ. Stephanie Paulsell, a professor at Harvard Divinity school, is author of the book “Honoring the Body.” Paulsell describes honoring the body as a Christian practice, with chapter titles like: “Bathing the Body”, “Clothing the Body”, “Nourishing the Body”, “Exerting and Resting the Body”, “Honoring the Sexual Body”, and “Honoring the Suffering Body.” Paulsell says that “by choosing the metaphor of the body to describe themselves, early Christians acknowledged that it is through our bodies that we love and serve one another.” [1] She cites the fourth century Christian scholar, Jerome, who taught that “the body was a great equalizer of persons [saying] ‘He whom we look down upon, whom we cannot bear to see, the very sight of whom causes us to vomit, is the same as we are, formed with us from the self-same clay, compacted of the same elements. Whatever he suffers, we can also suffer.’” [2] Even with the benefit of modern healthcare and the opportunity for a healthy lifestyle, things can go wrong. Our bodies are vulnerable. We all experience sickness and injury at sometime or other. When we are suffering, though, we are still honored members of the Body of Christ. Jesus was at one with the bodily suffering of all humanity, when he suffered and died on the cross. Paulsell reminds us that it is Jesus’s wounded body that gathers us for the Lord’s Supper, saying “this is my body [broken], this is my blood [shed].” [3] While the goodness of the human body is baked into our faith, Paulsell points out that “many people have experienced religious traditions … as repressive institutions that deny the goodness of the body and its pleasure.” [4] This especially applies to women and those who identify as non-male as well as people of non-white races and ethnicities. These bodies have been designated as weak and dispensable by oppressive institutions and cultures. The western world has inherited negative attitudes toward the body thanks to “The Protestant Work Ethic” and “Catholic Guilt” among other things. Honoring our own bodies in our world today means swimming against the tide of our culture. Our culture tells us that sleep is optional and nutrition is a luxury; that healthcare is a choice and driving is a necessity. Our culture tells us that overwork is honorable and that the need for rest shows weakness. Thinness and extreme fitness are idealized, but care for one’s average body is considered to be selfish and unnecessary. Most of all, our culture tells us that we are not members of a body. Instead, the culture says, we exist individually and alone separate from one another and separate from the rest of the world. Because of these false assumptions, the health of our population is worse than that of many other developed nations. And still, individuals are not to blame. In our culture too many people work multiple jobs with no time for exercise or to cook from scratch. Too many people live in unsafe neighborhoods, where walking out is dangerous. Too many families live in food deserts, where only unhealthy processed snacks and sugary drinks are available. Food and drink companies focus on sales of addictive products, rather than quality nutrition. And, ironically, in this nation we then spend far more that the rest of the world on the medicines and treatments that keep our neglected bodies going. We are often shamed when we suffer from ill health. And at the same time, individualism leads us to believe that care for our bodies is a private choice. The repercussions of this thinking are playing out right in front of us. A philosophy of individualism runs counter to the necessity of a vaccination campaign for the health of the human population. My family of origin did not put much emphasis paying attention to our bodies. My meals were regulated by how much was put on my plate, rather than how hungry I was feeling. Leaving food was considered wasteful. I got used to eating more than I needed. I was also discouraged from complaining when I didn’t feel quite right. Trips to the doctor were time-consuming, but thankfully there was no financial charge. My mom would become impatient with me if I said I felt unwell but the doctor could not find anything wrong. I internalized the idea that I imagined pain and sickness, and if I ignored it would probably go away. I’ve spent years trying to undo this assumption. It’s taken me a long time to re-connect with my body, and I still have a ways to go. Before Christmas, I met with the Wollaston Congregational Church Pastor Parish Relations Committee: Mary Treacy and Mary Phillips. I’m thankful for these two wise women who have career backgrounds in healthcare and healthcare education. Together we decided that I should work on goals for the upcoming year in my ministry with the Church and that I should base these goals on the United Church of Christ Ordained Ministers Code. In my times of reflection I worked through the code, identifying areas where I needed to improve. The section entitled “Covenant with Self and Family” includes the item “Attend to my physical well-being by adopting a healthy life style including diet, exercise, and rest, setting aside time for Sabbath and vacation.” [5] I confessed to Mary and Mary that this is an area I needed to work on. I had been putting off some routine healthcare, partly due to the pandemic, and partly due to my own procrastination. I resolved that one of my goals would be to make appointments for those visits in the beginning of the year. When I visited my healthcare provider, I was a little surprised to realize that I’m now in an age category that requires more routine tests. And so I scheduled and had a couple of these, which were done in the hospital over the past weeks. I am not used to being on the receiving side of care. But I was moved by the nurses who provided dignity and care for me. They brought warm blankets and crisply laundered cover-ups to comfort me in my vulnerability. The machines they use for diagnostics may be cold and impersonal, but human care is healing in itself. And the nurses’ care encouraged me to show respect, even honor to my own body. I have to thank them for this gift. Of course, you are not required to make goals for this coming year. But it might not be a bad idea. If you do, I suggest you start with honoring your body. How will you covenant with yourself and God to attend to your physical and mental wellbeing? How will you nourish your body, exercise your body, clothe and bathe your body? Will you ignore aches and pains or pay attention? Will you clothe yourself lovingly, or quickly throw on coverings in shame? Will you blame your lifestyle for weakness, or will you seek out respectful, dignified care? However you feel about your body, remember God treats those members that seem to be weaker and dispensable with the greatest respect. May all God’s people say, Amen [1] Stephanie Paulsell, Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice, (Minneapolis, MN: John Wiley and Sons, 2002), 5 [2] Ibid., 11 [3] Ibid., 8 [4] Ibid., 7 [5] https://www.ucc.org/what-we-do/justice-local-church-ministries/local-church/mesa-ministerial-excellence-support-and-authorization/ministers/ministers_ordained-ministers-code/ |
If you enjoy a sermon or have a question, please leave a comment. If you would like to quote any of my material in your own sermons or writings, please use appropriate attribution. I look forward to hearing from you!Archives
April 2022
Categories |