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The Harvest Is Pentiful

7/9/2019

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Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20
Most of us are winding down from a 4th of July extended weekend.  About 150 million hotdogs were consumed on the 4th, including the 71 dogs chomped down by Joey “the Jaws” Chestnut, who won his 12th all-round world-record at Nathan’s Hotdog eating contest at Coney Island.  700 million pounds of chicken found its way on the grill, along with 190 million pounds of ground beef and sausages.  25 million pounds of fireworks lit our skies and we waved about 5 million dollars’ worth of American flags.  Add to those figures platters of hummus and baba ghanouj.  Not to mention other gatherings with whole pig, whole lamb, lamb shanks, roasted pork belly, carne asada, gallo pinto, gallons of Chinese sweet soup dessert  or sweet green-bean soup  --  look out America – we are fast becoming a minority majority nation: just like New York City, where no racial-ethnic group holds the majority. Immigrants have claimed Independence Day as their own. There are at least 143 origin countries and 325 languages in this great land of ours.   What a beautiful Harvest our country has produced.
Today we hear how Jesus sends 70 disciples to go before him, to prepare the way…to go into new villages, meet new people to begin the harvest. 70 is a potent number in the Jewish tradition, referring to universality and leadership.  70 nations that came together to create the tower of Babel.  70 individuals from the clan of Jacob first went to Egypt. Moses selected 70 elders to help him lead. The leadership body of the Jewish nation was comprised of 70 elders.  Following this tradition, Jesus chooses 70 disciples to engage foreigners and strangers - the beginnings of Jesus’ universal vision for his church. This is a harvest of souls, a harvest that God has tenderly, patiently loved and grown.  Now it’s time to bring them to the table for the heavenly feast.
Jesus tells his 70 -us- how to harvest. Disciples of Jesus need to be on the go – not resting on their laurels at home.  We are called to meet and greet new people. We are called to go outside our comfort zone – meeting people different from ourselves.   Jesus is clear: don’t take purse, bag, sandals –greet no one on the road.  Jesus isn’t encouraging anti-social behavior – but he implies that we need tobe unhindered by worldly objects or solely focused on our comfort and overlook the needs of those we are trying to reach. Jesus wants us humble. To depend on God.  We’re not to engage in lengthy salutations and conversations as was custom by the traveling rabbis of the day.  Jesus wanted his disciples to be focused, eager to get to their destination. Once in the village they were to offer peace. To eat as they eat. Live where they live. We are to work to cure the ills around them.  We are to work to cure the ills around them.  Then, we speak – the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is near.
        Interesting.  Our churches are empty but Jesus insists that the Harvests are full.   We need more laborers.  How does this make us feel?  It is overwhelming? Or is it exciting?
We see the distant past…when the pews were filled, the church ran dozens of programs and when church attendance on Sunday was a priority in people’s lives, not an option. We see the distant future, cobwebs in the organ and faded framed pictures from the glory days past. But in our present we are surrounded by Harvest: Around us are our neighbors come with many different beliefs and customs.
        We celebrated secular freedom this past week.  Now let us embrace spiritual freedom.  Let’s train our eyes to see the need around us, right here, – and with our arms reach out to embrace the people God has placed in our midst.  You and I are the laborers God is sending forth in this brave new work.  Bringing peace. Curing ills. Living and eating and being united as one people. It is our calling as leaders in the universal movement Jesus began.  To make friends out of strangers. The kingdom of God is near – and the Harvest is plentiful, and we are the laborers  God yearns to send.  Let us go forth – all of us –with the grace of Jesus, and  welcome our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

 

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Be Perfect!

7/2/2019

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Psalm 145; Matt.5:38-48

 
As we approach Independence Day, we are reminded of the Declaration of Independence, that document that set-in motion the War of Independence of the United States from Great Britain.  It gave us those famous lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  With years of struggle it would slowly become self-evident that women and people of color also have the same unalienable rights.   
The Declaration of Independence was a work that took time and effort.  Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Like the leaders against oppression all around the world, the signers of the Declaration of Independence experienced untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion. Such carnage is repeated over and over wherever conflict rages.  In Jesus’ life his stance for the truth earned him enemies.
        Jesus’ teaching for us today is a declaration of nonviolent personal resistance, spoken in a time of Roman occupation.  Jesus acknowledges that we must face evil and may even suffer for it.  Jesus says we are not to resist evil.   This doesn’t mean we ignore it or hide from it, but we face it with courage and all our humanity and dignity.  It shocks us to hear Jesus say, turn and let your other check be hit, let your cloak be taken, go the second mile. Yet none of these examples imply we are to be submissive to violence.  Instead Jesus is asking us to resist evil from the depths of our humanity, while never losing sight of the humanity of the perpetrator.   Nelson Mandela saw the virtues of this style of resistance; Gandhi observed the old law of “an eye for an eye” only makes the whole world blind.
        Jesus’ advice is hard to enact because the first result of conflict is often to dehumanize or devalue the person with whom we are at odds.  Today we see examples in the popular media, and from political candidates comments against immigrants and Muslims, the poor, people different from us.  Jesus again turns this thinking on its head.  He says, it has been said, “t I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  Love one another as I Love you.” Love means that we treat enemies, people different from ourselves, as we want to be treated. We want food, clean water, shelter, safety in the storm. So let’s wish that for everyone,
Jesus had enemies, some of the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, even the Romans with whom he exchanged heated words and spoke the truth.  He never backed away from them or sought to physically harm them even when they inflicted bodily harm.  Instead he stood his ground with dignity and purpose.  Jesus challenged his enemies and even prayed forgiveness for them from the cross. 
        Jesus never spoke an opinion about armed conflict, although he had a zealot who believed in armed revolution in his company of disciples.  Yet when Peter struck and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Jesus did not encourage the counter-attack.  Instead he healed the man saying, “those who use the sword will die by the sword.”  Matt.26:52.
        These acts of nonviolent resistance and of courage tell us what true freedom is about. Jesus puts it this way. “Be perfect,” Jesus exhorts, as your heavenly father is perfect.   A better word for perfect here would be “become whole,” “complete” or “mature.”  We are created to be whole people.Hate and indifference diminish us.  Jesus would have us free.  Jesus fought in his own way to the cross to make us free people. Free to have dignity in our personhood, free to act with conscience and moral principle. Free to be a people that do not enslave other people.  A free people not afraid of differences of other people.  A free people not afraid to stand up against injustice. We may not like certain people.  But the gospel calls us to act in their best interest as well.  That’s moral perfection.
       Be perfect – loving as Jesus taught us to love, even when it is hard.  Just as all the patriots, freedom fighters, pacifists, activists for human rights, have all discovered.  It takes courage to love.  Nobel Laureate and Jewish theologian, and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel, said in his speech accepting his Nobel Peace Prize: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." (The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986).
Whose side will we take? Stand with Jesus, in freedom and courage, to face evil.  Will we remember Oscar Ramirez and his daughter 2 year old, Valeria, who drowned this past week trying to cross the border.  Let us make it our declaration to take our stand against evil and for freedom as Jesus did.  Let us speak and act with courage and love, and in doing so become Children of God perfect as our heavenly Father created us to be. Amen.

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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