Sermon: Let Your Gentleness Be Known
|
EHCC Home |
Sermon: Let Your Gentleness Be Known Text: Philippians 4:1-9 Date: October 12, 2008 Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel, Eagle Harbor Congregational UCC
When author Donald Miller was a student and campus ministry leader at Reed college in Portland, Oregon, he and his friends set up a confessional on the campus on the day of the year that the school has a particularly wild party. It was a shed with two sections for both parties, and a sign at the entrance that read, "Confess your Sins." Imagine the surprise of the feeling-guilty, hung-over student, upon entering, to find that the tables had been turned. The Christian inside would confess to whomever had come inside, apologizing on behalf of the church for the ways the Christian community had let that person down. A steady stream of students came as word spread, and they set up an additional confessional at a nearby picnic table. They apologized for the Crusades, for televangelists, for neglecting the poor. [1] Unconventional, yes, but what a powerfully compassionate way to reach out to another person. It is a gentleness that seeks to open a truthful, sacred space with another. Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 4 is bursting with theology. In studying this great passage this time around I was drawn to a particular line the NRSV translates, "let your gentleness be known to all." When I asked my six year old Eva what it means to be gentle, she said, it's like this - and softly touched her fingertips to my arm. Yes, I thought, it's something that you do, it is acting with a gentle spirit. I find myself saying "be gentle" constantly with my toddler Day, because gentleness does not always come naturally, but is learned. Small children who have yet to disccover that the entire world doesn't revolve around them are at times rought with other people and things. Fortunately, we adults are immune to this... or perhaps not! Grown-up humans, at times, too, operated as though we are at the center of the universe. It is at these times that we need to gather our inner strength from God and consider the world around us. Gentleness is not being weak or a doormat, it is an inner peaceful strentgh that radiates goodness to others. It often takes courage, patience, and work to be gentle. Wehn we are gentle, we take a risk and make ourselves vulnerable with another person. Jim and Casper go to Church is a book that chronicles the conversations about faith and church between Jim, a Christian Minister and Casper, a seasoned atheist. Jim Henderson was a pastor for twenty-five years when he felt called to re-invent evangelism, and began an organization called Off the Map. He sought to open up dialogue between church-going and not-church-going folks, so that they could learn from one another. He wanted to find out what non-Christians thought of Christians and their services, and use that infomation to transform the Church. Jim pointed out that if church people are to be truly welcoming to guests, "we have to adapt for them. It's called the Incarnation." [2] He hired atheists as consultants/mystery shoppers to attend services at various churches and fill out surveys. This all led to Jim writing a book about it. He hired Matt Casper to attend church services with him throughout the country, from megachurches to small emergent churches, and to give him his honest assessment. They conspicuously opened up their laptops and typed in the sanctuaries, they asked each other a lot of provoking questions and did a lot of listening. Casper rated a church low if he sniffed out any inauthenticity, contrived emotion, or plastic looking smiles on congregants' faces. If everything seemed overly polished in the service, if everyone seemed to have commuted in from across town, if they seemed oblivious of visitors, he took note. He rated them highly if they seemed real, if they attracted members from the surrounding neighborhood, and if their love in action was seen and spoken about - not simply assumed. The question that has stuck with Jim most from the experience is when Casper would often ask after a service, "Jim, is this what Jesus told you guys to do?" An unlikely friendship blossomed between these two. The open-free to say absolutely anything that comes to mind-space that they cultivated was fertile ground for a spirit of gentleness to be shard. One of the conclusions Jim has made about being Christian is that believers are to be in the business of otherlyness. His website says, "Otherlyness is the spiritual practice of noticing and serving others in ordinary ways. We believe Christians ought to be known for a way of living that is generous and intentionally otherly at its core." [3] How do we reach beyond our comfortable circles and let our gentleness, our graciousness, our consideration of others be evident? How do we take into account those who are on a different page? How does a mainline Christian let their gentleness be evident to a fundamentalist Christian, or a new age person, or a Buddhist, or secular humanist? Have you been a church visitor lately -- or are you one today? Maybe you felt a little bit self-conscious, maybe you weren't familiar with that church's traditions, or perhaps bypassed coffee hour? Being the outsider once in a while can shed some light on what it is like to perceive things differently. George Barna pointed out that "few religious leaders or churches have any idea what it's like for an outsider to try to break into the holy huddle." [4] Take into account that a guest at church or a guest in your home or a co-worker may have a different cultural lens. They may not vote the same as you, they may have a much higher or lower number in their bank account or believe much differently than you. They may be crabby because they are not feeling well or maybe they are tired. Philippians 4 says, Let your gentleness be evident. We can take their needs, their perspective, their baggage, their hopes and dreams into consideration. Many of us worry about what others think of us, so unsure of ourselves, hoping we said the right thing, did the right thing. At times we are fearful. At times we feel guilty. Humans flip from being full of ourselves to not thinking much of ourselves. When we are to centered on ourselves, let us ask Casper's question: Is this what Jesus told you guys to do? One religious writer pointed out, "Gentleness is here seen as an antidote to fear or worry. It is paralleled with prayer as a process of transformation and renewal." [5] Author Marianne Williamson noted that a government study found that the ability of a child to learn is dependent on having at least one adult who cares that they do. [6] We know this innately, though, and may not have needed a twenty-five million dollar research study to tell us. We all need someone on our side. We need someone to be Jesus for us, and we need to be Jesus for others. This is all possible because God is near. Let us be of a gentle spirit, on our neighbor's side, whether the person lives next door or if they are our supposed enemy. Many of you faithful folks in this room let your gentleness show this past week. A group gathered here on Monday evening and spoke about their practice of making food choices that have the gentlest effect on the environment. A child in the congregation made a get well card for an elderly parishioner. "Let your gentleness be known to all." The Message paraphrases it, "Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them." Gene Knudsen Hoffman is a Quaker who founded a non-profit based in Seattle called the Compassionate Listening Project. This organization trains people in communication skills for bringing about peace in all spheres of life. They will be conduction one of their workshops in Bainbridge this January sponsored by Cedars Unitarian. "Compassionate Listening is adaptable to any conflict. The listening requires a particular attitude. It is not-judgmental, not-adversarial, and seeks the truth of the person questioned. It also seeks to see through any masks of hostility and fear to the sacredness of the individual and to discern the wounds suffered by all parties. Listeners do not defend themselves, but accept what others say as their perceptions. By listening they validate the others' right to those perceptions." The founder wrote that "an enemy is one who's story we have not heard." [7] Brett and I rented a powerful thriller last week that demonstrated this statement, The Invisible. The antagonist had done great harm to the main character, because he had been invisible to her, but their relationship and their lives were transformed when opened to hear each other's stories, when they risked enough to really see the other. I don't want to say much more about it because I wouldn't want to ruin the movie for anyone who wants to see it, but it is a reminder of how so many walk around feeling like they are invisible. so many ache for another to reach out to them in gentleness and love. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. Everyone. We are called to be gentle with our loved ones, our enemies, and ourselves. Once Thomas Merton was overwhelmed with love for the strangers he was among, and wrote of the experience, "There is no Way of convincing people that they are walking around shining like the sun." [8] But perhaps we can try. With a gentle spirit, we can open a space for dialogue. We can reach out to help, to listen, to love. We can show others that we see them, even if we don't see things the same way. Fear builds walls, not bridges, so let us operate from gentle strength, grounded in Christ, or gentle Savior.
[1] “The Campus Confession Booth,” Leadership. July 1, 2005. [2] Jim Henderson and Matt Casper. Jim and Casper go to Church. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007, p. 149. [4] Jim and Casper go to Church. xi. [5] Wesley White, Kairos CoMotion Lectionary Dialogue. http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/ [6] The Gift of Change. New York: HarperCollins, 2004, p. 58. [7] Compassionate Listening - First Step to Reconciliation? a talk by Gene Knudsen Hoffman given November 25, 1997, at University of California at Santa Barbara. http://www.newconversations.net/gkh_essay01.htm [8] Thomas G. Long, Tesimony, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publisher, 2004, p. 46.
|
|