All Saints Nov. 2, 2008
MLC Dennis Township NJ, Pr. Hartmut Fege, D. Min. Mtt. 5. 1-12, Lk. 6.17ff Rev. 7.9 12 Ps. 34.1-10 I John 3. 1-3
Part
of our ministry is a weekly devotional at the former Lutheran Home on Hwy.9.
Several weeks ago I asked
the group what denomination they belong to. I got various answers and a lot of
blank stares… The young aid said nothing…
not wanting to leave her out, I asked again. She said I am a Xian. I
commented that most of us where xian and that was being part of one big family. But being part of the same
family all of us have first names. The church it is the same
way… like Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, and non denominational groups like Calvary Chapel, and so on..
She said I’m just
Christian… “have you been baptized” “No” and in my newly
acquired Yankee “put foot in mouth-ness” I blurted out “your not Christian”
If you have not been
baptized you are not Christian” repeating the refrain as if
I had just discovered a stowaway in the hold of a ship. She responded that she
considered herself religious in her own way. Let’s call her Sheila,
which is not her real name. In some ways we are a
little like her. I have heard it so often
that it doesn’t even surprise me any more. “I have my own religion,
which is my own little voice… you can believe what you believe and I believe
what I believe and that settles it”. The important thing is that
Religion is my personal opinion at any given moment. As I have said before..
those who attend worship on any given Sunday are now in minority in this
country. David Kinnaman in UN
CHRISTIAN, tell us that there are about 24million people between the ages of
18 and 30 who feel ostracized by traditional Xianity … People like Sheila have
turned us off… we are old fashioned, we dress funny on Sundays, and for the most
part our buildings look like 13th century castles with and steeples
on top. In other words we have an
image problem. The question that confronts
us is what part of our heritage, tradition which makes up our image do we want
give up? What is worth letting go of
and what do we need to hold on to? John Brockoff who chaired
the committee that gave me the “final examination” before ordination.. asked the
question “How do you reconcile the Decaloge with Situation Ethics?” Situation Ethics was big at
that time… it basically means that the
world is not black and white but is made up of many
shade of grey. I remember the wagon train
example.. The scout comes back and
repots that hostile Indians are just over the next hill.. The wagon master orders
that burlap sacks be tied to all the wheels .. as they slowly make
their way through the valley an infant stats to cry, the cry turns into a wail.
The mother attempts to quite the child by nursing her.. It doesn’t work (that
was before paregoric). To save the wagon train
from being discovered she suffocates the child… Situation ethics suggests
that the 10 commandment must give way to the Golden Rule and the Mercy of a
Loving God… So back to my friend who
believes all we need to do is listen to our own little voice… You believe what you
believe and I believe what I believe… or as Friz Pearls the Guru
of the 60’s said – I do my thing and you do your thing and if my chance we
agree so much the better… if not it can't be helped”. Or the Chair of the Federal
Reserve Alan Greenspan.. Who’s free marked philosophy assumed that everyone
would do the right thing without Government oversight…. At age 80 learned that
human nature does not always look out for the well being of other… dhaaaaa.
What is different about
being a Xian from just letting the whim of the moment determine our actions? How each of us answers that
question depends on our understanding of the beatitudes.. in todays Gospel.
By the way unlike the
parables that are narrative about the Kingdom of God.. The beatitudes are written
in the Imperative.. they are lessons in Xian discipleship. Today we celebrate and
remember not only those whom we have known and loved who have gone to be with
God, but those who do not know but who’s lives where lived in such a way that
they are role modles for all us… I call them Hero’s of the
faith. Today we stand on their
shoulders. Fred Beuchner tells us that ever so often God in his holy
flirtation with the world, drops a handkerchief.. we call them saints.
We all have our heroes..
here are mine.. She was born in Albania in
1910. She dreamed of becoming a missionary and at the age of 18 she left home to
become nun when she took the name most know her by "Teresa." Her work was with the poor
in India. she founded the Sisters of Charity. They would take in people who
were dying in the streets and would care for them. Mother Teresa said of this
ministry; "A beautiful death is for people who lived like animals to die like
angels - loved and wanted." Albert Schweitzer (January
14, 1875 – September 4, 1965) a theologian, musician, philosopher, and
physician.. He received the 1952 Nobel
Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for life", expressed
in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer
Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, West Central Africa (then French Equatorial
Africa) . The Albert Schweitzer
Fellowship sends third-year medical students to spend three months working as
Fellows at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon on clinical
rotations. Clarence Jordan
was a Southern Baptist preacher with PhD. In Greek who grew up in Georgia. He is
most famous for his imaginative "translations" of the New Testament known as
the Cotton Patch Gospels in which he places Jesus in 20th century Georgia.
In the 40's
he started a Christian Community of a farm in rural Georgia that tried to embody
Christian Principles. Through 50's and 60's this Christian community continue
to welcome people of all races who sought to live a Christian life. The
interracial nature of the community made it a target for persecution in the 50's
and 60's. Out of this community grew the Habitat for
Humanity ministry which helps needy families work their way out of
poverty. The Bible
also speaks of people who would qualify for a “dropped handerkief” . It tells of Noah and
Abraham and Sarah and Moses and Paul and Peter. Rev. 7:9-17 If everyone cared and
nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and
swallowed their pride, we'd see the day when nobody died. Some of our younger
members might recognize that as the chorus to a song by Nickelback, a popular
rock group. What if everyone cared and nobody cried? What if everyone loved
and nobody lied? What if everyone shared and swallowed their pride? There is hope for "the day
when nobody died" because of the day that somebody,
Jesus, died for the world. So let us, inspired by the
witness of the saints of God, dream. "If everyone cared and nobody cried, if
everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride,
we'd see the day when nobody died." And like so many before us
let us look to the example of Christ who still calls us as of old – to be
different from the world by living as best we can as role models for one another
and for the world…
