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Fourth Sunday of
Easter
May 7, 2006 Sermon by
Rev. Sue Deetz, Deacon
Readings
A few years ago, my then teenage daughter
Emily and I took a trip to Disney world. We stayed in a hotel that had a
boardwalk along the lake in front of it, following a 1920's theme.
Throughout each day, there were street shows of the vaudeville type up
and down the boardwalk. We often stopped and enjoyed the entertainment,
enjoying the happy little world of Walt Disney. One day we sat down to
watch a particularly lively show. The show was great fun with the
entertainer running through some hilarious routines- we were enjoying it
until he said he needed some help from the audience, for a musical
piece. Being tone deaf and not particularly fond of audience
participation, we got up to leave. What I didn't know was, getting up to
leave a vaudeville show is like wearing a sign that says, "pick me". He
took one look at us leaving and took off in hot pursuit. I have a pretty
good flight response and made a quick exit. But he really was going
after Emily, figuring that if he caught the daughter, the mother
wouldn't go far. . He captured her, brought her on stage and just waited
for me. Sure enough, he had me, I ended up on stage too and participated
in the show on the stage. It must have been the Disney spell or
something, because for a long time I thought he was pretty wise,
figuring the parent would stick around to protect the child no matter
what. I think every parent wants to, but things really aren't quite that
neat and tidy in the real world.
In my years working with children, I've worked with hundreds of parents,
I've seen parents that are so involved with their children they could
not be away from them, I've seen some neglect and some that abuse their
children. I met one that used her son's inhaler to get high, leaving him
to wheeze through a asthma attacks without medicine. I knew a boy who
would show up at school events that served meals just to fill his
pockets with food for his mom and brother, in this case the son was the
parent. I've known parents that have had to give up their children, and
some that have had them taken away. But I have yet to meet a parent that
did not love their child at some gut level, wanting to protect them at
all cost. But things don't always work out that way. So when I hear the
refrain that we are God's children, I know it a complicated inheritance.
If we are God's children, then we all must be brothers and sisters too.
My own personal experiences make me stray from Disney world here. As one
of seven children in my family, the sibling thing is a bit of a stretch.
I shudder at the awful things my brother had to put up with being the
youngest, or the rip roaring fights we had with each other over washing
the dishes. It's pretty amazing we get along as well as we do now.
Not too long ago I heard an episode of "This American Life" on MPR where
the topic was siblings. There were these brothers going into great
detail of all the gory and really mean tricks they played on each other
when the parents were out for the evening. Seems like all of them should
be scarred for life. But here they were, laughing and fondly reminiscing
about the good old days, claiming to be good friends now. The four
little boys that live next door to us, often find themselves tumbling on
the ground locked onto each other, rolling in the grass, sometimes for
fun, sometimes not. They remind me of wolf pups.
Parent, sibling, child, we are not perfect in these roles, if we are
honest with ourselves, we know that we are all at times, the wolf that
snatches up the sheep, scattering the flock. But maybe just trying to
feed our families, or make it through each day. Even though the wolves
take a bad rap in this story, I think it's worth noting that wolves are
very different from the reputation we Christians have given them. They
run in packs that are really family units, staying with the same partner
sometimes for life. Each member of the pack takes on the responsibility
for teaching and nurturing the pups. After the alpha wolves kill their
prey, they share it with the whole pack, especially taking care to keep
the pups fed.
Today's epistle, first John, was written at a time when there was a
division in the Christian community, in the late 1st Century. A small
group of John's followers, in line with the Gnostic traditions, were
denying the humanity of Jesus, claiming that Jesus as human, and the
crucifixion were mere illusions. They denied him having any connection
with matter, all matter believed to be evil. They were generally lone
wolves, off in their own corners, not needing community, primarily
interested in spiritual matters, apart from the body. There are times
that it sure sounds easier to just acknowledge spiritual matters, but
again, that's not our world. The writer was encouraging the Christians
to remain faithful, not to stray in the Gnostic direction, recognizing
the good news in Christ by living God's love in our shared humanity. By
denying our humanity, it is denying what is good, and if we deny that,
we cannot fully participate in love towards each other. We cannot
recognize ourselves as God's children. As Bible commentator Gail O'Day
says, "sharing of love is the mark of full humanity." Living in
community with others is part of our inheritance. So the family language
sprinkled throughout this epistle must be referring to our larger
family, as siblings, and children of God.
While we can't live in Disney world, one thing about being God's
children, is that we can never be orphans.
We are called to live out our inheritance, like the wolves, the sheep,
and the shepherds, within the messiness of our lives. We are
participating in God's redeeming love by living in community with one
another, sharing our bounty, and always watching out for each other,
especially the pups. When we share the communion feast today, we are
participating in the Good News of Jesus Christ as God's children..