Paradigms

Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1, 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon . They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kindom of God . Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.  Amen      Psalm 19:19

“What do we expect out of life?”  “What do I expect out of my life?” This question in this particular and several other forms has presented itself to me over the past several weeks. Actually in some of the instances I could say that this question has been rudely pushed into my face.

There have been three times in my life that I have been closely faced with the prospect of my own death. When I was a young boy, I was briefly buried under a dirt slide when a sand cliff in which my brother and I were digging collapsed. When I was a college student, I struggled with my self-identity which led to state of what now would be recognized as severe depression. For a brief time I considered what seemed to be the only way to escape an intolerable conflict. Then for the third time,

When I was in my early 30’s I was confronted with a life threatening medical condition. I believe that any one who has experienced this immediacy of death will come through it with a different view of life. These events have each and in combination been life altering moments for me. My values and the appreciation of the interrelatedness of everything have forever been shaped by these experiences which are more than knowledge. Our human fragility and our dependence on God and one another have been imprinted on my very existence. This basic change in viewpoint is called a “paradigm shift” meaning that the entire underlying structure of experience is changed. It is much larger that just changing our idea of thoughts about any thing.

These are some of the recent events that have brought this question to the forefront of my conscious thought. “What do I expect out of my life?”

About three weeks ago, on a Thursday morning, I received a telephone call at my work from the brother a long time friend, Tom Kahler. Mark Kahler, who I was surprised even knew that I existed much less how to contact me, informed me that Tom had died. My friend Tom was 44 years old; he was a health nut who was always reprimanding others for eating too much fat-too much meat-and particularly too many French fried potatoes. My friend Tom was addicted to the gym and bodily self-improvement. I was shocked by the news that he had been found inside his locked

Florida

condominium dressed and ready for work. We are fragile beings and dependent on God for our lives and all things.

I was listening to the radio on my morning commute to work when I heard a news article that scientists, in a world conference have now determined that global warming is a fact and that the climate changes have been affected at least in part by human activity. I was struck by one of the follow-up stories in which two scientists were discussing the effects on the world of burning fossil fuels – including the gasoline that nearly all of us burned to come to this service today. When asked what could be done to reverse the situation, one of the scientists replied, “It is a positive thing that people are more aware of the effects of their actions on a global scale, many people are now buying hybrid automobiles that are more efficient and pollute less.” He continued, “I don’t believe that this will be enough. My wife however believes that the world can be saved by recycling one newspaper at a time.” The follow-up question to this was, “How do you reconcile these differences of opinion in your own home?” His answer was fascinating and enlightening, “I recycle newspapers one at a time.”

How do current events personal and global affect your life? Most of us here are secure with an abundance of possessions. Most of us here have a comfortable home. Most of us here enjoy life and even if we have health problems, most of us have access and resources to at least for minimal medical care.

This story was told by a person who worked on a mission project to a country in

Latin America

. The mission project was the building and funding of a clinic in a very poor community. Before the clinic was built, the people who lived in this community had no access to even the most basic type of healthcare. There was not even a place to buy aspirin. One visitor to the community had said a few years before, “if a sick child doesn’t get well because it is loved and prayed for, then that child doesn’t get well.: It was this observation that motivated the congregation to be involved in building the clinic.

So, the clinic was built and the community had a basic health resource for the first time ever. Lives were saved and lives were changed.

A family that lived in the community decided to thank the members of the congregation who had been there building the clinic. They decided to have a meal to honor the visitors. This family was very poor. The guests at the meal found the host’s home to be three non-mortared walls of cinder blocks. The roof was corrugated metal, lying on poles, held down by rocks. The kitchen was outside and consisted of a hearth with a grate and a clay oven. There were no chairs, no tables and the plates were of coarse metal.

The food, however, was glorious. There was chicken and rice, beans, well seasoned avocados, a fresh salsa, tropical fruits, and sugared pastries. There were fresh, hot, hand-made tortillas. To drink, there was coca cola and a bottle of brandy.

During the meal the guest realized that the cost of the food was equal to more than six weeks of income for the hosts. The guest also realized that he had more money in his pocket at that moment than the hosts would be able to make in six weeks. The first thought was to give the hosts the money after the meal. But upon reflection, concluded that the gift would be patronizing and would dishonor the hosts. The next thought was to give the money to the pastor of the congregation who could then slip the money to the hosts. But again, the conclusion came that this also would dishonor the hosts. So finally the decision was to simply enjoy the meal with profound appreciation and gratitude.

Later, the guest said this about the experience. “It was the greatest honor I have ever received. That family spent six weeks of income to thank and honor me. No one else has ever come close to that. I realized that the host family is the richest family that I know. They are so rich that they can spend six weeks of income on a banquet to honor someone that they will probably never see again in this world. I only spent about a month’s worth of income to celebrate our child’s wedding. And that marriage has given me grandchildren who are the dearest things in my life. I am poor and stingy. My hosts are rich and generous.

These current events and this story of generosity all have a common thread involving a “paradigm shift”. They all involve this deep, basic change in underlying view, assumptions, and perceptions.

Jesus, in his teachings, was a master at challenging basic perceptions and assumptions. This is evident in our lesson for today in which he paints two kinds of characters; one who is blessed and one who is cursed, depending upon that person’s conduct and attitudes. The blessedness is not affected by circumstances. It is attitudinal, rather than circumstantial. It is the result of perceptions not pleasant surroundings or luxuries.

We are told that among those blessed are the poor. Jesus is not blessing economic poverty or talking about superiority of one social class over another. The “poor” in a spiritual sense means those who depend absolutely on God. This is contrasted with the rich in this way. Material wealth predisposes one to think that they are self-sufficient. Rich people in this context may become arrogant and insensitive to the needs of others and rely on their possessions and think that they do not need God. Jesus says that these people may get all that the want, but that is all they will get. They will be deprived of real satisfaction and consolation. The “poor” are aware of their dependence on others and on God. Worldly wealth alone does not dispel inner emptiness or loneliness. A follower of Jesus is sensitive to evil and injustice both within their self and in the world. From Jesus’ perspective, if we adopt the attitudes of God we can actually bring heaven onto earth by changing the atmosphere. It is difficult to greatly change the circumstances of life, but we can positively affect the “air” or attitude and push the pollution of accumulated clutter away.

All of this brings us back to the question, “What do we expect out of life?”  “What do I expect out of my life?” I believe that Jesus meant for us to have that paradigm shift when thinking about marginalized people of the world, that we should become “poor” by increased awareness of our interdependence. I believe that each of us is also called to act on our awareness of the needs around us.

While researching for this sermon today, I came upon a document called the “Millennium Development Goals Status Report for 2006”. It began at the start of the millennium when leaders from 191 nations, including the United States of America , met under the leadership of the United Nations and agreed on a plan to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015.

These eight goals are (and I present them to you with actions that can be taken to achieve the goals):

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

          What we need to do- Cut in half the number of people who live on less than $1 per day and cut in half the number of hungry people

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education for Children

          What we need to do – Ensure that boys and girls everywhere are able to complete a full course of primary school.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

          What we need to do – eliminate discrimination against women in education and wages.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality –

          What we need to do - Reduce by two-thirds the number of children who die before age five

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

          What we need to do - Reduce by 75% the number of women who die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

          What we need to do - Stop the spread of these diseases and see a decline in the death rates

Goal 7: Ensure environmental Sustainability

          What we need to do - Cut in half the number of people without access to safe drinking water and reverse the loss of natural resources by practicing sustainable development.

Goal 8: Create a Global Partnership for Development

          What we need to do - Improve levels of development assistance, provide access to markets, and offer solutions for indebted countries.

The Episcopal Church has committed itself to achieving these goals. Our Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has called upon us at her investiture to embrace these goals as achievable. She said, “We live in a day where there is a concrete possibility of making the dream reality for the most destitute, forgotten, and ignored of our fellow travelers – for the castaways, for those in peril or just barely afloat on life’s restless sea.

This church has said that our larger vision will be framed and shaped in the coming years by the vision of shalom embedded in the Millennium Development Goals – a world where the hungry are fed, the ill are healed, the young educated, women and men treated equally, and where all have access to clean water and adequate sanitation, basic health care, and the promise of development that does not endanger the rest of creation. That vision of abundant life is achievable in our own day, but only with the passionate commitment of each and every one of us. It is god’s vision of homecoming for all Humanity. ----The health of our neighbors, in its broadest understanding, is the mission that God has given us. We cannot love God if we fail to love our neighbors into a more whole and holy state of life. If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation, our health as a body is at some hazard, and it becomes the duty of all of us to seek healing and wholeness. As long as children live exposed on the streets, while seniors go without food to pay for life-sustaining drugs, wherever peoples are sickened by industrial waste, the body suffers, and none of us can say we have finally come home.”

 These goals have also been adopted by Episcopal Relief and Development as a framework for action in its world wide assistance. We at

St. Paul

’s are being presented with an opportunity to focus on this need and to respond. Recently Sandy Wolters agreed to be our parish contact person with Episcopal Relief and Development. She began our involvement by asking for us to contribute as a parish in the program to purchase mosquito netting for people living in areas susceptible to malaria. I am embarrassed to say that I had the best of intentions of participating but delayed. But today I am remedying that oversight. The fact is that one child in Africa dies from malaria every 30 seconds. Each of these deaths is preventable. The malaria carrying mosquitoes attack at night. Mosquito netting over the beds of these children and their families while sleeping reduces to a great extent the risk of this disease. One insecticide treated mosquito net can be purchased for a $15.00 donation to Episcopal Relief and Development. I urge you to join me in acting on this opportunity.

These eight development goals are not going to be met by you or by me alone. These needs though are truly symbolic of our dependence upon God and upon one another. We must not become “rich” in the sense that we feel self-sufficient, isolated from suffering, and arrogant. Join me in developing an attitude of being “poor” by remaining acutely aware of our vulnerability, humble in our attitude, and compassionate in our response to the needs of others.

The revered Hindu leader Mahatmas Gandhi is quoted as saying, “We must become the change that we envision for the world.”

We alone cannot achieve the goals of reducing poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy. The needs are too great but we have been presented with the opportunity to assist “one mosquito net at a time”. We will continue to be given opportunities to participate in reaching the Millennium Development Goals through our parish participation in Episcopal Relief and Development.

Become poor with me.

Amen