St. George's Episcopal Church Roseburg, Oregon The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 6A 12 June 2005 Go To St. George's Home Page

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
Psalm 16: 1-2; 12-19
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74^th General Convention of the ECUSA

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Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 9:35-10:8)

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Harvesting the Idiosyncrologous[1]
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector

     One of the things about being laid up for a while it is that it is an opportunity to read. As I have been convalescing, I have read a lot of different things from biographies to fiction, non-fiction to history. Robert Lanham, who has been described by Neal Pollack as the "Margaret Mead of the North American weirdo"[2] is the author of The Hipster Handbook. He has written a new book called, Food Court Druids, Cherohonkies, and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic.[3]

     Lanham, a keen, if not decidedly weird observer, apparently spent his time categorizing people, and then gave them humorous, or sometimes chillingly accurate labels. Washington Post reporter Hank Stuever wrote that Lanham's work is "idiosyncrology" – the study and classification of individuals and groups based on their distinguishing behaviors and idiosyncrasies.[4] Judging from the many sites I found on line devoted to this pastime, idiosyncrology is a popular activity.[5] Even though I was outraged at a published volume of one man's stereotyping, I found myself laughing – often embarrassed – at Lanham's categories. Idiosyncrology is not scientific, it is not polite, and it is not a fair or loving way of describing our friends and neighbors. But it is something that we do; it is part of human nature to classify things – including people. And when someone like Lanham does it, it is funny.

     Take for example the WB's. These are adults who own and wear too much clothing featuring Warner brothers cartoon characters like the Road Runner and the Tasmanian Devil. There are the Stretchibitionists who can often be seen wearing gym clothes, but actually never really working out; instead, they hang out in a visible location and do stretch routines to advertise themselves to anyone who looks their way. Cherohonkies are white people who wear too much Native American garb or jewelry. Then there are the Kristen Kringles who shop for Christmas decorations and gifts all year round. And we can't forget the Food Court Druids. They dress like Goths – in black – show up for Harry Potter book releases, often have braces, and hang around the food court at the mall.

     In the gospel reading today, Matthew describes Jesus going out among the people, into the cities and villages, to proclaim the good news of God's kingdom, to teach in the synagogues, and to heal the disabled and diseased. He reached out to the first century versions of The Food Court Druids, Kringles, WBs, and Stretchibitionists that existed in the cities and villages of Galilee. Jesus didn't stay within his comfort zone – within the confines of his own idiosyncratic Jewish group. He embraced people who were harassed and helpless, the marginalized; those people his own kindred didn't like very much. Although these groups might have seemed odd, strange, amusing, or even threatening, Jesus didn't laugh at them, deride them, or write a book about them. Instead he had compassion for them.

     Jesus did not see the labels people use to define others or identify themselves. He was not swayed by clothing or lifestyles. He saw people. Like today, the culture of Jesus' time was a mosaic of political and social interests all competing for the attention of its citizens. There were Pharisees, Sadducees, Roman soldiers and citizens, political zealots, social outcasts like lepers, whores and adulterers, tax collectors like Matthew, widows and orphans, and ordinary folk like you and me.

     Jesus was called to help the helpless, but he was only one man. And so he summoned his disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. Jesus knew that to create God's kingdom on earth would take the effort of people willing to work for it. He knew that movement he began in these twelve people would only grow if they engaged in outward missionary action. And so he shoved them into the public arena to proclaim the good news, and to invite others to live the kingdom life.

     Jesus still calls to us to go into the fields to harvest. But what does that mean in today's pluralistic, multicultural society? It's not about bringing people into the church. It's about going into the world like those first disciples.

     It means that are not about changing people, or making them into cookie cutter Christians that look at Jesus and God and the Church in the same way. It means we are to engage people; to meet them where they are. To recognize their needs and their hunger, and then to fill them with solid, spiritual food. It also means to help them meet their physical needs as well.

     I am talking about ministry. It is by ministry that we will reach the people in our idiosyncrologous culture. We begin our ministry by doing exactly what it says in today's gospel text: By seeing the people. The text says that it was after Jesus saw the crowds that he was motivated to action. He had to see the crowds first. This may be obvious, but over the years, the church has frequently failed to see the need – or recognize the harvest – in the surrounding culture.

     This happens in individual churches when we get into survival mode or maintenance mode. Being in survival or maintenance mode seems to prevent us from getting into mission mode. We spend so much time taking care of ourselves tat we fail to see what is happening around us. We fail to see the growing Hispanic presence in our community that is hungry for spiritual nourishment. We fail to recognize single parents who might benefit from tutoring programs for their kids, or people who need help getting to doctors appointments, or the homeless and destitute who need help with food when FISH isn't open, or who need help with a night's lodging. If we don't see the need, we can't fill it in the name of Jesus. We can't announce the good news to the kingdom of God to people who need to hear that news if we don't see them.

     Jesus saw the people. And he was moved. And he had compassion.

     When your vestry was presented with our financial dilemma, they wisely recognized that in order to survive and grow, we needed to move out into our community and address the hunger that is there.

     I believe that as a parish, we are on the verge of moving from maintenance to mission mode. There is no question that we have a lot of work to do to build our parish in order to be a presence in this community in the future. This morning during coffee hour, we will present to you a brief picture of our financial status so that you know the seriousness of the parish issues before us. We will talk about our membership and the shortfall between our pledge income and our expenses so that you know where we stand right now.

     But, the gospel message is plain about how we should respond; what we must do. We are not to wring our hands in despair, wishing that things were as they used to be. We are not develop some knee jerk, short-term immediate fixes.

     But rather, we are to look to our Holy Book for the guidance it contains, and then to follow it. Our text today tells us that in order to move forward, we need to look outward at the people around us and provide for helpless and harassed. Matthew describes them as "sheep without a shepherd." Sheep like that are confused and anxious, and they make a lot of noise. They are hungry and in need. That is our harvest. There are a lot of odd looking sheep out there. They don't look alike, and they don't think alike. Some in serious hurt. Some of them feel abandoned; raw. They need some good news.

    It's up to us to give them that. If we can do that, the rest will take care of itself.

    Dennis Folds, pastor of Tokyo Baptist Church, tells the story of a statue of Jesus at an English cathedral that had been damaged by German bombs during WWII.[6] A group of German students moved by kindness and love, and a deep desire to return Christian love to those who had lost so much, volunteered to go to London and help with reconstruction of the cathedral.

     As work progressed they became concerned with the statue of Jesus, beneath whose outstretched arms read the inscription from Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The student workers had great difficulty trying to restore the hands which had been completely destroyed. After working and trying for a long time, they were unable to find anything to replace Jesus' outstretched hands.

     Finally, after much discussion, they decided to let the hands of Jesus remain missing. But they changed the written inscription to read, "Christ has no hands but ours."

Amen.

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Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh." The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

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Psalm 16: 1-2; 12-19

1 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.

2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

12 What shall I return to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,

14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.

16 O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.        
You have loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,

19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

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Romans 5:1-8

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

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Matthew 9:35-10:8

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

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The Collect of the Day

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.