What Do You See?
June 15, 2008

 

A sermon by

Rev. Ron Buford

 

 

 

Last week I joined friends in celebrating the 60^th birthday of one of my dearest, most prolific writer, wonderfully justice seeking friends, the Rev. Donna Schaper, pastor of Judson Church in New York City. Donna’s husband, Warren threw Donna a great surprise birthday party at their chic Village home in New York City. He even managed to sneak in few of Donna’s out of town admirers, like me. Each of us was to bring a toast or a roast. It was a great evening – filled with love, laughter and tears.

 

At the end of the evening as Warren stood to wrap up the toasts and roasts, he gave us some good advice. He said, “It’s probably not a good idea to roast one’s wife, husband, or significant other. He then proceeded to toast Donna, the love of his life, saying to her, “Thank you for always looking at us (your family and friends) with eyes that see beyond who we are. You have a gift for seeing who and what we can become. We have become better people because of it,”

 

I ask you this morning, fathers, friends, lovers, children, mothers . . . What do you see?

 

As I read the gospel lesson and the Romans text, I kept thinking of Warren’s toast to Donna because Jesus clearly saw something in the disciples, and in fact in you and me that is far beyond where we are today. I also thought of my dad, the greatest man I ever knew. He saw possibility in and for me that I never imagined. Weeks before he died he gave me words of encouragement and advice that have taken me years to unpack. It has been like a knapsack of wisdom for my spiritual journey. He saw something in me I did not see.

 

In the gospel lesson, Jesus has an experience of seeing the profound need in the world around him. Like a good manager, he decides to delegate and calls 12 disciples. Now one might question Jesus’ decision-making ability for choosing these twelve disciples.

 

There is the big mouthy one Peter who will promise the world, but deny Jesus in the end. There is Judas, the treasurer who talks a good game about money for the poor, but is more interested in lining his own packets; Judas will actually hand Jesus over to his enemies for a few pieces of silver. There is a tax collector, and in that day, tax collectors were among the most despised in the community. What did Jesus see in them?

 

What does God see in us? The text from Romans begins to explain what is going on, not only for the disciples, but also for you and me. Jesus, our chief clue to who God is, shares with us an example of God’s love that can be lived out by women, men, boys, and girls when we are our best selves. Like my dad’s love, it can be like a knapsack, packed with essential goodies for life’s journey and unpacked along the way. So many of these goodies, we are not even sure what they are . . . until we need them.

 

This is what the United Church of Christ slogan; “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here” is all about. Whether we are 8 or 80, it is faith in the mystery of God that God is still speaking into creation new possibilities for what you, I, and those we love that keeps us young and open to God’s future.

 

This is what baptism is all about. We bring our children to this place, we baptize them in the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit, declaring them sons and daughters of God, disciples of Christ, members, of the church – not knowing how each individual will work this out over a lifetime.

 

In the baptism liturgy, we also promise to love them no matter what! In this the United Church, of Christ we can keep that promise and never have to take it back. I don’t know about you, but I am so glad about that. Friends, this is good news!

 

You see when Jesus called those imperfect disciples; he gave each of them two things – a mysterious power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. The second, I never noticed until preparing this sermon. Jesus gives them authority to invite others to become laborers into an abundant harvest where the laborers Jesus says are few. Even in their imperfection as novices or apprentices, he mentors them giving them amazing power and instruction to not withhold it, but to give it away to others.

 

This was a radical idea in Jesus day. People then believed that people were sick or disabled because they had sinned. Jesus came preaching and delivering liberation from all the stuff that holds us back – our proneness to do the wrong thing at times, our lack of confidence, fear of failure, fear of success, our not having enough patience at home, on the job, or in the marketplace, incurable sickness, depression, guilt, alcoholism, drug, and other additions. There is no power in judgment about these things; there is powering seeing that God gives power to overcome them and that in community we walk together in our imperfection as God continues to re-create us, as we go, not waiting for us to be perfect.

 

This reminds me of a preacher friend of mine who said he had been taught as a child to believe that we are born in sin and “shaped” in iniquity . . . until the moment his first daughter was born. He looked at her with tears streaming down his face, thought of those words as he looked into her precious eyes and said, “Not my little girl!” Every child born into this community of faith is born into blessing and God gives mysterious power in community to make good on God’s promises.

 

What parent looking into a young baby named Barak among such racism and prejudice could see his as a potential president? He was born at a time when he still could not sit in every restaurant without fear, let alone run for president.

 

When you look at your children, our children in this community, what do you see?

 

II.

And when you look in the mirror, what do you see? The good news in this text is not just for a new way to look at others. For someone here today, it is your breakthrough to a new way of looking at yourself.

 

The problem with days like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day is that not everyone had a great childhood experience and not everyone who wanted to have children could have them, some mourn the loss of a parent or spouse.

 

During the TV ad campaign, we experienced many miracles. One of them was the surprise that the Bouncer Ad spoke to so many parents of children with autism. (Describe the ad.) Theses parents and families came saying, "If these people will stand with the people I see in this ad, perhaps there is a place for us there." Even more surprising, at an annual meeting in Illinois, a clinical psychologist came up to me and told me that several of his patients on seeing the bouncer ad, had a variety of breakthroughs, without ever going to church.

 

There was also a young man who was sitting on the side of his bed who was about to commit suicide; he had just discovered he was HIV positive that day and then our ad came on TV. He said, do you mean there is place where people like love me? He went to his computer. He went to the website and interacted with a web deacon, mostly retired clergy who answered thousands of questions from seekers online. They helped find him a way to a UCC congregation and he is alive today.

 

The power that Jesus gave to his disciples flows among you in this community today the power to transform . . .

 

§         When the diagnosis is unfavorable;

§         When you discover that the one you love has betrayed you;

§         When you reach middle age and must finally admit to yourself that you will not accomplish a life long and precious goal;

§         When your company is downsizing;

§         When your parent’s memory loss is due to more than a few passing distractions;

§         When your child or a child close to you has taken a dangerous path and you are estranged

 

I have experienced all these things in the last three years and I learned that in such times, we need something more than mere rituals of “religion.” We need an empowering faith that opens our hearts and minds to hear the voice of the Stillspeaking, still loving God. I am a witness that with God’s help we do more than survive, we thrive, we move beyond ourselves to change the world.

 

III.

 

What do you see for the future?

 

The campaign slogan God is still speaking flows from a core value in our history. The congregational side of our church flow from the Pilgrims who fled religious oppression in England. They first went to Holland and as they set sail from Holland for the New World, their pastor, John Robinson said these words to them, “Do not cling to where Calvin and Luther left us, God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s Holy Word.” The phrase God is still speaking is the 21^st century version of that beautiful quote and the comma is its shorthand symbol. No, we cannot see it all, but God is still speaking. Jesus also said to his disciples, there are things I want to tell you that you are not yet ready to hear, but when the right time comes, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you other things you need to know.

 

I will never understand how so many people in a nation built on innovation in business, science, technology, even our system of government is an innovation can believe that so much of our old thinking about God is accurate. Our faith is over 2,000 years old, our thinking is not.

 

Aute Carr, retired dean at Yale preached one of the first sermons I heard when I first came to the United Church of Christ. “God, the Ineffable Mystery.”

 

Aute said, speaking in a somewhat large sanctuary, that if this room were the universe, earth would be a speck of dust, floating in the air. And on that speck of dust he said, there are people who think they know everything they need to know about God. “That must make God laugh,” he said.

 

It must make God laugh!

 

In the 16^th century, the pope convened the council of Trent to take of many issues including whether the sun revolved around the earth or not. Based on a literal reading of biblical texts, it concluded that the sun indeed revolved around the earth and that there was to be no more discussion or questions about it. Christian religion stopped asking questions. Science continued asking questions.

 

I argue that this is the reason we have 21st century weaponry and 16^th century peacemaking.

 

What do you see?

 

Like those who built tracks up the side of the Swiss Alps before there were engines powerful enough to pull trains that high, Our forbears in this great church we call the United Church of Christ looked with eyes of faith and possibility.

In 1700, we saw slavery ending as we became one of the first North American religious voices against slavery

In 1773, we saw freedom from tyranny as one of our churches, Old South was home to the ferment that became the Boston Tea Party

In 1785, we saw equality in leadership for people of color as we became the first to ordain an African American person to ministry into a predominantly white denomination

In 1810, a global world as we formed the first foreign mission agency in North America, the American Board Of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

In 1839 we saw equal protection under the law for all people formed an interracial group that helped free the Amistad captives who were the first people of color to appear before the Supreme Court

In 1853, we saw equal rights for women as we became the first to ordain a woman, Antoinette Brown to ministry

Just as you, DCC, are planning to launch a preschool, it’s in our heritage to do so, promoting education for all people as we founded colleges like Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Mills College, Pacific School of Religion as well as eight historically black colleges and universities such as Fisk, Talladega, and Huston Tillotson

In 1943 Reinhold Niebuhr preaches a sermon that introduces to the world the now famous Serenity Prayer: "God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

In 1959, we saw that it was right for people of color to be on the public airwaves everywhere, including the South. We challenged FCC ownership rules so that the airwaves would be regarded as public so that TV station owners could no longer deny people of color the right to time on the public airwaves – solely on the basis of race; this changed the face of television and many election campaigns for predominantly non-white communities across the nation. Environmental laws today, stand on this ruling.

In 1972 , the first to ordain an openly gay person, William R. Johnson to ministry

Boy on the train . . .  white rags from every tree, every fencepost, every doorknob. 

We need to continue welcoming, as God welcomes, because they are still coming….