Barbara Moyer Lehman: On Giving Drinks

June 29, 2008
Matthew 10:40-42



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The gospel text for this Sunday is a short two verse passage that concludes this section know as the “Mission discourse”. If we flip back to earlier chapters in Matthew, we see that Jesus is preparing for others to share in his mission. He begins to recruit...calls his first disciples...invites this assortment of persons to be his followers. Then it becomes orientation time! They need to learn.... to be instructed. What IS Jesus’ mission all about and where is it leading?
It seems like a wise plan...this orientation time. Many of us have started new jobs at some time in our life. We like to have a job description clearly in hand, maybe a meeting or two with our supervisor, check things out with another person in the office or work team. We feel more prepared to start a new thing if we see how our gifts and experience might fit into the larger picture and vision. So Jesus gives them a solid course in “Mission and Evangelism 101". He calls them together and commissions them. He makes it clear that his mission and their mission are one and the same. Jesus empowers them, gives them the authority to do what he has been doing, not only preaching and teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom is near, but also healing the sick and casting out demons!! He gives them the authority and sends them out with instructions.

Jesus explains to them where they are to go: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(10:5-6) At this point Jesus limits the boundaries of mission to Israel. That task must be completed before the mission can be broadened. And we know that by the end of the gospel, the restriction is lifted as the disciples are
SENT OUT to ALL the nations.

Jesus explains to them what they are to do: “proclaim the good news, The Kingdom of heaven has come near, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” (10:7-8) Pretty clear job description, isn’t it? Many of us desire one so clear.

Jesus explains how they are to travel..lifestyle issues are addressed: “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag, or two tunics or sandals or staff.” (10:9-10) Obviously this is what you call Travel Lite Ministry. Packing list is short, more like non-existent! They wouldn’t have to worry about paying extra money for another piece of luggage.
I wonder if any of them raised questions with Jesus..like,” can we take an extra change of clothing or two pair of sandals?”

Jesus explains to them what the accommodations will be: “when you enter a town or village, find who is worthy and stay there, if they are not worthy, leave and move on.”(10:11-14) Pretty simple!

But then Jesus adds a piece of reality...things may get tough. There will be persecution, suffering.... “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves”. Following Jesus will cost them something.

Last week Ron Copeland preached so powerfully on the text that immediately precedes the two verses for today. (Listen to his sermon, if you weren’t here!)

We come to the end of this major teaching. Jesus has adequately briefed his followers about their mission and now is the wrap-up session. The gist of these two verses at the end of this discourse is this:
You are my representatives out there in the mission field, my messengers, my hands and feet, my voice. When people open their hearts and homes and welcome you, they are welcoming me. This work is so interrelated and intimately linked. We are partners, equal partners in the work. The ones who proclaim God’s message AND the ones who welcome and support the messengers will be rewarded. Those who stand firm for what is right and those who support them in their stand will be rewarded by God as equal partners. This is a huge mission. There is plenty of work for everyone. Don’t be overwhelmed. No matter how ordinary or apparently insignificant someone’s contribution may seem, it is important!! Even if it is something so small as offering a cup of cold water to an ordinary citizen of the kingdom, one who is out there sweating and toiling, one without status, or degrees or a large bank account, even that small gesture, act of kindness to these ‘little ones’ is important. God will give them full credit for it.

Nothing is lost on the breath of God. Nothing is too small or too insignificant for God to notice. A cup of water....that’s where we begin.

It doesn’t have to be a strawberry-pineapple-mango smoothie served in a crystal goblet on a silver plate to the visiting dignitary. It can be a cup of cold water extended to anyone who is thirsty, and shared in the name of Jesus.
When the needs in our world and all around us are so enormous, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. It’s important to remember it isn’t on our shoulders alone. We do this harvesting, this mission work together. Sometimes we are the messengers, the proclaimers, teachers, healers, evangelists, “sent out” ones. But sometimes we also need to be the ones to open doors, to put out the welcome mats, to offer bed and breakfast, to prepare a meal, to welcome the stranger, as well as the traveling preacher. In God’s eyes, we are equal partners in this work. Sometimes we start small, even with a cup...of water.

Two weeks ago we commissioned Vic and Christina Buckwalter to a 3 year term with MCC in Kenya. I have no doubt that they will do good work and be well received. It is wonderful to know that with Vic’s training and many years as a family physician, he can now use those gifts and wisdom to mentor and train young doctors in a country that is struggling and experiencing many challenges in health care. It is exciting to think that Christina will be able to use her gifts and wisdom learned over years as a teacher to build relationships with women and children in the villages, to be in a position to both extend and receive hospitality. But we can’t forget our part in this mission. Their support team, small group, close friends, this faith community...we too need to pray for them, write to them, encourage them, maybe even visit them. Some may need to check in with their adult children on occasion, be surrogate moms and dads! :-) We are partners in this work.

CUPS OF COLD WATER.....they are being offered all over. Have you noticed?

1.) A caring church member drops off a plate of cookies to the church staff as she makes her way to the home of a family in crisis with another plate of cookies.
2.) Two sisters, aged 87 and 85 in Winnipeg, make 30 baby quilts a year for MCC. They have done this for 20 years. Why? Because when they were children in the Soviet Union they remember being helped by MCC as they received care packages and blankets. Now they want to give back, to be partners, to give cups of water.
3.) A small group in our congregation has been energized, heard the call, to organize an MCC Blitz for our congregation, which will occur on August 12. An opportunity to knot comforters and assemble kits for MCC.
4.) After the May 22 tornado that damaged over 600 homes in Windsor, CO, MDS stepped in, along with other groups, to help. “MDS volunteers brought hope through acts of service, helping those affected to regain faith and wholeness in the midst of uncertainty” ( MWR June 2) They are assessing the next steps for long term rebuilding, focusing on the most vulnerable population, the uninsured, underinsured, unemployed, single parents and elderly.
5.) MCC Central States (Kansas) is helping to cover food and housing costs for families affected by a raid on May 12 of a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). It resulted in 389 workers without documentation of citizenship or other legal status being captured, carted off in buses waiting for them and detained for processing. Children were left without parents, businesses were shut down. Cedar Rapids MC has felt compelled to stand in solidarity with the people of Postville. Their pastor Susan Jansen writes,” In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us that on judgment day God will ask us how we treated and welcomed the strangers among us. HOW we respond to the ‘least of these’, which in our context includes the immigrants detained in this raid and their families, is a sign of our faithfulness to God.” (Krista Zimmerman, MCC Washington office said, “immigration raids aren’t the way to fix a broken immigration system. Congress needs to enact comprehensive immigration reform.” (MWR June 2)

The list could go on and on..... you get the picture.. Cups of cold water being offered everywhere.

Tuesday afternoon driving to UVA, I listened to a program called, “The Story’ an interview by Dick Gordon. The woman being interviewed was named Irene, a volunteer coordinator for a small town in Mississippi that was almost wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She could tell story after story about persons and groups offering “the cup of water” to the survivors of this tragedy. 3 examples:
-a woman who had survived cancer 4x and came to help clean up said to the coordinator, “what you are facing here is much worse than my experience with cancer 4x.”
-college students who came to work....every morning would get up, take buckets and bleach and go to the ruins of someone’s house. They would crawl on their hands and knees in and out and under unbelievably small and dirty and dangerous places, making their best effort to find something, no matter how little or insignificant, but something that the homeowners could still salvage and have out of the total ruins of all their life possessions. After that, the same students would return to the place the next day, stand with the homeowners, hold them, hug them, cry with them as the bulldozer would remove all the rubble.
-a group of people from Indonesia came to help with the clean up. Why? They were survivors of the tsunami, still poor with little to offer, yet they wanted to give back, to help others in the wake of their disaster. They found a Presbyterian agency who helped them come to the US, which allowed them the chance to be equal partners in this Kingdom work.

When Dick Gordon asked the coordinator, Irene, “Weren’t you ever discouraged and just felt like giving up?” She replied that 3 weeks after Katrina hit, another hurricane came through, Rita. It took off every single tarp from ever single house that they had put on in 3 weeks time. All the work was “ down the tubes!”
How did they keep their morale? Their motto/saying became:
“One day at a time, one hour at a time, one wall at a time, one volunteer at a time!”

On July 27, Steve Brown will be preaching here at Park View. (lastest Connections, photo of Steve) Steve is assistant moderator of VA Conference. He is also the vice-president of the Churches Supporting Churches, an ecumenical effort supporting African-American churches in New orleans through congregational partnerships, resourcing pastors and fundraising for needs the communities identify. We will have more opportunity to hear about this on that Sunday, but in preparation, read article in MWR, June 16, front page, right column, “Together a rebirth.” We will also have some brochures in your mailboxes in the next few weeks. We are exploring the possibility of becoming one of those partner churches, but it takes a strong commitment and willingness to risk something new and long term (3 year committment).

Last week Ron challenged us at the end of his sermon with, “What is God whispering to you in the dark to your heart? What are you hearing in your head and feeling in your heart? What vision are you called to follow or speak about?”
Maybe in the weeks/months ahead we will hear, we will know, we will follow a new vision.
Where and to whom can we offer a cup of cold water? Is there a new place for us to sweep off the steps and throw down a new welcome mat, to open the doors and say, come on in! Or maybe we are feeling burned out, always doing for others, giving, giving, caring, caring and neglecting ourselves. Maybe we need to take a ‘time out’, and receive a cup of cold water from another to be refreshed and renewed. As much as Mennonites love to SERVE and DO, sometimes we need to graciously ACCEPT, to learn to RECEIVE, and just BE, recognizing our own needs and neediness.

Macrina Wiederkehr, a Catholic sister and writer, one who gives much, knows what it is like when sometimes you are caught between needing the cup of water yourself, yet someone is there before you just as needy, and they are just there. What do you do?

She writes in “Seasons of Your Heart”, about this:
Sometimes I get tired of walking with strangers. Sometimes I get tired of giving drinks. One such tired moment found me in the Kansas City airport. I was on my way to Phoenix to give myself a drink, a workshop and retreat given by the monks of Weston Priory.
But strangers have a way of bumping into me even when I’m not handing out free drinks. This one was obviously very thirsty. And before I realize what was happening I became the woman at the well (John 4:11) asking the same kind of questions, struggling with the same living water. Looking into the eyes of that thirsty stranger, I was able with the help of grace to notice that his well was deep and that I did, after all, have a bucket. “Give me a drink!”, he said.

I’m tired of giving drinks
I’m closing up my well for the winter
I’m throwing the bucket away
By the time I get to Phoenix
I’ll be ready for a few drinks myself.

But I hadn’t even gotten out of Kansas City
when someone came up to me
already wanting a drink.

He was old
and not used to traveling alone.
He had just had knee surgery
and couldn’t get around very well.
He wanted to talk.

I back away in my heart.
Everything in me said:
“Giving drinks is not in season for me
My well is closed for the winter
Don’t ask me for a drink
Please don’t
I am too empty
I am thirsty myself.”

But it was too late
I had already seen his eyes
I had already heard his voice.
“Give me a drink,” it said.
And I?

Because I couldn’t avoid him
I said, “Oh, a little one maybe,
a short one
but not much.
It’s the wrong place.
It’s the wrong time.
It’s the wrong....”

And then I heard it!
It was the Gospel voice all over again;
“Woman, if you but knew the gift of God
and who it is asking for a drink,
you’d ask him instead
and he’d give you the living waters.”

“Sir,” I challenged him,
“This airport is big
and you can barely walk.
Where are you going to get those living waters?”

And the Gospel voice continued:
“If you drink the water
I have to offer,
you won’t have to go to Phoenix
for drinks anymore
or to Weston Priory
or anywhere else.
In fact, you won’t get thirsty again
for my drink will become
a fountain within
gushing forth eternal life for all,
and then you’ll be a renewal center
for others to come
and drink from.”

And I?
Well, I didn’t cancel my trip to Phoenix
but I was filled
with a new kind of vision
and I knew
that
by the time I got to Phoenix
my well would be open again.

All our work is important!! Nothing is too small, too insignificant. We are equal partners in this Kingdom work. We are all channels of GRACE! Nothing is lost...not even a cup of water offered to the little one, offered in the name of Christ.

AMEN.



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Ron Copeland: Finding Security in the Household of Christ

June 22, 2008
Matthew 10:24-39

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Angelina Atyam: God's Forgiveness in Uganda

June 15, 2008
God's Forgiveness in Uganda

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Alicia Horst: Community Dinners

June 8, 2008
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

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Ross Erb: Where Wisdom and Foolishness Meet

June 1, 2008
Matthew 7: 21-29

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Have you noticed how much we as a society seem to revel in the foolishness of others? Think about it. How many of us watch America’s Funniest Home Videos and laugh at the misguided things that people try. In fact, I’m always a little bit bothered by my own reactions if I watch this program. Am I the only person who feels like I’m doing something wrong when I laugh uproariously when I see someone fall off a bicycle, horse, trampoline, boat, or whatever? The harder the person smacks themselves - or gets smacked by someone else - the funnier it is. Why do we laugh? Perhaps we think to ourselves, “Wow, what was that person thinking?” OR, is it because we are thinking, “Wow, I remember being in that same position. I’m glad it is someone else in the video, not me!” Maybe it is a “There but for the grace of God go I?” kind of reaction.

It gets worse. Some people have come to recognize foolishness with a special award – the Darwin Award. This is not your run-of-the- mill mistake that is being recognized. It is extreme foolishness, a gross lack of judgment– foolishness which results in the person not just getting seriously harmed, but being killed. It’s called the Darwin Award because the theory is the person worked to improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from that pool. Foolishness can obviously have some very serious consequences!

Looking at some of the Darwin Awards, I quickly realized that most of these were NOT sermon illustration material. These are stories of actions so misguided that the person dies, but they are presented in a way that sounds funny. Now, I said that these are not sermon illustration material, but I am going to give you one example, mostly because this story is not true. It has been deemed an urban legend. The story goes that a man strapped a rocket booster onto his car. He’s on a straight stretch of road in the Arizona desert. He gets the car going at a high rate of speed and ignites the rocket. The car takes off going between 250 and 300 miles per hour for about 2.5 miles. At this point the man applies the brakes and promptly melts them down, blows out the tires, and leaves thick rubber strips on the road. The car then becomes airborne, and crashes into a cliff face another 1.3 miles down the road. The car hits the cliff at a height of 125 feet above the ground. Police find the smoldering wreckage at the foot of the cliff.

So, what makes an action foolish? On America’s Funniest Home Videos and with the Darwin Awards, it seems that the foolishness often lies in not thinking through the possible consequences of ones actions. In the myth about the car with the rocket booster, the person had obviously not thought about the end of the ride. In fact, Webster defines foolish as being “devoid of good sense or judgment”, and foolishness is “the trait of acting stupidly or rashly.”

Contrast this with wisdom. One definition of wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgment. Wisdom is sometimes conceptualized as an especially well developed form of common sense. In other words, you can be really smart, but not be very wise if you have not learned to apply your knowledge. Wisdom often comes with age, and if a young person is wise they may demonstrate “wisdom beyond their years.” Unlike foolishness, when someone acts wisely we don’t laugh. We may sit up and take notice or we may honor someone for their wisdom, but we certainly don’t poke fun or make a joke about it. We value advice from the person who is wise. We may seek out a wise person to become our mentor, and help us to develop our own wisdom.

In our gospel text for today, we also learn something of wisdom and foolishness. The text comes after a series of stories that Jesus tells which lay out contrasting ways of living. We can choose to live to look for the speck in the eye of someone else rather than deal with the log in our own eye. We can choose to respond to the hunger of another by giving bread, or we can trick them by giving a stone which does nothing to meet their need. We can take the easy way through life and pass through the wide gate, or we can live a life of discipline and pass through the narrow gate that leads to a much better place. We can be like trees that bear good fruit and bless those who pass by, or we can be like trees that bear bad fruit and do no one any good. And finally, Jesus comes to the wise builder and the foolish builder. Wisdom and foolishness are contrasted – we can choose to be wise like the builder who builds on the rock, or we can be foolish like the builder who builds on the sand.

We like this story, we tell it to our children, we sing about it. But as we focus on the story, it’s easy to miss the main point, which is that we need to not only listen to the words of Jesus, but we need to act on them as well. We are foolish if we think that we can listen to the gospel message, make a decision to accept Jesus as our Savior, and stop there. We are foolish if we think that arguing over right theology, or belonging to the right church is going to save us. We are foolish if we think that having the right style of worship, or singing only hymns or only praise and worship music, or praying long enough or often enough is going to ensure our salvation.

Verses 21 – 23 of Matthew 7 are difficult verses. The thought that some will claim to have known the Lord but be rejected in the final judgment is stunning. Claiming to know Jesus as “Lord, Lord” is not enough. Stopping there can still result in Jesus saying “I never knew you; go away from me.” But Jesus follows it up with the phrase “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man…” And so wisdom comes to be defined as the commitment to put into action the words of Jesus, to let our actions be rooted in our understanding of God’s will.

For me, this sets up a remarkable contrast today. Surely to base our actions on the words of Jesus is going to put us in conflict with the world at large, with our society’s expectations. Following Jesus is going to mean that we go against conventional wisdom sometimes - and perhaps frequently. And so we as Christians often do our best to explain away the teachings of Jesus. We spiritualize them and say things like, “Jesus didn’t really mean for us to turn the other cheek, he just wants us to have that attitude in our hearts.” We rationalize and say that to literally follow Jesus’ teachings is too hard, the expectations are unrealistic, it won’t work in this world.

If we buy into this line of reasoning, we are saying that it is foolish to try to be doers of the Word. And there you have it. The wisdom to which God calls us may very well appear to be foolishness in the eyes of the world. Eugene Peterson paraphrases 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 this way in The Message: The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written, ‘I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.

So what does it mean for us to follow divine wisdom, and perhaps embrace earthly foolishness? In business, to be fair and honest puts you at a disadvantage and cuts into your profit margin. Why pay a living wage to a worker to produce a quality product when you can pay far less and skimp on materials to produce “cheap” goods? Why should you be concerned for anything but your bottom line?

As a consumer, why would you pay more for something just because you know it has been manufactured in a way that respects the world God created, or that has helped the local economy? Why would you deny yourself something when you can easily afford it, or can easily borrow the money or use your credit card to buy it? Don’t you deserve what you want, when you want it, and as cheaply as you can get it?

As an individual, why would you give away a portion of your money or your time to help others experience the love of God? Taking time to engage in service or evangelism would impede your professional advancement, or limit your earning power. Don’t you need to look out for you and yours?

As a young person, why would you choose to spend time picking up garbage along Black’s Run or reading to an older person who doesn’t see so well. It would be more fun to be hanging out with your friends.

As an older person, why stay involved in church activities or give leadership when you have done your time already? Isn’t it time to let the next generation take over?

In relationships why would we consider the needs of others, forgive when we have been wronged, or seek to love our enemies? Shouldn’t we be seeking to protect ourselves, our homes, our country?

The list could go on and on. As we read the Bible and seek to put into practice the things that God calls us to do, we may increasingly find ourselves doing foolish things – foolish in the eyes of the world. When I was a teen, the music group Daybreak had a song called “Whose Fool are You?” Some of the lyrics are, “I’m a fool, and I don’t mind. I’m a happy fool and that’s just fine. I’m a fool and I know it’s true, but I’m a fool for Christ’s sake, whose fool are you?”

The hard work of this passage really lies in discerning what it means to do God’s will. What exactly are we hearing as we read the Bible? God calls us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to place God’s word in our hearts and follow God’s commands. In the complexity of this world, we need grace to hear and to do God’s will. As you live your life, where are you being a doer of the Word? Are you caring for creation and teaching your children to respect the world that God created? Or perhaps you are ministering to the sick, the lonely, the down-trodden. Do you care for your neighbor?

I know that I struggle in the decisions I make each day, to balance what I know to be the right thing to do as a Christian with what seems like the wise or practical thing to do as someone living in our society. I would even confess that I don’t really like to be considered a fool by society. I would rather compromise and fit in with what the people around me expect. And I’m afraid that I cannot give you answers about what you should be doing either. I do think that as persons of faith who have covenanted to be a faith community, we need to talk with each other in some manner to discern what God’s Word is saying and how we will act on it. I’d like to challenge you about how you are being a doer, and I’d like you to challenge me. In the end, I come back to the Anabaptist belief that we work out the path to wisdom in the context of our community. It is not easy to discern the correct course of action in many cases. We need each others counsel, and we need to sit prayerfully in God’s word to work out the truly wise thing to do.

I’d like to end by re-reading the passage from Matthew 7: 21-27, this time from Eugene Petersons’ paraphrase “The Message”.

‘Knowing the correct password – saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance – isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience – doing what my father wills. I can see it now – at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.’

May we work the words of Jesus into the very core of our lives, and then live them into being everyday. May the wisdom of these actions convince others to join us as happy fools for Christ’s sake. Amen.


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