Real Life Lives Beyond Our Tribes

Mark 9:38-50

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

John said to Jesus, ‘teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t following us. He wasn’t one of us. He wasn’t doing it the same as us. He wasn’t part of our tribe.’ We live as tribal people. I am of the tribe of Karas... the American, Swedish, Czech and Scotch-Irish tribes too. I am of the Black Bear and Wolfpack tribes. I am of the Lutheran and the Episcopalian tribes. I belong to the scientist tribe and the clergy tribe. I am of the white, straight, male tribe and Jesus… Jesus called his disciples, calls me, calls you and calls EVERYONE to leave our tribal lives and walk into a new life in Christ… a life which has the power to unite all that has ever been torn apart by the destructive tribalism of race, gender, country, position, wealth, power and all the rest because real life… REAL life… lives beyond our tribes. 

“But Jesus”, we say, “We love our tribes!” I know I do! My N.C. State Wolfpack… My Maine Black Bears… the college of my heart always! We love our tribes because they help us know where we fit. At the retreat I just went to before vacation all the priests introduced themselves by describing their tribes! I told them I’m of the Lutheran tribe, came from the Maine Diocese tribe and the New England Synod tribe, was educated by the Southern Seminary tribe. Our tribes help us feel comfortable, familiar and safe… help us feel at home… help define where we fit. I go here. You fit there. This goes before that. That goes right here and the other thing goes over there. So why, if our tribes help us describe who we are, is Jesus calling us out of our tribal lives?  

Because, REAL life lives beyond our tribes. Jesus calls us out of tribalism because tribalism, even with all it’s comforting aspects, ultimately holds us back from walking into the full, REAL, life we were created to live. Tribalism, the openly sinister kinds like white nationalism, but even the more comfortable kinds like patriotism, ultimately divide us rather than unite us. So, Jesus tells us, staying stuck in our tribes inevitably feels like hell because our tribes are simply not where we were made to belong… because we belong together!  

Now, in this lesson Jesus acknowledges leaving our tribes is no easy thing. Leaving our tribes will likely feel as wonderful as cutting off our hand. It will probably feel as pleasant as gouging out our eye or cutting off our foot. Which is one of the reasons being challenged to give up old hierarchies and patterns and tribes makes us writhe and squirm and troll and fight in ugly and illogical ways… we fight to maintain our position within our tribes because the tribal life is at least a KNOWN life, whereas this new life Jesus calls us into is in that nebulous region called “faith.” We’re afraid that giving up our place… our position… our tribe… will be the end of life as we know it… and you know why it feels that way? Because giving all that up IS the end of life as we know it AND yet… REAL life lives beyond our tribes.

In this Gospel, Jesus tells us that as painful and fearful and agonizing as it is to leave our tribal lives, that pain is really NOTHING compared to staying stuck where we are. Because down there at the bottom of that dug-in tribal trench… that’s where distrust, hate, anger and venom for those outside our tribe festers… that’s where all the bile and rage for those who challenge our tribe’s place burns. Down in that trench it burns like a fire from the outside and it eats at us like a worm from the inside. 

Our REAL life… the life God created us to live, is not down in that dug-in, festering trench. Our REAL life is experienced out of the trenches of tribalism, walking with Jesus, hand in hand, arm in arm with the rest of creation as equals. This doesn’t demand we give up our individuality or the things that give spice to our lives… things like our families or our traditions or our favorite dishes. It doesn’t mean giving up our cherished customs or even our favorite sports-ball teams… they all have a place. These things can and do add a wonderful and beautiful SPICE to this meal of life Jesus is calling us to share, but they simply can’t be our main meal. Our REAL life lives beyond our tribes. There, around THAT table, where as equals, we eat the bread and share the wine. THAT’S the main meal! In different times and different places and with different friends, that meal is spiced in different ways and that’s a beautiful and wonderful thing! Here we use a little Lutherpalian-fusion seasoning, across the street they like a UCC dry rub, and down the other way they use a Roman Catholic marinade! All those different spices are fantastic! After all, as Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us!”

We’re all painfully aware of what it looks like as people try to rabidly hold on to the old hierarchies of their tribalism, the hierarchies that pit one group of people over another. It looks like hell!  The white tribe over the brown and male over female, straight over gay and rich over poor… That’s the tribalism that burns from the outside and the worm of fear that eats at us from the inside. Jesus calls us out of that burning, worm festered trench… Jesus calls us to leave that way of “so-called living” fully behind and walk into a new life… an abundant life… in Christ. 

This is Christ Trinity’s calling for this time and place. To not just TELL our neighbors about it but to SHOW our neighbors what living a REAL life looks like when we live beyond our tribes. I actually think we do that pretty well already, but maybe we don’t take enough time to really see what we’re doing! Because when we serve free hotdogs on the lawn for the whole town, when we share a patch of shade with a traveler on their way, when we stop in to check on someone or cook a meal to say “see you next spring,” we’ll often will just wave our hand and say “Oh, that’s nothing, really.” But it’s not just us being “nice” you know and it really is something… something incredibly powerful.  It’s modeling for each other and for our neighbors and for the world what life looks like beyond the trenches of tribalism. It’s not just talking about the life God created us to live, but LIVING the life God created us to live and SHOWING one another the joy of that new life in Christ! When we do those little things we’re doing nothing less than joining with Jesus in a ministry of calling the world out of those festering trenches and into a beautiful life… a REAL life lived beyond our tribes. Amen.  

This Means Something

Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

As Christians, one of the things we believe is that Jesus is both, fully human and fully divine. Now, I’ve never been that good at math but my math is good enough to know that being BOTH 100% human and 100% divine, just doesn’t add up. How can anything, or anyone, be 100% one thing AND 100% another thing? The mind gets boggled… well… MY mind gets boggled! 

Most people really don’t like their minds being completely boggled all the time and so, most of us… including me… tend to think of Jesus as mostly one or the other. I tend to do that in the same direction Peter did. Me and Peter… we like the Divine part best. “Who do you say that I am?” You’re the Messiah! The Son of the Living God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords! WooHoo! Go, Fight, Win, Divinity!

Which worked GREAT for Peter… for exactly three verses and then it all comes crashing down with, “Get behind me Satan!” The truth is, the 100% human part of Jesus, much to mine and Peter’s chagrin, insists on equal billing. Jesus demands we walk the knife’s edge and give Jesus BOTH his full divinity AND his full humanity. As I worked on this lesson, I could clearly see that, but honestly, I still really didn’t like it all that much. So I did what preachers do, and went way back to the beginning of Mark to see if I could preach around this thing! Instead, this is what I found:

Mark’s Gospel starts with John the Baptist, Jesus’s Baptism and the voice of God saying “You’re my Son!” DIVINITY! Great! But IMMEDIATELY Jesus is pushed out into the desert to be tempted by Satan. HUMANITY. Jesus walks by the sea, calls a few fishermen, teaches, casts out demons and heals Simon’s mother in law and when word gets out he heals the whole town. DIVINITY. Then while it was still dark he snuck out and went to a secluded place to pray and recover. HUMANITY. He tried to move on to do more teaching and was stopped by a leper, whom he healed. DIVINITY. Then got thrown out of a temple for his teaching. HUMANITY. Told a paralytic to “Take up your mat and walk!” DIVINITY. Got in a theology fight with the Pharisees. HUMANITY. Healed a withered hand. DIVINITY. Went out to sea to get away. HUMANITY. Huge crowds follow and called him the SON OF GOD. DIVINITY. Fights with his family who thinks he’s crazy. HUMANITY. Heals a Demoniac. DIVINITY. Escapes in a Boat. HUMANITY. Heals a bleeding woman and raises a dead girl. DIVINITY. Gets rejected in his hometown. HUMANITY. Sends the disciples out to heal people and they did! DIVINITY. Grieves the brutal death of his friend John the Baptist. HUMANITY. Feeds five thousand! DIVINITY! Sends the disciples off and climbed a mountain to pray exhausted. HUMANITY. Walks on water. DIVINITY. Fights with the Pharisees and goes up North to get away. HUMANITY. Heals the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter and the old Jewish deaf man and fed four thousand. DIVINITY. Escapes the crowd to get away to Caesarea Philippi. HUMANITY. Asks the disciples “Who do you say that I am” and Peter responds for the group and says “DIVINITY” and Jesus tells them he must suffer and die in his full… HUMANITY. Peter says “GOD FORBID YOUR HUMANITY” and Jesus says to Peter, “GET BEHIND ME SATAN!”  

I know that was long, but to be fair, that was the entire first HALF of Mark’s Gospel! But do you see it? This means something! Jesus going back and forth between showing his HUMANITY and then his DIVINITY! That’s taken me 20 years of wearing this dress almost every Sunday to see! And what I’m beginning to see is that you and I… if we’re honest… we know NOT ONE THING about how to do miraculous healings, raise the dead or walk on water (unless you’ve been holding out on me!). But you and I… we know a LOT about desert times, fights with bullies, and living with families who think we’re crazy. You and I can relate to being tired, worn, and not acting out of our best selves. You and I know all about trying to get some peace, only to be tracked down by a kid, an office, a full-on-real emergency, or a perceived emergency about potato salad. You and I know what it is to be rejected. You and I know the real and deep pain of the death of someone we love. You and I know what it is to think about and face our own mortality. You and I… we KNOW humanity.  

So, Jesus SHOWS us his humanity, because THAT’s the part of Jesus that we can recognize more easily in ourselves… and in his humanity he’s given us a door. A door through which we’re being invited over and over and over again to walk with Jesus from our very recognizable communion with his humanity into the much more difficult to see, but just as real, communion with his Divinity! St. Paul said it this way, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

I think, we’re being shown, over and over and over again the fullness of Jesus’s humanity so we can better see ourselves in that fully human person of Jesus. THEN, seeing ourselves in Jesus… Jesus becomes a person who is easy to relate to… easy to walk with… easy to live with. Then, as we walk that walk, day after day, walking and living with Jesus and our lives continue to grow in compassion, love, generosity and grace… grow into the Jesus WAY of living… we eventually walk right into the Truth… that we not only walk and live and share in Jesus’s humanity, but in some mysterious way… through a complete and unimaginable gift of immeasurable love… we’ve also been walking and living, fully wrapped up in and fully embraced by Jesus’s Divinity. And in Jesus’ Divine embrace, we not only walk toward life… but WE… HAVE… LIFE! A life of meaning, purpose, dignity and worth. And in that amazing gift which comes to us free in the waters of Baptism we’ve been given everything we need to play our part in the work God has given us to do, which as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is fond of saying, is to “change the world from the nightmare it is for so many into the dream that God intends.”  By walking with Jesus we will find we have all the humanity and all the divinity we need to do this work in the world.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Circles

The Holy Gospel According to St. Mark, the 7th Chapter

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

At the consecration of the first building of this church, this is part of what was written:  

“We have a building capable of seating one hundred persons and would be glad to see every space filled, whenever services are held.  The seats are FREE, and we assure the inhabitants of this and adjoining towns, that the church was not built simply to accommodate ‘ourselves,’ neither are the services or the Sunday School conducted with any such intention…Our idea was that its use and purpose should be to further the cause of Christianity, believing that one soul in the sight of God and the angels is the peer of any other, whether it be possessed by a person of mean estate, or of high degree; whether he be white or black, artisan, farmer, merchant, priest or king… Each and every one, of whatever faith, or of no faith, will find a generous welcome.”

That’s from OUR 1868 welcome statement! 1868! 1868. It reminds me of that little verse by Edwin Markham:  

He drew a circle that shut me out –

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in.

It is the drawing of circles that our lessons challenge us with today. Who should be drawn inside as recipient of God’s grace?  Who is worthy of healing?  Who deserves the power of Christ to work in their lives?  Who’s “in” and who’s “out”?  When that GENTILE…FOREIGN… WOMAN... asked for help with her DAUGHTER..., she should have been out four times over!  She was a Gentile... OUT!  A woman...OUT OUT!  A foreigner...OUT OUT OUT!  And asking about a child?... OUT OUT OUT OUTIDY OUT!!!! 

Now, some would say that Jesus saw this confrontation coming and his ugly response to this woman was just Jesus playing into the cultural, circle-drawing stereotypes of his day on purpose, to prove a point, but I’m not so sure. I think there’s at least an even chance that his internal editor had run out of juice for the day and this woman got a full dose of Jesus’ humanity. He was fully human, after all, and he had just had a fight with the Pharisees. Those sorts of fights take a toll. So Jesus left town and went up North, not just to the Middle Eastern equivalent of Maine but to Middle Eastern Equivalent of Aroostook County Maine! He got WAY away hoping to recover from that very normal human emotional drain, only to be tracked down one more time by this woman! We’ve all said hurtful things when we’re tired and worn. One of the things this lesson reminds me of is that Jesus was fully human and in  that way, a lot like me.

But whether Jesus saw this coming or responded at first out of his less-than-best self, it really doesn’t matter in the end. The take home lesson is the same!  God’s love had the wit to win!  God drew a circle and took her in!  God’s grace, love, healing, and salvation is boundless.  God’s love draws a big enough circle to include a desperate gentile woman with a demon possessed daughter! But wait, there’s more!  

The next little story about the deaf man makes sure we REALLY get the point of this lesson. It was a foreign woman before but now it’s a Jewish man. She had chased Jesus down. He was brought to Jesus by others. She was asking about her daughter. It was he, himself who was deaf and speechless. 

These two stories together make it clear, the who, what, how or when just don’t matter so once again, God draws a circle big enough for the likes of HIM... and here's what these two lessons together pound home... if God can draw a circle to include the likes of HER… and if God can draw a circle to include the likes of HIM, perhaps… just maybe we might begin to believe that God might even draw a circle large enough to include the likes of you... or maybe… just MAYBE… even the likes… of ME.  

The world draws circles. Female and male, white and black, gay and straight, immigrants, refugees, natives and aliens, conservatives and liberals, Episcopalians and Lutherans, Decaf and Regular!  Those circles include some… but also always exclude others. BUT you see, when Jesus stuck his fingers in that deaf man’s ears and said “Be Opened” he was opening WAY more than just a deaf man’s ears!  When Jesus said “Be Opened!” He opened ALL the circles that had been drawn around that man… circles labeling him as possessed, cursed, outcast, disabled, broken and unwelcome… all of those circles that had excluded him before were now ripped wide open and all the love, grace, healing, compassion, inclusion, and life came flooding in!

Now one woman and one man drawn into God’s grace is great but that isn’t the end of this story. On the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished!” and as the curtain in the Temple ripped from top to bottom… in that moment, Jesus stuck his fingers in the ears of all creation, spit at death and the devil and tore open every circle that had ever been drawn from top to bottom for EVERYONE and all of creation! And to this day, God in Christ keeps ripping wide open the circles the world draws, faster than anyone can draw them, build them or tweet them and God draws them so they include EVERYONE!  Our challenge, as individuals and as a church, to keep drawing the circles we inevitably draw in our more human moments, wider and wider and wider so that each day, even when we’re tired, we draw our circles more and more like God draws circles… until our circles are big enough to include all of creation, just like God’s circles!

Our WALI group (We Already Live It) has been working on just that! They are, right now, crafting a new welcoming statement to expand the circle of our church’s original 1868 welcoming statement around people who were not even on the radar of our foremothers and forefathers in 1868… which we shouldn’t fault them for since there wasn’t even radar in 1868! But working in those founder’s inclusive spirit, who made the most radical welcome they could possibly imagine in their day, our group is now working on a statement to add all the people we’ve grown better able to see over the last 150 years.  

I am so thankful for the amazingly inclusive, founding DNA of our congregation. I’m so thankful that it is still alive and active and at work to this day, calling us with love, to keep breaking open old circles and allowing God’s love and grace to rush right in! May we always draw ever bigger circles so that one day the whole of creation will know and experience the welcome of God’s incredible love through us. Amen.