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"Welcome Works"

9/27/2018

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James 3:13-4:8; Mark 9:30-37
Freeport/Merrick: “Welcome Works”
 
        Two Texans were trying to impress each other with the size of their ranches. One asked the other, “What’s the name of your ranch?”  The other replied, “The Rocking R, ABS, Flying W, Circle C, Bar U, Staple Four, Box D, Rolling M, Rainbow’s End, Silver Spur Ranch.”  The other feller was duly impressed and said “whew whee!  That’s sure is some name!  How many heads of cattle do you run?”  The rancher replied: “Not many.  Very few survive the branding.”

        Most of us want some measure of success in life.  The question is, how do we define what success is?  What does it mean to be great?  Having a plush bank account?   Is it determined how well we can sculpt our bodies?  How elaborate can we make our weddings, vacations, parties and funerals?  How  cool is our worship, how well-attended is our youth and Christian Ed. Programs? How intelligent or knowledgeable we can sound?  How many bible verses we can quote? How full we make our calendars?  How many renowned people we know – how renowned we are?  How best a golf score we obtain, how well we can quote or recite the best literature?  How sumptuous are our dinner means?  What does it mean to you?

Greatness means many things to many people.  So we can imagine the conversation of the disciples as they debated the topic of their greatness as they passed along the way through Galilee.  Peter had the most prominent fishing business, so he’s the greatest. But no, Judas has a way with the money, he can really stretch out a denarii, so he’s the greatest.  James and John, they were filled with enthusiasm and energy, which every new movement needs, doesn’t Jesus himself call them the “Sons of Thunder?” So naturally, they are the greatest.   Andrew, Peter’s side-kick brother was Jesus’ first follower, so he must be the greatest.  Jesus personally went to Philip and said, “follow me” so he’s the greatest.  Matthew was the tax collector who gave away his former life and turned it all around, so it goes without saying he’s the greatest.   Simon is the zealous nationalist who really gets what messiah means and can put this ragtag group on the right track.  He’s got to be the greatest of them all.  

So, on and on they squabble until they arrive at Capernaum.  Once there, Jesus turns to them and says, “what were you arguing about along the way?”  Now, Jesus was there all along.  He had to catch their heated debate as they walked.   Jesus surely noted that this discussion about who was the greatness took place immediately after Jesus reminded them, for the second time, that the Son of Man would be betrayed, killed and raised from the dead.   They did not understand Jesus’ teaching correctly. Maybe they thought that Jesus’s comments meant a reorganizing of the disciples, some would be exalted, stand in Jesus’s stead, as Jesus goes through his suffering.  They were afraid to ask Jesus clarifying questions, so the conversation devolved into this petty topic about who was greatest.   Jesus then sat down.  It was time for a teaching moment.

        Jesus sat down and began to teach the disciples what it means to be great in the kingdom of God.  Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

We can just see these disciples.   Still smarting from their turf wars, Jesus picks up a child and holds her close.   You want to be great?  This is where it begins.  We can just see the disciples’ jaws dropping.  What stunt are you pulling now Jesus?  What can a child do?  What good is she in a grown-up world?

        To Jesus, spiritual greatness begins with welcoming the powerless and vulnerable, like children.  Incidentally, the first time the Scriptures use the word “great” to characterize God is in the act of liberation of the children of Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.  God chooses to be understand as a great God in response to God’s response to suffering and oppression. If we want to be great in the way that God is great, then we will excel in making a better life for those who suffer. That is hallmark of greatness in the Kingdom of God.
        Jesus turns the human understanding of greatness on its head.  If we want to be great then don’t strive to be first, strive to be last.  Jesus isn’t advocating actively losing, low self-esteem, being a slacker or incompetent.   On the contrary.  Jesus wants the best of us, Jesus wants us so secure in ourselves, knowing we are so loved by God in Christ, so convinced of our worth, that we are completely freed of comparing ourselves with other people so we can instead go serve other people. 

        Jesus suggests to us that spiritual greatness is welcoming the powerless and vulnerable.   Take children.  Children in Jesus’ day had no legal standing.  They were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Children were disciplined harshly, and the lot of most children was work and illness. Ordinary children in the ancient world didn’t have play time, school, a carefree existence that we equate with modern children in advanced societies. A child in Jesus’ era was constantly exposed to harm, abuse, illness and death.   Absolute obedience was expected.  There is no one more vulnerable than an orphan, a child who has lost her parents. Not surprisingly, we read repeatedly in the Scriptures place the high priority God placed on the care of the fatherless and orphan.  The Psalmist (in Psalm 10) declares “…you are the helper of the fatherless,” Psalm 82 demands “Defend the weak and the fatherless.”  God admonishes in Exodus 22:22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.”  

In Jesus’ eyes the lowest of the lowest are the children. So, he instructs us, we must create a place where immigrant children are welcome. Where children of different religious backgrounds are welcome.  Where children of color, different ethnicities, different religious or sexual orientation are welcome. Where children who are sex trafficked or sexually abused are welcome and protected. Where geeky, nerdy children are welcome.  Where differently abled children are welcome.  Children who are abused are cared for.  Where sick children receive treatment. Where all children feel love and affirmed.

        This is the work of welcoming. We have the great task in our own country, where upwards to 2,720 undocumented children and youth have been separated from their parents. Where 15 million children are poor, lack adequate food and medical care. Where close to 500,000 are missing. Where 6.6 children are referred to child protective services and close to 700,000 are in foster care. Where 300,000 are involved in sex-trafficking. Do we want to be great? Then can we embrace these forgotten, hurting children? 

         The church’s call to greatness is serving the poorest of the poor– to rise against the plethora of indifference that surrounds us – and to find our spiritual call to serve those at the margins of society - the poor, the dispossessed, the immigrant and the refugee, the child.  We Christians who are blessed to live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world are challenged to follow the works of welcome of Jesus: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
        We now celebrate a new church season. We are called to opportunities to become more like Jesus, more Christ-like in our demeanor.  New opportunities to welcome and serve our neighbor – our neighbor in the pew next to us, in the house down the corner, and our neighbor around the globe.  Most of all, the child who is voiceless and is invisible, but is hurt, unloved, thrown away. New opportunities to become radical welcomers --- welcoming in everything we do.

        So be great.   Make welcome work.        This is a welcoming place. Here Welcome Lives.  Here Welcome Works – because God is here. In welcoming each other, in welcoming the least among us, we welcome Jesus.  That’s the greatest we are called to, we are here together in our diversity.  We are here in Christ’s name.  Hear the words of Jesus: Welcome home.  Amen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/09/the-children-separated-from-their-parents-by-the-numbers/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a654dbaca44f
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS756US756&q=how+many+children+in+the+US+are+in+foster+care&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcpLTPgs_dAhVpU98KHf3lDAYQBQgqKAA&biw=1536&bih=754
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/07/in-a-year-child-protective-services-conducted-32-million-investigations/374809/

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"Taming the Tongue"

9/17/2018

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James 3:1-12; Mark 8: 27-28
Freeport/Merrick “Sept. 16, 2018
        A stock boy at a grocery store was asked by an elderly lady, “can I buy a half of head of lettuce?”   He walked back to the manager’s office, not realizing the lady was following him.  He said to the manager, “There’s an old bag who wants me to sell her a half a head of lettuce.”  He turned around and saw her standing right behind him.  Quickly he added, “And this fine lady would like to buy the other half!”

      Words.  We are immersed in them. All creation declares the glory of God. The world’s creatures communicate with one another with sounds, chemical reactions, nonverbal means – and even with us. It is said that the average person spends one-fifth of his or her life talking.   If all our words were in print every day we would create a fifty-page book.  Among all those words there are bound to be so spoken in anger, criticism, carelessness or haste.  Imagine: up to 20,000 words a day. Over 3,000,000-7,300,000 words a year.  Do you know that that is a lifetime? The average person speaks 474,000.00-860,341,500 words in their lifetime.  In one lifetime, the average person speaks the equivalent of the entire text of the complete 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary more than 14.5 times.


Imagine the magnitude of our words.  Imagine the capacity we have to harm or to heal. The destroy or to build. To stagnate or create.  Right there, on the tip of our tongue.
God’s creation comes through the spoken word and is blessed.   Jesus is called the Word made Flesh, full of grace and truth.  The scriptures are the words of God from which we learn how we bless ad how we curse.  Proverbs tells us: “Death and life are the work of the tongue.” Prov. 18:21.  Also,  “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence” (Prov. 10:11).


All our tongues have been infected, without even thinking, by meanness or cruelty at one time or another.  Someone once said,” Remember your tongue is in a wet place and can slip easily.” Managing our tongue is one of the key spiritual tasks of our lives.
When we go to the doctor, one of the first things she examines is your tongue.  It tells her a lot about your physical condition.   If it is coated, you probably have a fever.  If it is yellowish, your digestive system may be out of sorts.  The tongue is the first line of defense for the body.


Similarly, by a tongue examination, we learn quite a bit about a person’s spiritual condition as well. Justin Martyr, Church Father and Apologist, wrote “By examining the tongue of a patient physicians finds out the diseases of the body; philosophers find out the disease of the mind, Christians find out the diseases of our soul.” A careful study of our words reveals the spiritual diseases of our soul.
Words that are positive, blessing and life-transforming makes us spiritually healthy. Think of words that confirm, affirm upbuild, compliment, strengthen, bless.  The affects of such words can last even a lifetime or change a life – both the speaker and the recipient.
 So, the scriptures insist we think deliberately what we will do. We will choose our words to critical or offer praise?  Do we choose our words to convey fear or hope?  Do we choose our words to blame or forgive?  Do we choose words that build up our own power or our own self-esteem, or use words to strengthen the precious people God has put in our lives for us to support their spiritual growth?  Choose wisely. Choose consciously not words that cause pain, anxiety or despair but instead bring hope, encouragement and joy.
 Look at the intense conversation in the Gospel of Mark today.  Jesus begins to speak openly and plainly about his identity.  Jesus tells a truth people don’t want to hear.  The Messiah will not be a powerful political king as what they have poured out prayers for.  Thus, Jesus states the truth.  The Messiah must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the religious leadership, killed and then rise again.   Peter has the audacity to rebuke Jesus.  This is one of the strongest words of reproach and to put one in one’s place in the bible. Amazing, Jesus is rebuked by a disciple who just proclaimed him messiah! Jesus isn’t having it. He in turn rebukes Peter, calls him Satan, the name of the great deceiver and liar. Jesus will stand by the truth at all costs.  So, we must be willing to speak the truth and be willing to bear the consequences of speaking what is right.  In this manner we take up the cross of discipleship.  Will we speak or hear the truth in love—or speak what only pleases us?   James reminds us:  from the same mouth comes blessings or curses.  It is our choice to control.


        We spoke about bullying last week. So as a child growing up, like many children, like the experience of many here, I faced teasing.  “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” is not really true.  As I shared with our youth, I was on the teasing end of the bullying spectrum, with my name, as my family pronounced it, Moira, twisted into an extremely negative work by my classmates, Moron.


That wasn’t all. I was soon called “Zombie” even before zombies were cool and a hot TV item.  It took more twenty years and a couple of graduate degrees before I realized I might have some smarts up here. That’s just an ordinary consequence of people using the tongue the wrong way.  How has it affected you? There are many people here who were the victims of name-calling. Is this not true? Because if it has, I have to say, hear the life-affirming words of God that the youth & children heard today:   However, using the right words can have the same life-changing circumstances. Hear this: You are special. You are loved. You are gifted. You make a difference.


        Many Ann Bird came to the world with multiple birth defects: deaf in one ear, a cleft palate, a disfigured face, a crooked nose, lopsided feet.  Every day she endured stars and taunts of other kids at school. She felt highly self-conscious and embarrassed until she met Ms. Leonard, her third-grade elementary teacher.


        Each year the children had their hearing tested.  The teacher would call each child to the front and have the child cover first one ear then the other.  The teacher would whisper something such as “the sky is blue.”  If the child could repeat the phrase they passed the test.  Mary Ann always cheated on the test, casually cupping her hand over her one good ear so that she could hear what the teacher said.


        When the time came for Mary Ann’s hearing test, she cupped her hand over her good ear and strained to hear what Ms. Leonard would whisper.  She said, “I wish you were my little girl.”  Those seven, positive powerful God-drenched words produced a watershed moment for Mary Ann.


        At one level nothing changed. She remained disfigured and ridiculed. But at a deeper more profound level, her life completely changed.  She realized that the taunts of her classmates didn’t have the final say. Something deeper, divine, penetrated her heart and transformed her soul so deeply that she herself became an acclaimed teacher, telling her story in the book, The Whisper Test.


        What will we choose?  Will we choose to bless or to criticize, often without thinking?  The health and the revitalization of our lives and of our church depends on our choice.  The cross represents our commitment to choose to be truthful and see people, no matter who they are, through God’s eyes- eyes that see the best, that love the most, that are willing to risk compassion.


        An anonymous poem puts it this way;
A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreck a life
A bitter word may smite and kill
A brutal word will accomplish nil
But
A gracious word may smooth the way
A joyous word may brighten a day
A timely word may lessen stress
A loving word will heal and bless
 
What words will we choose with each other? Will we consciously choose to focus on the good in each other, words that upbuild, instead of nitpicking the faults, and bringing people down.  Let’s bring each other up.  What a difference we can make. A difference between dying and living. A difference between wilting or blossoming. A difference between being stuck and finding revitalization.


 May we have the courage to take up the Cross and follow the Word made Flesh. May our words build a positive, caring inclusive community, a community whose words blesses, affirms, upbuilds. Word by word may what we choose to be acceptable to each other, and to our God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
.
 
 
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4488
https://ubrp.arizona.edu/study-finds-no-difference-in-the-amount-men-and-women-talk/
https://www.proedit.com/how-many-words-do-we-speak-in-a-lifetime/

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"Crumbs of Grace"

9/11/2018

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Mark 7:24:37; James 2:1-10, 14-17
Freeport/Merrick, “Crumbs of Grace”
September 9, 2018
 
        There’s an empty desk in the fourth-grade class in Joe Shoemaker Elementary School in Denver, Colorado. There’s also a hole in the heart of Leia Pierce, as a result of the suicide of her 9-year-old son, Jamel Myles. Jamel hanged himself August 23 three days after school began. Jamel like to style his hair like his sisters, and on the first day of school, August 20, he wore fake fingernails.  Classmates bullied Jamel because he identified himself as gay.  Some students told him to go kill himself. He was just 9. Jamel loved Pokemon cards, robots, music, and wearing a dress with a tiara and high-heeled shoes. And now he’s gone. Suicide rates have in Jamel’s age have doubled since 2007 and it is the second leading cause of death for middle-schoolers.

For many, bullying is just a part of growing up. We don’t fit in.   We’re not popular. We’re different. We dress differently. Perhaps speak a different language. Or we are differently abled. We have different views.  Our sexual orientation is different. We are isolated, shunned, put down.  One ten-year-old named Thomas, who was autistic, invited all 70 of the classmates in his grade to his birthday party.  Only one showed up. In a cyber world, attacks become even more persistent and demeaning.  Bigotry and prejudice, putdowns and bullying have become common place. It’s no longer for a phenomena in school. Close to half of worker have  been or have witnessed harassment on the job.

For this reason, our gospel lesson from Mark hits us in the stomach.   Jesus has entered the Gentile region of Tyre. A Syrophoenicean woman, a local gentile, discovers his presence and begs Jesus to heal her little girl, who is possessed by an unclean spirit.  Modern listeners are stunned by Jesus’ response to this Gentile mother: “let the children be fed first; for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

       Jesus shockingly uses the common derogatory term that Jews used for Gentiles – dogs. The in Jewish history,term meant, bad, disguised as a demon, embodiment of evil.   Remember that dogs were not the modern-day pampered house pets; most dogs were scavengers or hunters not the cute lap animals we take selfies with today.  So, Jesus used a bad name, just like some of the unmentionable bad names people call each other today.

        How can Jesus be so callous and rude?   Many commentators, uncomfortable with this politically incorrect Jesus, have tried to soften this offense by assuring us that perhaps the tone in Jesus’ voice, which can’t be captured in writing, mitigated the harshness of his words.   Others have speculated that Jesus is deliberately setting up a “teaching” moment about prejudice for his disciples, although at the expense of a Gentile mother in distress. Or maybe Jesus was talking about cute puppies, watering down the insult.  Yeah, right.

        We can speculate for days what it all means.  What this passage seems to highlight is the depth of the humanness of Jesus, who mirrors back to us the ordinary beliefs of his culture.  Jesus states what every adult Jew of his age was raised to believe non-Jewish people were inferior.  This belief is not even particularly Jewish:  distrust and prejudice against other nationalities, outsiders in endemic to our broken human condition.  It’s as if Jesus went to a Black Lives Matter rally and decides to chant, White Lives Matter.  Here Jesus is, at a Syrophenecian Lives Matter rally and he adds salt to the wound by saying, but Syrophencians, even the children, are really dogs, so how much can they matter if they get served last?

        If we stay with the discomfort of this painful encounter between Jesus and this Gentile mother, we find an amazing story of healing.   This conflict doesn’t end with the mother walking away defeated or Jesus refusing to help.  The story ends with healing and change.   This mother challenges Jesus, and throws the image back to him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  Now to be honest, this isn’t the answer I want.  I want this woman to tell Jesus off. I want this mom to set Jesus straight. I want her to say, “Jesus, how dare you call me a dog!”  I am worth more than crumbs Jesus!!

        But that isn’t the story we get.   It isn’t the life we get either.  We don’t always say what we want to say in the heat of the moment – at least for some of us, especially when conflict is in the air, a little girl is suffering, and a renowned healer is in our midst.  Unlike the sitcom world, we don’t have the perfect comeback in the heat of the moment.   But you know what?  The perfect come back is not so important.  What is important is a real, open, and just dialogue.  The Syrophenian women didn’t set out to make Jesus feel guilty and she didn’t attack him for his beliefs. She knew Jews were bigoted.  In fact, the Greeks were bigoted, the Romans were bigoted. 2000 years later we live in a bigoted country, a world broken by our divisions and conflicts.
So, this woman stayed focused on what she needed.  She knew about Jesus.  She knew deep down he was good. So she used that knowledge to stretch his heart even further.   We see, even in what we think might be an imperfect response and an imperfect exchange, Jesus is able to listen and be changed.  As a result this little girl is healed.  And so is Jesus.

        There is a lot we can learn from Jesus and this Gentile mother and how they handled their conflict.   We all have prejudices, some benign, some spiritually dangerous.  What does James speak of but the age old prejudices against the poor?   There are stereotypes and prejudices for every race, nationality, hair color, body type, class, sexual preference and religion.

        Like Jesus, we live in a world where the old prejudices no longer work, and we are called to be open to a new way of seeing: the refugee is neighbor not stranger. Can we train ourselves, like the Gentile mother, to respond not to attack but by turning an argument on its head?  Can we, like Jesus, be open to our bigotry and change? 

        It is significant for us to note Jesus is changed in this discourse – He tells the mother, “For saying that, you may go --- the demon has left your daughter.”  Jesus was open to be challenged.  Jesus was open to be corrected.  Jesus as a result changed his mind and healed the Gentile’s daughter.  That is a gift that he gives us.  Jesus can change.  So, can we.  If Jesus can hold views that need to be changed, perhaps we can have the courage to examine ourselves to see if we too, need to become more compassionate and understanding.  Maybe we too need to listen to strangers in our midst.

        Although we might be disturbed at Jesus’ initial response, I am grateful that Mark included this uncomfortable story.  As we begin a new church year we are encouraged to take a good look at ourselves.  To discover where we are unwelcoming. Where we resist change. To enter the honest dialogue. To work for reconciliation and revitalization in our churches and in our communities.

        We are reminded that our world still cries out for healing, and that healing will come through very imperfect people. That’s us. Healing came despite the imperfections Jesus displayed. Healing come despite the imperfections of this Gentile woman.  So, as we enter this new church year, let us commit ourselves to be a safe, loving place, a place where all the Jamals and Thomas’s of the world, where people who are oppressed, all those who hunger for love can come here, and find a refuge, a home. In this home, let us find Jesus, through our imperfections and a compassionate faith that will reach out until we connect. Let the crumbs of grace work through us, as long as we are willing to engage the truth, to change, so let’s create a community we’re we are all safe, we are all included, and can find the love of God in each other’s eyes. amen

https://patch.com/colorado/denver/grandmother-denver-suicide-victim-9-starts-gofundme
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/04/500659746/middle-school-suicides-reach-an-all-time-high

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Labor Day First Fruits

9/4/2018

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​Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; James 1:17-27
Freeport/Merrick, 
September 2, 2018
​
      On this Labor Day Week End, does your job ever make you feel overworked, over-regulated, with diminishing benefits?  Take heart. This notice was found in the ruins of a London office building.  It was dated 1852.
  1. This firm has reduced the hours of work, and the clerical staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7am and 6pm weekdays.
  2. A Stove is provided for the benefit of the clerical staff.  It is recommended that each member of the clerical staff bring four pounds of coal every day during the cold weather.
  3. No member of the clerical staff may leave the room without permission from the supervisor. 
  4. No talking is allowed during business hours.
  5. Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced, the partaking of food is allowed between 1130 am and noon, but work will not on any account cease.
  6. Members of the clerical staff will provide their own pens.  A new sharpener is available on application to the supervisor.
  7. The supervisor will nominate a senior clerk to be responsible for the cleanliness of the main office and the private office, all boys and juniors will report to him 40 minutes before prayers and will remain after closing hours for similar work.  Brushes, brooms, scrubber, and soap are provided by the owners.
  8. The owners recognize the generosity of the new labor laws; but will expect a great rise in output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions."


      Labor Day.  For many, this week end is primarily a day of family gatherings, cook-outs, the last day of fun before school starts up again.  It is the unofficial end of summer.   There are Labor Day parades, editorials and blogs that remind us how much has changed, how much is changing, what is left to be done.

     On this Labor Day, workers face challenging times, there is a concentration of wealth and economic power not seen since the 19th century.  Inequality in American is at record levels.  Millions of people are looking for work but cannot find a job. Millions more have actually given up seeking employment.  Millions are underemployed; they don’t earn enough to pay rent or groceries. Ten million fall within the working poor, they work hard, often 2-3 jobs, but don’t earn enough to meet basic needs. 46%, or 22 million workers, consider themselves trapped in underemployment.

      What should this matter to us?  Today we gather, the day before Labor Day, to remind ourselves of the spiritual transformational nature of work.  God set the example for us to lead a productive life when it says in the creation story that God finished the work he had been doing and declared it good.  God gave Adam and eve responsibilities to care for the Garden of Eden.  God called people to ministry in the midst of work:  Moses was busy with his flocks when he saw the burning bush.  Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the wine press.  Saul was searching for his father’s lost beasts.  Elisha was plowing with twelve yokes of oxen. David was caring for his father’s sheep.  Nehemiah was bearing the king’s wine-cup.

        Jesus himself learned a trade and worked with his hands.  Jesus chose working people as his apostles, Peter, James and John were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul supported his ministry by tent making. Lydia was a seller of purple dyed garments.  All these people used their occupations to support Jesus’s ministry.  Their occupation as a first fruits offering, work that supported the building of God’s realm, expressing compassion, alleviating suffering.  That is God’s work. And it is also ours.
     In today’s epistle lesson, Janes declares that true religion is the care of orphans, widows and the needy.  Worship here means liturgy, worship.  We worship God in our work by doing our best and being our best with those in need.  True religion is more than spending an hour on Sunday at church. Everyday we should be about the business of worshipping God in our acts of kindness and compassion.  In God’s eyes, our first fruits, our best fruits – is found in the labor and care of the needy. We when we come to the aid of a homeless person, a struggling single mom, a bullied child, we are engaging in worship. 
        James was the leader of a wealthy congregation. May of these members were content just to come to church, pray, and go home.  They wanted a nice, ordered service that made them feel good.  But this is not true worship. “Be doers of the word,” James declared.  Faith is known in action.

        Jesus had a similar problem with the Pharisees. The Pharisees went to the synagogues faithfully. They tithed. They knew their Bible. They publicly dropped coins in the almsgiving pot. They scrupulously observed the traditions of the elders, ritually washing their hands and pots and utensils. Jesus declares that the Pharisees lost sight of what was important, they cared about human rules, human precepts, instead of care for the poor, the widows the beggars the blind, the lepers and other outcasts of society.
      The first fruits of our lives are seen repeatedly in the words of the prophets, which form the bedrock of Christian spirituality – “Do not oppress the orphan, the widow, the stranger who live among you.”  Over 2000 verses in the scriptures call this to our attention. So, this is where our true work and worship lies.  If we dedicate our lives to service and give our very best to God, we keep ourselves, as James declares, “unstained by the world.”  Because this is religion pure and undefiled.

      We all have models of hard work and charity. For me, it came when I observed my mother, a divorced woman raising six children, on her way to work at a factory on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland Ohio.   She would frequently stop under the bridge and bring food and necessities to a homeless woman and her dog.  Mom always remembered something for her dog.   One day the woman stopped her and said, “I want to give you something for being so kind.”  And out of her garbage bag she pulls a moldy slice of pizza.  Without missing a beat, mom accepted it graciously, and they went on chatting for a while talking about their dogs.

     That’s where I learned the intertwining of service and worship.  To see God in the homeless poor and serve them, because the presence of God is with them. To give our first fruits, not our leftovers, to God and those in need.  We will only know true worship when we are out in the world, humbly servicing those who are the least of these.  This Labor Day labor for those who need work, who suffer the lack of work, who long to work but have grown discouraged, those who juggle several jobs to make ends meet for their family.
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     So, we remember the needy even as we celebrate tomorrow, the poor who have touch our hearts and who challenge us, most of all let us remember to give thanks. Thanks for the God who never ceases to work on our behalf.  Thanks for work that makes us fruitful. Thanks for the true gift of worship – offering our first fruits to a world that longs for justice and righteousness as defined by Jesus. First fruits that can change the lives of others.  Thanks for a world that because of our loving support, God can look upon and declare good. Amen

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