Amy Ziettlow 11.20.2011, 3:21 PM
Today’s text is the parable of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25:31-46. If you haven’t heard the Cake song, check it out—doesn’t really translate into a sermon but is catchy nonetheless.
This past week I thought a lot about power and as you’ll see I hit the refrain pretty hard: We are only as powerful as that which as power over us. Enjoy”
In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, Our Strength and Our Redeemer. AMEN
Electricity, food, drink, keys, money, government, to do lists, calendars, ourselves, others, our faith—we exist and swim in a sea of POWER and sources of power that all clamor for our loyalty and allegiance. But are we POWER-FUL?
For, we are only as powerful as that which has power over us.
Today is Christ the King Sunday which for Christians closes the church year and prepares us for the beginning of a new one in Advent by opening a place for us to reflect on POWER. Each Sunday our Bishop, Bishop Mike Rienhart, sends out a lectionary reflection on the texts for the coming Sunday. Even though I don’t preach every week I love reading his word studies and reflections on the next week’s texts and themes. This last week he hit home how Christ the King Sunday challenges us to think about all that has power in our lives and to ask, “What is KING of my LIFE?” He makes an organized list of what is NOT KING in our lives that we can work through, such as the government, our egos, our possessions, but three powerful things caught my attention: Other people, our money, and death.
First, other people. YOU are not KING of my life, you are not the ultimate authority and power in my life, which means that I must remember that I am not defined by what others think of me, how others treat me, or what others expect of me.
A wise mentor of mine once said, “Amy, never believe the best that anyone says of you or the worst—the truth is somewhere in the middle.”
When we allow the opinions, actions, and expectations of others to rule our lives, we lose ourselves. Life becomes either a blissful delusion where we overvalue and overestimate our abilities and our worth, or we are CRUSHED. Other people can disappoint you, betray you, lie to you, choose to define you in the worst possible light, dismiss you, forget you, break your heart and make you second guess everything you believe.
When we feel shame, fear, embarrassment, pride, contempt, or envy those emotions may be a symptom that other people have come to rule your life
You are only as powerful as that which has power over you.
Secondly, MONEY is not KING of my life—Saying this helps me take stock of what I really need to exist—food, shelter, fun, work. Is my work a vocation or a paycheck? Am I allowing stuff to fill a void in my life that only God can fill? Am I working to make money or am I making money in order to serve? Defining ourselves by what we have is dangerous because we can start to think that faith is like our money, our stuff.
Think of those foolish bridesmaids in last week’s parable from Matthew 25. They run out of oil, which most biblical scholars equate to a depletion of spiritual resources or faith. Thinking that oil is like money or a credit card that they can charge and pay back later, they beg for oil from the wise bridesmaids, but you can’t borrow other people’s faith. I can’t see the peace and faith in your life and say, “Excuse, you are so faithful, could I have a cup of that? Just a cup…just pour it in…” No? Peace and faith and love are not commodities that can be borrowed, charged, or stolen from others, they are a way of life. Remember that the bridesmaids with no oil are not called unfaithful, they are called foolish.
The faithful response would have been to stay and stand in the dark—I mean really, you don’t think God can find you in the dark? The problem is that being in the dark is scary, not for God mind you…but it’s scary for us! The light makes US more comfortable, makes us feel more in control. We want the power to be comfortable, but power in faith demands that we let go of how we define power and all things we grasp for that make us feel powerful. When our stuff runs out, or breaks, or is stolen, then so does our power.
We are only as powerful as that which has power over us.
And lastly, DEATH is not ruler or ultimate power over our lives.
I spend a lot of time thinking about death. I’ve spent the majority of my ministry in hospice care, serving seriously ill individuals and their families, and recently I am working on a project called, “Homeward Bound: How We Live When A Parent Dies” and I am interviewing young to mid-life adults who have a parent who died last fall.
Philosopher Hans Jonas says that there are 3 things that distinguish human life from other animal experience: the tool, the image, and the grave. The tool imposes man’s knowledge and will onto nature. The image-our paintings and music and dance and other art-projects our imagination. It implies a sense of beauty and memory, and a desire to express them. But the greatest difference between humans and animals is the grave. Only humans bury their dead. Only humans know their own mortality. And knowing that we will die, only humans ask were we came from, what our lives mean and what comes after it.
And so our Gospel lesson today. Only humans ask, what is the point of life? What does God expect of us? How are we to live? Is there something more than this life? What has power over us? Other people? Our stuff? God?
We hear today that when God has power over our lives we are free from all other forms of power and are free to serve… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
The righteous don’t remember doing any of that for the Lord. And God says, Exactly! Anyone can use their power for people who they think matter or for people who have power, but you used your power for all people, for the powerless, the locked out, the lonely, the empty, the wounded, the forgotten…Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it for me.”
With Christ as King of our lives we have gracious hope. Christ sees us and knows us and loves us. But we also know what Christ expects of us. To go to where there is suffering and treat those who are suffering like we would treat God in Christ. This is exactly what God did for us as we hear in the Christ hymn in Philippians. God became human and entered into our world and very being in order to redeem our brokenness and suffering and pain. And God expects us to do the same for others.
I read several blogs of physicians who write about their day to day life as a doctor and this writing from Dr. Edwin Leap caught my eye and reminded me of our Gospel lesson today. He writes of what it is like when a patient he serves dies.
“Love teaches us, I suppose, to expect loss. If we are wise, we all learn (physician or not) that pain, death, suffering and loss are things which have a prevalence of 100% in the human patient population. Some types are more common than others, and certain things strike at different ages, but none of us will avoid them in the end.There is suffering all around us. I am humbled by every grieving person I talk to. I see that there are people all around us, in the line at the Wal-mart, in the car next to us, or two pews over, who may be carrying burdens, worries, grief that would astound you. They keep walking and taking each day as it comes, but there are deeply wounded people all around us. Now, you don’t need to save anyone—Jesus already did that for us. We don’t need a savior, we need a friend. Someone to give us a sweater when we’re shivering, treat us with dignity when we feel ashamed, give us a genuine smile when we feel down, listen when we feel lost and help us find our own way forward without pummeling us with advice, offer an invitation to a crawfish boil, asking, or ask “How are you?” and have the time and attention to really listen to the answer.
The terrible thing, the beautiful thing, is the way we can become better and more compassionate by our proximity to pain.
In those places, we are called to give the great gift of compassion, of love, that is developed as we use our knowledge and skills, but is not predicated upon them. It is the kind of love that sometimes can offer nothing more than presence. Or at least, the willingness, the courage, to be present with loss. It is what Paul meant in Romans 12:15 when he said ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.’ It is love, true love, to be there; just to be there.
We live in a world where many hold forth on issues, politics, philosophy and theology. But where precious few actually go into the places of suffering and meet the sufferers. But that is our job, that is our calling, that is our gift. Not the gift we give, brothers, sisters. It is the gift we receive.”
We have the power to serve because God in Christ is the ultimate power in our lives.
And, we are only as powerful as that which has power over us.
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