This is my unedited Sermon from Feb 23. I delivered it without the Star Wars bit, but I think it adds more to the feelings I wanted to put forth. Without further ado, here you be:
 |
| Ninth Grade (or thereabouts) me... |
Ninth Grade. Those of you currently
in 9th grade and older know that feeling. What feeling? The feeling
of being in Ninth Grade of course. You’re in that awkward phase of puberty,
where nothing sounds or fits just right, and sometimes, you just do stupid
things. Okay, so we all do stupid things now and again, but the frequency of
stupid things happening seems to increase once you hit Junior High (or is it
senior high here?) Well, okay. I was in Junior High at Morris Area High School.
There were about 500 students in the entire high school, 7-12grade. I graduated
with 72. Of that 72, I was the on the bottom of the social proverbial barrel. I
was probably one of the most awkward children in 9th grade, and that
didn’t help my social status. So, being the bottom of the proverbial barrel,
kids picked on me. Frequently. There was this kid Rick that would smack me so
hard on the arm, I’d have bruises. I didn’t hit back, for my arms were even
more flimsy than they are now. No, I didn’t hit back. I followed one of the
lessons of today’s Gospel. I ‘turned the other cheek’ in a manner of speaking.
I would turn so he would then hit my other arm… Yeah… It doesn’t work so well.
By following Christ’s example, I ended up with two bruised arms instead of one.
There’s bound to be some sort of logic involved in there right?
“Turn the other cheek.” “Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Some of you have heard these
phrases before. But how many of you are willing to do so? How many of you are
willing to lay down your pride so that your enemy may persecute you more? Is
that the point? Is that the lesson Christ is teaching us? Pray for those who
persecute you…
Ninth grade is an awkward time to
be pondering these questions. Ninth grade is an awkward time anyway. You’re
somewhere in that liminal period between Junior and Senior High, with some kids
still acting like teenagers and yet some are growing full beards. Guess which
one I was. For most of my grade school years, my mother was the youth director
at the church, and we were always at church on Sundays, rain or shine, no snow
or driving blizzard. We lived ten miles north of town, on the edge of nowhere,
so there were some Sundays where all five of us piled into the front seat of
the clunky old pickup truck just to make it to church. We were always at church
on Sundays, so I’d slowly absorb some of what the lessons were saying. I
apparently absorbed today’s lesson right around 9th grade. I
distinctly remember thinking “turn the other cheek” when Rick would hit me,
hoping the kid might find some heart in not hitting me a second time. Nope. I
wore two bruises, because I was being righteous. I was being the man I thought
I should be.
“But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of
your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
All was quiet on the western front,
in faraway fields in 1914. German and Allied soldiers who were shooting at each
other for days, gave an impromptu ceasefire on Christmas Eve that lasted until
Boxing Day (December 26th). During that ceasefire, they celebrated
Christmas together. Sworn enemies that had been fighting for months on end
shared meals and song together, all with the bodies of their friends around
them; the bodies of men that were shot by the very men that were now
celebrating Christmas together. The soldiers came together; put aside the
politics and the warmongering, and became a community, all across the western
front; for at least a day or two. But, Christmas came and went, and on December
the 26th, fighting resumed, for another four years. For those brief
hours of celebrating the birth of our Savior, community was formed, and peace
ruled the land. They loved their enemy, at least for a while.
Fast forward a bit. I was a senior
in high school, and our choir was putting on a talent show. I wanted to play
guitar in front of everyone, but I’d never played in front of anyone before
really, so this was my big break. It was 2007. The American military had been
engaged in the Middle East for my entire high school career (and as it turns
out, my entire college career so far…). As a bleeding heart socialist in a
conservative community, I was the sheep in the pack of wolves that was Morris
Area High School. They were in a way, “my political enemies” I could have
played something antagonistic, but I chose a different path. I chose a better
way. Again, I turned the other cheek. I knew what I wanted to play, but I had
to pass it with the choir teacher. Mr. K knew me well enough to know that I was
going to sing something political. He was pleasantly surprised when I presented
him with a song from 1950.
Ed McCurdy wrote, “Last Night I Had
the Strangest Dream” in 1950. It has been covered many times since, and I heard
it from the Chad Mitchell Trio. It’s amazing such a song can be so timeless,
but I got up there, in front of everyone, and I sang these words of peace:
Last night I had
the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed
before
I dreamed the
world had all agreed
To put an end to
war
I dreamed I saw
a mighty room
The room was filled
with men
And the paper
they were signing said
They'd never
fight again
And when the
paper was all signed
And a million
copies made
They all joined
hands and bowed their heads
And grateful
prayers were prayed
And the people
in the streets below
Were dancing
'round and 'round
And guns and
swords and uniforms
Were scattered
on the ground
Last night I had
the strangest dream
I'd never
dreamed before
I dreamed the
world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
 |
| From that fateful night... |
I sang those words, in front of all
of my friends, their parents, and half of Morris. With my foot rapidly
quivering the entire time, I proclaimed to those gathered there, that we should
indeed put an end to these wars. Enough was enough. Seven years later, Iraq no
longer has major American military presence, and we’re hopefully leaving
Afghanistan this summer.
Return with me, to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far
away. This time, we meet Luke Skywalker on the ice planet of Hoth, (similar to
the climate we currently reside in) freezing to death. He had just had an
altercation with a large monster and was losing consciousness. Before he loses
coherency, Luke hears Obi-Wan calling from the distance. Obi-Wan instructs Luke
to head to the Dagobah system to learn the ways of force from Yoda.
A giant battle soon ensues; Luke and the Rebels flee from
the Empire’s attack of the planet, and Luke ventures off to learn the force
from Yoda. Yoda, a once proud Grand General of the Republic, is hiding out on
this planet far, far away from the clutches of the Emperor’s grasp. Luke crash
lands on this swampy planet, and soon discovers Yoda. After a discussion or two
with Yoda and Obi-Wan, Luke begins to learn the ways of the force from Yoda. He
carries Yoda around on his back, lifts rocks using the force, and learns to
hone his skills. Yoda then tells Luke, “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and
defense, never for attack”
Later on, Luke is sitting with
Yoda, when he feels a disturbance, and he wants to check it out. Yoda tells
Luke, “Your weapons, you will not need them.” But he takes them anyway. Luke
wanders around in the swamp for a while, and then sees him. Darth Vader: the
man who killed his father (or so Luke thinks). Vader draws his lightsaber. Luke
draws his. A slow motion lightsaber duel ensues, and Luke soon chops Vader’s
head off. Too easy. Vader’s head rolls on the ground, and then, a cloud of
smoke. Underneath Vader’s shattered mask is not Vader’s face, but Luke’s. This
surreal vision was only the manifestation of Luke’s daringness to bring his weapons.
The idea was that if Luke continued down his aggressive path, Luke would become
what he hated most: Darth Vader.
Christ didn’t say “Turn the other
cheek” because he wanted us to be weak willed. A classmate of mine explained
that in those days, for a person to slap another once in public was an outrage,
but for a person to slap another a second time, on the other cheek, meant that
the slapper was the one disgraced. They went over the line. Christ wasn’t
telling us to not fight back, but that the slap shouldn’t happen at all. To
slap another twice was more disgraceful for the slapper than for the abused.
“Pray for those who persecute you” isn’t a commandment of defense, or to make
yourself feel better, it’s a commandment of ending violence. If we truly followed
the “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”, we’d all be blind and in need of
dental surgery. If we only turned the other cheek, and prayed for those
persecuting us, we’ll still have those two bruised arms. This text is not about
the perpetuation of violence, but about a call to END the violence.
In a country where many are killed
due to gun violence; where many are abused by their partners; where kids are
picked on at school; we need to implement a change. Christ commands us to find
a better way.
Remember that February is Black
History Month. Remember the sacrifices Martin Luther King Jr. and others made
to end the violence in this country. There are better ways of resolving
conflict. Christ told us this 2000 years ago, and think of all the wars since
then that have been waged in His name. Find a better way folks. Don’t just turn
the other cheek, but pray for those who persecute you to stop the persecution,
to find a better way.
I leave you with a video of a recording of John Denver and the Chad Mitchell Trio singing "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"
No comments:
Post a Comment