"To Love Kindness"
July 29, 2010
If today’s scripture reading sounds familiar, it is. I preached from this text last week, and as you remember, there is a disputed word in the text. Does the passage say, Jesus was “moved with pity,” or does the passage say, Jesus “was angry”? Last week I opted for the word “angry.” Now, I am opting for the word “pity.” And so I’ve decided to preach the passage both ways. Why take a chance? And too, there surely are some of you who feel that anger is not an emotion Jesus would have felt in the face of human need. If so, the Sunday sermon is just for you. What shall we say about pity? We could easily substitute the word “compassion” or “empathy” or “feelings of sorrow,” or maybe even the title of the sermon: “to love kindness.” Whatever preconception we bring to this word “pity,” we all in one way or another limit its scope in our relationships with others. I have not yet finished reading Edward Farley’s book, Divine Empathy, but I have read enough of it to conclude that Farley sees the way we treat or not treat others as a metaphor for God’s suffering in the world. In other words, the people Jesus suffered for are the very same people we sometimes demonize. In one of many scriptural surprises, we see how pity for others helps humanize us. In touching this leper, Jesus goes against that part of us which drags down society and us with it. What is happening to the leper is also happening to us. Most of us sit at the edge of our human boundary. Crossing the line from time to time, never positively sure that the way we express pity and empathy and feelings of sorrow are the right way. And so, good friends, let us be gentle with one another.
For Freedom Christ Has Set You Free
July 6, 2010
I must say, I’m a little homesick this weekend, and to be truthful, I would rather be sitting on my balcony at Virginia Beach, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, drinking lemonade and watching the world go by. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. But there’s more to the 4th than a beautiful setting with more activities than anyone can want or keep up with. What I remember being taught about the 4th of July was that the Pilgrims and Puritans came to New England in search of religious freedom. And while there is some truth in this, it’s not entirely true because, as soon as Pilgrims and Puritans got to America, they became as intolerant of other religions as people in the Old World had been of theirs. Each of the colonies in the New World wanted a place where it could practice its own religion, impose it on others, and punish those who did not see religion in the same light. It was this background that gave rise to the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and eventually to our doctrine of separation of church and state. But this freedom did not come easy; it came with a fight, and we Presbyterians were right in the middle of it. Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian minister, stopped in New York to visit friends, and while there was asked to preach. He knew the risk he was taking because New York was a stronghold of the Anglican Church. As a result, Makemie was arrested in January 1707, and although he produced his licenses to preach from Virginia and Maryland, he was charged with preaching without a license. In the course of the trial, the charges against Makemie were deemed groundless, but his case is recognized as a landmark decision in favor of religious freedom in America. Religious freedom? Exactly what does it mean, this idea of religious freedom? Being a Presbyterian? Exactly what does it mean, this idea of being a Presbyterian. I will tell you the one and let you decide for yourself the other. Now that I’ve said that, I’m a little less homesick.
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