Parable of those in power and those caught up in their mess

I have been reading a lot about the Jian Ghomeshi over the last couple of days and I have been surprised over and over again.  I do want to share my opinion, but to be honest I am not ready yet. But I have been inspired to share a sermon a preached on October 13th of last year on Luke 18:9-14. I have been inspired by my cousin Teffer Ruth in her blog post she calls out religious leaders to start speaking out, so here is my start. As already stated I wrote and preached this sermon last year, so it is in no way connected directly to the current bad situation (which ever way you look at it, its bad).  It came from a reflection on the Parable about the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector, or as I like to say the Parable of those in power and those caught up in their mess. This sermon was original shared at the United Theological College in Montreal. Thanks for the Challenge Teffer :) 

The deepest stories of truth can only be told in story. Some truths are so real and important that boiling them down to one sentence in unfair, and leads to serious misunderstandings and repercussions. Like rape is wrong… it’s a true statement but boiling it down to this one small sentence as left society unsure of how to react when the wrong act occurs, just because it is wrong does not mean that that we know how to fix it.

In Luke we find the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector, Jesus is telling a story to show people that when they think too highly of themselves, in the process they put other people down.  It is possible that this parable holds a catch-22, for if we try and create modern categories of who is in this full of yourself Pharisee group, we might be building ourselves up creating in ourselves the very problem Jesus is speaking of. Today instead of placing ourselves into this story I ask for us to remain viewers, allowing the story to demonstrate a real truth that our world is facing today.
Now I will proceed with caution and please know that I have no desire to offend anyone or be too graphic, but as I read the prayer of the Pharisee words that I heard a few weeks ago out of the mouth of a teenage boy came back to haunt me.  Last year a picture started going around a high school in North Carolina of two high school students engaged in sex, when the girl who was in the picture saw it she went to police with her father. She had been invited by a boy she liked to a party, but when she got there realized she was the only girl, with 4 boys. Not having a way home she stayed, and after a couple of stupid comments from the boy that invited her, she began drinking. After enough shots to get her drunk two of the boys began trying to take off her clothes, she resisted, left the room and passed out on a couch in the basement. She woke up and one of the boys was on top of her, but the picture brought back some of the fuzzy memory she had. One of the boys’ parents was a police officer and the boys and their parents were quick to  hit the news, saying that the 3 of the boys had had consensual sex with the girl that night, one of the boy’s mother even said that the only thing her son was guilty of was pre-marital sex. The ring leader within the boys group said:   “I'm not a rapist. I had consensual sex with a girl and she wanted to. I've never apologized to the girl because I haven't done anything wrong. In the Bible it says to forgive, but it's hard because she isn't telling the truth.” We have a similar story on our side of the boarder; Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide last April after 17 months of harassment from both the 4 boys who had raped her at a party and their parents. The boys were convicted of nothing and were allowed to taunt her for months, at her funeral the boys’ parents were seen putting up “support the boys” posters, still claiming that she had wanted and asked for the sexual exchange.

Jesus told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else. Lk 18:9. Now I know I am on a slippery slope, because my metaphor means placing the victim in the place of the tax collector which might insinuate blame, but the sad part is that this is exactly what our society does.  We read headlines Ann was raped by Joe, or Ann was raped, or Ann is a rape victim, so quickly our society drops the actual subject in the situation, making sure we seldom hear the words Joe is a rapist. Our world turns these victims into the tax collector, forcing them to put their head down in shame. ‘she asked for it, she shouldnt have had alcohol, she should not have even gone to the party, just look at what she is wearing, my boy shouldnt be blamed because she is a flirt.’ (Julia Penelope). And for our Pharisees we have high school boys and their parents saying, He is a good boy, he is a good student, he gives back to the community, he has universities who want to give him scholarships, he goes to church, he is not a liar like her. So sure of their own goodness they despised everyone else. This case of building self-up at the expense of another is an extreme example, and it is to you I give the task to balance it back out. Looking at an extreme can give us a new perspective. Things are changing, new laws are being created, we to can make a change.

“I tell you” said Jesus “For those who makes themselves great will be humiliated, and those who are humiliated will be made great.”

The Golden Rule... something about compassion

This is a very edited version of a sermon I gave at Christ Church United this past Sunday, October 26th 2014.

Matthew 22:37+39

So he said:

you will love the Lord your God

with your whole heart

and with your whole self (life/soul)

and with your whole mind (understanding/thought)

and the second, is just as great

you will love your fellow-human just like yourself

This is Jesus’ answer to the question; what is the greatest commandment?

Do unto others as you would want them to do for you.

Compassion is central to many, if not all of our world’s religions, and even many of our human philosophies. Many religions have their own variation of what is sometimes called the Golden Rule, and I thought I would share some of these with you.

I thought we should start with Judaism, for this would have been known by Jesus. It is from the Talmud, which is a Jewish holy book that would have been familiar to Jesus. The Talmud says; “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”

Unconditional love is not black and white love, it’s more complicated than that.

Love them as if they are your very own, means to love them as if they were your family. Now in family there comes a time for some tough love. It is an important part of growing. Also, just as within a biological family, abuse, whether emotional or physical, is simply unacceptable. You see it is not always straight forward when trying to figure out what would be the good for another, but we do know what we would not want to suffer ourselves.

Our Muslim brothers and sisters have their own version, growing out of both the Hebrew and Christian idea; they have this to add to the conversation “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” I am surprised at how often I still hear people saying that Islam is violent and therefore Muslims are dangerous. My response, No, their religion is not violent, for their practice, just like all other pious religious practices, is centered on compassion.

But fundamentalism, extremism, does exists in Islam, just as it does in Christianity. Hitler claimed himself a Christian, made sure his army had “god is with us” on their belts; the KKK was a Christian organization doing the will of god; and my Christianity, being a lesbian minister,  is nowhere close to the Christianity professed by the Westboro Baptist Church.

Fundamentalism, extremism, is not pious practice.

The second thing that surprises me is hearing:  “you see they are indoctrinating our youth.” If they are our youth, then it is our responsibility to share the depth of our Gospel message with them; in their own language; on their own terms; within their own context. For if they find meaning for their lives within our stories then they will not go elsewhere looking for Gospel. ‘Hope for others, as you hope for yourself.’ This is Islam, this is Good News.

Now back to the Gospel according to Matthew. I would like to share with you my version of this Golden rule, it include my interpretation which is based on text (translation) and context (Exegesis).

Love our Creator God, Serve the universe that God creates,

with all that we are, all that we hope, and with all of our special and unique selves

Just as you

Love the stranger, the one who is different than you,

Love them as if they are your very own.

And I would argue that we don’t need to believe in God to believe that humankind is compassionate. Here is an explanation of the Golden rule by a Humanist Philosopher.

“Trying to live according to the Golden Rule means trying to empathize with other people, including those who may be very different from us. Empathy is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think and wherever we come from. And although it isn’t possible to know what it really feels like to be a different person or live in different circumstances and have different life experiences, it isn’t difficult for most of us to imagine what would cause us suffering and to try to avoid causing suffering to others. For this reason many people find the Golden Rule’s corollary – “do not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself” – more pragmatic.”

Saying it in the negative is the way most eastern religions say it. I think this gets at something that the positive can’t. We do not always know what the other would like done to them, but we do know what we don’t want done to us.

Don’t do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you, don’t say something about someone else that you wouldn’t want to be said about you… don’t even think things about someone that you wouldn’t want thought about you.

I couldn’t find a direct golden rule in Sikhism, but I thought these two sentences would do, just fine.

“Whom should I despise, since the one Lord made us all.”

 “I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.”

When you believe that God is one, when you believe in one Creator, you therefore believe that every living being is made by God, whether plant, animal, fish, bird, or human. There is no us and them within humanity, all division is created by man… we are One in God.

Love our Creator God, Serve the universe that God creates,

with all that we are, all that we hope, and with all of our special and unique selves

Just as you

Love the stranger, the one who is different than you,

Love them as if they are your very own.

You see, there is no more us and them, no other. We are one humankind.

Do not do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you,

Love the stranger as if they are your own,

And Hope for the other as you hope for yourself.

This is compassion, this is pious practice, this is religion, and to me… this is Gospel.