No Doubts, No Regrets

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

September 25, 2016

No Doubts, No Regrets

Selected Texts

“The most common emotion they express is regret;

regret that they never took the time to mend

broken friendships and relationships;

regret that they never told their friends and family

how much they care;

regret that they are going to be remembered

by their children

as hypercritical mothers

or exacting, authoritarian fathers.”

A prominent physician who has for many years

worked with the elderly

and those nearing the end of their lives,

wrote these words recently

in an article in the New York Times.

He was writing about the power of regret;

the draining, consuming power

that hollows us out from the inside

from pain that burns deep within.

Regret for things said;

Regret for things not said;

Regret for things done;

Regret for things not done.

The physician realized

that he was dealing with emotion

at its deepest and most profound,

where the medicine and science he knew so well

were of little use.

So he and his colleagues

at the Stanford Medical School

created what they call,

“The Last Letter Project” to address the needs

that they found to be so clear,

so obvious,

needs they kept finding,

in patient after patient.

What they proposed in their project

is that a person write a letter,

write words to loved ones,

family and friends,

write them while they are still healthy,

write them to express them;

express feelings, emotions,

words that may well have gone unsaid,

so there are no regrets,

so there is no doubt

with either the sender or the recipients.

We pastors deal with death

as frequently as medical professionals.

We are acutely aware of those words we speak

each year on Ash Wednesday:

“Remember you are dust and

and to dust you will return.”

And we, probably more than physicians,

hear words of regret,

words of anguish,

words of sorrow,

of lost opportunities

from people as they age,

as they near the end of their lives.

Regret is such a short word,

yet it is packed with such power;

a word not so much explosive

as it is searing, burning,

emotion that melts us from our very core.

I saw my grandfather and father

caught in a web of regret

as my grandfather approached the end of his life

from a cerebral hemorrhage

more than 30 years ago.

My grandfather and I were very close

and I knew he had never said to his son,

“I’m proud of you.”

On the contrary,

my grandfather was always quick

to point out to my father his mistakes,

his failures, his faults.

My father wanted so badly to hear his father

say those words, just once, before he died:

“I’m proud of you.”

But the hemorrhage had hit my grandfather

like a stroke and destroyed his ability to speak,

he was unable to utter a word;

he was unable to communicate in any way.

I suspect my grandfather knew

my father wanted, indeed needed,

to hear those words,

and I suspect my grandfather

wanted to say those words.

But his stilled tongue had closed the door,

leaving father and son filled with regret.

Father-son relationships certainly

aren’t the only ones that struggle with regret—

mother-daughter, brother-sister,

any relationship.

But they seem to be particularly fraught.

The movie “I Never Sang For My Father”

produced back in 1970,

with Gene Hackman and Melvyn Douglas,

explores those issues:

a son estranged from his father,

feeling like he had never measured up,

the two pulled together,

almost unwillingly,

as the father aged,

slipped into dementia

and then finally died,

without words of affection,

pride,

love,

passing between the two,

father to son,

and son to father.

And as Hackman’s character says

at the end of the movie,

“Death doesn’t end a relationship.”

For the one who lives on,

the feelings are still there,

regret still burning, churning.

Last week I mentioned the story of the Prodigal Son,

the story Jesus tells in Luke’s gospel:

the wastrel son who comes back to his father

seeking nothing,

but finding a fulsome, joyous, welcome,

a welcome from his father

so overflowing with love

that the young man must have been

almost embarrassed by its excess.

We tend in that story to focus on the father

and the younger, wastrel son,

but we cannot overlook the older brother.

In Rembrandt’s famous painting

that hangs in the Hermitage Museum

in St. Petersburg Russia,

the older brother stands at the light’s edge,

stern, silent, disapproving,

so clearly filled with anger and resentment.

We look at that brother in the painting

and we want to say to him:

“Forgive”,

“Reconcile”,

“Welcome”:

Hear God’s word to you:

“just as the Lord has forgiven you,

so you also must forgive.

And above all, clothe yourself with love,

which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.”

(Colossians 3:13)

        

Forgive.

Reconcile.

Welcome.

Aren’t these all things our Lord teaches us?

Aren’t these what can chase way

even the wisps of regret?

The Last Letter project,

secular though it is,

can help us to focus,

focus on forgiveness

on reconciliation,

on love.

The first thing to do, the authors advise, is

“acknowledge the important people in your life.”

Acknowledge your spouse, partner,

parents,

children,

sisters, brothers,

friends.

Acknowledge them as people

who have made a difference in your life,

enriched your life in ways small or large,

that your life has been richer for their presence,

and your life would have been so much poorer

without them.

Acknowledge them with the abandon

of the prodigal’s father.

Second:

“Remember treasured moments from your life.”

We all have special memories, special moments:

Birthdays, graduations, weddings,

the birth of children, grandchildren;

perhaps you were part of a team

that won a championship.

Those moments tell our stories,

and they invariably involve others,

family, friends, community,

those you need to acknowledge;

for what moments are worth remembering

without family,

without friends?

Third:

“Apologize”

recognize where you have hurt someone,

caused them pain,

and then apologize.

Why do we find it so hard to say, “I’m sorry”?

Why do we find it so much easier to deny blame,

responsibility?

Even shift the blame: “they started it.”

Do you see what that is – that’s pride,

and how many times does God

warn us of the danger of pride:

“Pride only breeds quarrels”

(Proverbs 13:10)

“First pride, then the crash”

(Proverbs 16:18)

Apologize.

Getting the words out may be difficult,

but the effect can be transformative.

Imagine if the two brothers,

the bitter, angry, older brother

and the humbled, humiliated prodigal brother

had apologized to each other,

and then embraced,

imagine what their life

would have been like afterward.

Fourth:

“Forgive.”

Who among us hasn’t been offended,

humiliated,

injured,

lied to,

stolen from,

hurt by someone.

We have all had someone do something,

someone say something

that hurt so deeply.

Perhaps it was something

someone failed to say,

failed to do,

a promise made,

a promise broken.

Forgive.

Don’t wait for the apology.

Yale theologian Miraslov Wolf has written,

“Forgiveness is the beginning of a

transformational relationship.

It is the beginning of reconciliation.

It is what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ

It doesn’t just relieve us from

bitterness and resentment,

it enacts love.”

God models forgiveness

and shows us the way:

Speaking through the prophet

God said,

“I will forgive their iniquity

and remember their sin no more.”

(Jeremiah 31:34)

And, as you are forgiving others,

“forgive yourself.”

Who among us hasn’t a long list of things

we wish we had not done,

had not said,

things that we’ve carried,

perhaps for years.

Forgive yourself,

Let go,

give it to God.

and God will take away our pain.

Happy are those whose transgression

is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Happy are those to whom the Lord

imputes no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

While I kept silence, my body wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

… my strength was dried up

as by the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions

to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Therefore let all who are faithful

offer prayer to you.

(Psalm 32:1-6)

Finally, close your letter

with genuine expressions of gratitude and love,

purposely, readily, eagerly.

It is as simple as “Thank you”

and “I love you,”

words simple, clear, direct,

hardly poetic,

but yet with the poet’s power

of touching our deepest emotions.

The one quibble I have with the physicians

who put this idea together

is that they called it a “Life Review” letter,

a “Last Letter.”

I understand why,

but still, I’d like to think of it

simply as a “Life” letter,

even a “Love” letter,

something we could,

something we should write anytime

to enhance our lives,

enrich our lives

and those we love.

As Paul taught us,

“Faith, hope and love abide,

and the greatest of these is love,

for love never ends.”

(1 Corinthians 13:8ff)

Express that emotion in a letter

so that you and those you love

will have no doubts,

no regrets.

AMEN

The Life Letter Project website can be found at:

http://www.med.stanford.edu/letter/friendsandfamily.html

What We Teach

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

September 18, 2016

What We Teach

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All scripture is inspired by God

and is useful for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness,

so that everyone who belongs to God

may be proficient,

equipped for every good work.

***************************************

P. T. Barnum: it’s a name familiar to most of us,

especially those of us old enough

to have gone to the circus as a youngster,

the great Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus,

once called, “the greatest show on earth.”

Barnum was an entertainer,

a consummate showman,

who in the years before and after

our nation’s Civil War,

found countless ways to entertain,

to put on a show.

In fact, he was 60 years old

before he even got into the circus business,

the business that made his name known

throughout the nation, the world.

Barnum is probably best known, though,

not for his circus,

but for something he said,

a phrase that has become a part of our culture:

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Barnum and that sentiment are tied together,

firm, fast, and fixed.

This is unfortunate.

Because it is myth that Barnum said those words.

There is no evidence that those words came from him,

no evidence his biographers, historians

or other writers have ever been able to find

that he said, wrote,

or even thought those words.

Most historians think the phrase

came from riverboat gamblers.

It is a harsh, cynical statement,

and Barnum, by all accounts,

was not a harsh, cynical businessman –

he was a man who wanted to provide his customers

with good entertainment,

value for their money.

Myths abound; they are all around us.

We hear things,

words that come from a source we find credible,

and we believe them.

The advent of the Internet has made it

easy to spread information

that has no basis in fact,

but which people gobble up.

The mere fact that it appeared on the Internet

gives myth credibility,

in the same way the words “As Seen On TV”

somehow make a product more desireable.

Religion has always been fertile ground for myths,

for misinformation,

for stories that get passed along,

people believing them,

even embellishing them.

It is a myth, for example,

that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.

You’ve heard me say that before,

from this pulpit and in classrooms.

Nothing in the Bible supports

or even suggests the idea

that she was a prostitute,

and yet many faithful still believe the story,

a story concocted by church leaders

centuries after Mary died.

We teach lots of things in our classrooms,

teach lots of things to our children,

our youth,

and our adults:

Bible stories,

history, theology.

Along the way we try to expose myths,

as we clarify,

check, challenge.

It isn’t facts, figures, names, places

that are the most important things we teach.

No, we want to teach every learner

to think, question, ponder,

figure things out.

What we teach is that God gives us instruction,

guidance,

illustrations and examples

for us to learn from,

and then weave into our own lives.

As we heard Paul tell Timothy,

the written Word of God is inspired by God,

not static words dead on the page,

but words made alive by the very breath of God

to guide, goad, and shepherd us.

They are words, in Paul tells us,

“useful for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness,

so that everyone who belongs to God

may be proficient,

equipped for every good work.”

“Useful” words,

useful for teaching,

useful for learning,

useful to guide us as we live our lives.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul’s words this way:

“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed

and useful one way or another—

showing us truth,

exposing our rebellion,

correcting our mistakes,

training us to live God’s way.

Through the Word we are put together

and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”

God’s Word, God’s words, teaching us.

They are words as alive as we are,

words we are called to read,

study,

learn from;

not memorize

as much as internalize,

to make a part of our lives.

We are to read

and then figure it out.

        

When the Prodigal returns to his father, for example,

and his father welcomes him with such joyful love,

what’s the lesson for you in your life,

for me in my life?

That perhaps we too, like the father

are to forgive, forget,

welcome;

That we too like the older brother

should let go of grudges, anger; bitterness;

That we too like the prodigal

can never stray so far from God

that we won’t be welcomed back joyfully,

without hestitation, without question.

When we read words that seem so out-of-date,

like “women should be silent,”

what are we to do with them?

Ignore them?

Stand by them firm and unyielding?

Things change over time –

how should our understanding of God’s word change?

The word disciple comes from a Latin root

that means “learner”: one who learns.

As disciples, we are called to learn,

to work at learning,

to figure things out

all of us together,

with God’s help through the Holy Spirit.

We don’t teach dogma in our classrooms;

Dogma is a word that suggests creeds,

absolute statements:

“you must believe this,

you must accept this as church teaching.”

The irony is that we probably do teach dogma,

because the root for the word

comes from the Latin

that means “think.”

God wants us to think;

Jesus wants us to think;

that’s why our Lord taught

through parables and stories.

If there is an absolute that we teach

it is that grace and love

are the beginning and the end of what we learn,

the alpha and omega of our learning,

as we follow the one who is the alpha and omega,

the grace and love of God

revealed in Jesus Christ.

“Beware that no one leads you astray,”

warns our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Mark 13:5)

Beware of myths,

misinformation,

lies

that are all around us,

including the church.

                                            

Come learn;

Come and learn with open mind, open heart.

Come and learn from the One who teaches us

compassion,

patience,

acceptance,

kindness,

mercy.

Come and learn from

the One who teaches us nothing about winning or losing,

but everything about serving.

Come and learn from the One

who teaches us grace,

the One who teaches us love.

Come…

learn.

AMEN  

Roll Up Your Sleeves

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

September 11, 2016: Genesis Sunday

Roll Up Your Sleeves

1 Peter 1:13-16

“Therefore prepare your minds for action;

discipline yourselves;

set all your hope on the grace

that Jesus Christ will bring you

when he is revealed.

Like obedient children,

do not be conformed to the desires

that you formerly had in ignorance.

Instead, as he who called you is holy,

be holy yourselves in all your conduct;

for it is written,

‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

(NRSV)

***********************************************

Faithful? — Yes

Religious? — Probably.

Spiritual? — Maybe.

Holy? — That’s a tough one.

Holy.

Mother Teresa – she was holy.

Monks cloistered in monasteries,

they are holy.

But ordinary folks like you and me?

Are we holy?

Can we be holy?

And yet, Peter is telling followers of Christ—

and that includes you and me—

to be holy.

Peter is not setting a new standard;

No, he’s quoting Scripture,

words from the Old Testament,

the Book of Leviticus,

words that came straight from the mouth

of the Lord God:

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

(Leviticus 19:2)

What is it to live a holy life?

Is it being more faithful?

More religious?

More spiritual?

Does it require

at least an hour a day in prayer,

two hours a day studying Scripture,

attendance in church every Sunday,

vacations spent in service or on retreat?

God, as always, helps us.

God sees to it that there is no mystery

to what it means to live a holy life.

After all, the first group of people

who were called to live holy lives

were the children of Israel

called to live holy lives

even as they followed Moses

through the wilderness.

God laid out rules for living a holy life

in the Book of Leviticus,

and if we were going to try to

summarize those rules,

generalize them,

to try to help us understand

what was on God’s mind

as God called his children to holiness,

we would say that the holy life is one spent

building community:

All God’s children in communion with one another.

So, some of the rules are quite practical

for building a community:

Don’t steal from one another;

In your business dealings, don’t cheat,

don’t cut corners;

Don’t mock a person because

they are deaf, blind

or have other physical challenges;

Take care of those who have needs,

especially the hungry;

don’t harvest your field to the very edge,

but always leave a portion

for the poor and the alien.

Welcome the alien and the foreigner,

they are part of community, too.

Don’t seek vengeance for a wrong done you,

revenge just leads to a cycle of violence

that never ends.

Don’t bear a grudge.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

(Leviticus 19:18)

Yes, that teaching is found in the Old Testament,

in a book that dates to time

more than a thousand years

before the birth of our Lord.

They are words we know well from our Lord Jesus,

who spoke them, taught them,

to reinforce what God wants from us:

community,

community.

Paul understood this.

That’s why we heard in last week’s lesson

Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians,

“Do not seek your own advantage,

but that of the other.”

(1 Corinthians 10:24)

and his reinforcement of the point

in his letter to the Philippians:

“Let each of you look not to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.

Let the same mind be in you

that was in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 2:5)

Diana Butler Bass,

who we will be privileged to welcome next March

as part of our 150^th anniversary celebrations,

has written in “Grounded”, her most recent book,

that we have substituted “tribalism” for “community”;

that rather than building community

we’re inclined to gather with others who look like us,

think like us,

reflecting our own wants and desires.

But, Bass reminds us,

the goal of religion should be

to stop “tribal tendencies”

because they don’t build community;

they tend instead to divide, separate,

set apart.

        

What we want to think of as community,

she writes,

becomes “isolated behind the walls of buildings

where member’s tastes and preferences”

become paramount.

She reminds us that the word “religion”

means to bind together,

to form community.

But somewhere along the way,

religion “abandoned a prophetic and creative vision

for humanity’s common life.”

Bass concludes “In the Bible,

the vision is of mutuality,

friendship, creativity,

conviviality, and generosity….

It is a vision of a universal feast,

a cosmic table around which

all humankind is gathered

to eat and drink and dance with God.”

We get a glimpse of that life

each time we gather here at this Table,

where we gather, all of us,

a diverse group sharing a common faith;

a diverse group bound together by the Word,

all of us eager to grow in holiness,

a community called to reflect not our tastes,

our preferences, our wants, our desires,

but the grace and love of God

revealed in Jesus Christ.

Bass quotes the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

who wrote,

“We have inherited a large house,

a great ‘world house’ 

in which we have to live together

—black and white,

Easterner and Westerner,

Gentile and Jew,

Catholic and … Lutherans, 

Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists..., 

Moslem and Hindu—

a family unduly separated in ideas,

culture and interest,

who, …must learn somehow

to live with each other in peace.”

This Table helps us to learn how to live in peace;

helps us to learn how to welcome

all those seated with us,

no one privileged,

all together,

barriers we are so quick to erect in life

torn down,

erased by grace and love;

a Table where there is always a place

for the newcomer.

So come to this Table,

this communal table,

where all are invited

by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Come, eat, be renewed, refreshed

after a long hot summer.

And then, when the meal is over,

as our text teaches us:                              

“…roll up your sleeves,

put your mind in gear,

…Don’t slip back into those old grooves …,

doing just what you feel like doing.

…As obedient children,

let yourselves be pulled into a way of life

shaped by God’s life,

a life energetic and blazing with holiness.”

 (The Message)

Let us pray through the familiar words of St. Francis:

“Lord, make us all instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console.

To be understood, as to understand.

To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.”

And, we will add,

it is in building community

that we become holy.

AMEN

I Can If I Feel Like It

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

September 4, 2016

I Can If I Feel Like It

1 Corinthians 10:23-24

“All things are lawful,”

but not all things are beneficial.

“All things are lawful,”

but not all things build up.

Do not seek your own advantage,

but that of the other. (NRSV)

********************************************

It’s odd, to say the least –

the circumstances surrounding

Paul’s words from our text.

Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth,

a town in Macedonia,

modern Greece,

just across the bay from Athens.

Corinth was a crossroads

between Rome and points east;

a place where people lived,

but also a place through which people traveled:

sailors, traders, merchants, pilgrims.

Corinth was cosmopolitan,

diverse,

a rich, heady stew of Roman, Greek, Jew,

Egyptian, Persian, Nubian—

people from every corner of the known world.

There were temples for every god,

every faith,

every belief:

Roman gods,

Greek gods,

Egyptian gods;

Differences were tolerated –

everyone managed to get along

side by side.

Animal sacrifice was something the temples

had in common – it was standard practice,

and after an animal was sacrificed,

the meat wasn’t burned on an altar;

it was sold in the marketplace,

sold through the local butchers whose shops

congregated near the many temples.

And it’s from this practice

that came the question

Paul sought to address in the chapter

our lesson comes from.

Corinthian Christians wanted to know

whether they could they eat meat

that had been sacrificed in a pagan temple.

Could they buy and eat the meat of an animal

that had been part of a sacrifice,

part of worship offered to a pagan god:

Zeus, Jupiter, Venus, Bacchus, Osiris?

The Corinthians also wanted to know

what to do if friends invited them to dinner

and served them meat

that had come from a pagan sacrifice.

Should they eat what their hosts offered

or should they risk offending their hosts

and refuse what they considered to be tainted meat?

To us, these seem like silly questions,

but Paul was glad to respond.

And he made it simple for the Corinthians:

go ahead and eat.

Meat was meat; the source didn’t matter,

since ultimately it came from God’s hand.

That was Paul’s rationale.

Paul knew, though, that many Corinthians

had already decided

that they were going to go ahead

and eat whatever they were offered,

with no concern for the source,

and they weren’t interested in Paul’s logic.

They were going to do what they wanted to do

regardless of what Paul might have to say to them.

They were going to do what they felt like doing.

In Corinth everyone did as they pleased.

Everyone lived by their favorite Corinthian maxim:

“All things are permissible for me”.

Their theme song would have been Cole Porter’s,

“Anything Goes.”

And this is what Paul really sought to address

as drilled down deeper into the mindset of

those first followers of Christ in Corinth.

In his response, Paul acknowledged the maxim,

acknowledged it and did not try to refute it

or challenge it,

the idea that each person was free to do

as she or he chose.

Rather, as we heard in our lesson,

Paul said, “Yes, you are right –

you are free to do as you please,

do as you choose,

do whatever you want to do.

But, think things through first,

think carefully,

because while you can do whatever

you feel like doing,

while it may be lawful,

while it may be your right,

it may not be a good thing for you to do.

It may not be beneficial,

it might not be constructive.

Now, Paul was not trying to come down hard

on the Corinthians

anticipating some 19^th century Victorian moralizer,

telling the faithful,

“Don’t drink,

don’t smoke,

don’t swear,

don’t dance,

don’t gamble,

don’t play cards,

don’t have fun of any kind.”

No, what Paul wanted the Corinthians

to think about it was,

how did what they wanted to do build up,

how was it constructive,

how was it beneficial,

and not just for the individual,

but for the larger community.

This is what Paul was trying to get

the Corinthians to think about.

He wanted them to understand that as Christians

they were part of community,

and they had a responsibility

to the larger community

“Do not seek your own advantage,”  Paul wrote,

“but that of the other.”

Or, for those of you who are reading through

the NIV translation we are using for

the Year of the Bible,

“No one should seek their own good,

but the good of others.”

(NIV)

Even when something was lawful,

an obvious right.

Community needs should come first,

individual wants,

desires should come second.

For Paul, this was such an important lesson

for Christians to understand, to absorb,

to weave into their lives,

to make a part of their lives

that he said it twice in his letter –

first in chapter 6

and then again in chapter 10 in our lesson.

We celebrate individualism in our society,

and we are schooled in the mindset,

“It’s my right

so I’ll do whatever I feel like doing,

I’ll do whatever I want”,

in much the same way

the Corinthians were 2000 years ago.

And Paul would respond to you and me

in the same way

he responded to the Corinthians.

“Sure, it is your right;

You’ll get no argument there:

you are free to do

just what you tell me you want to do.”

“But, how is it beneficial,

how is it constructive;

How is helpful,

not just to you,

but to the community of disciples

you are part of.

How does it build community,

the community of Christians?”

In many other states,

it is illegal to talk on your cellphone

unless you are using a headset or

your car’s hands-free Bluetooth set-up.

But here in Virginia,

you can hold your phone in one hand

while you drive your car.

You can, as I have seen too many times,

hold your phone in one hand

even as you drive your massive truck,

steering and shifting gears

through heavy traffic.

Legal? Yes.

Your right? Yes,

But is it beneficial,

constructive,

good for the larger community?

In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrasing of our text

in the Message, Paul’s words come out this way,

“Looking at it one way, you could say,

“Anything goes. …

But the point is not to just get by.

We want to live well;

but our foremost efforts should be

to help others live well.”

(The Message)

And isn’t that what Jesus teaches us:

“to help others live well”

so we can all live well together?

Isn’t that Kingdom living,

reflecting the Kingdom of God?

Isn’t that what building a society

on a foundation of love is all about?

Paul comes back to this notion

in his letter to the Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility regard others

as better than yourselves.

Let each of you look not to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.

Let the same mind be in you

that was in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 2:3-5)

Let the same mind be in you

that was in our Lord Christ Jesus,

who always put the needs of others

before his own needs,

even to the point of death on the cross

for you and for me.

American Airlines has launched a

rather interesting new ad campaign,

built on the theme,

“The world’s greatest flyers, fly American.”

Now flying has become a sharp-elbowed,

take-no-prisoners, unpleasant way to travel,

where rudeness abounds.

American is trying to change that

by saying that those who fly on American

are polite, civil,

respectful of others,

ceding the armrest to the person

stuck in the middle seat,

sharing space in the overhead bin,

asking seatmates before raising or lowering

the window shade.

Everyone trying to make the flight

as pleasant as possible

for everyone else,

including the airline’s crew.

Commenting on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians

one biblical scholar wrote,

“Love calls for people

to seek the good of another;

this is not an option,

it is basic faithful living.

The love of others should be at the center

of one’s purpose.

Paul’s conviction is that when one

looks to the interests of others

then one’s own interests are taken care of.”

As Paul teaches us as he concluded his letter

to the Corinthians,

we can have all our rights,

our privileges,

our power,

but if we don’t have love, we are nothing,

nothing more than noisy gongs,

clanging cymbals.

Love, which doesn’t insist on its rights;

love, which bears all things,

endures all things.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians

to teach them a different way,

a different way to live, to go through life.

Paul teaches you and me the same lesson:

“All things are lawful,”

but not all things are beneficial.

“All things are lawful,”

but not all things build up.

Do not seek your own advantage,

but that of the other

…the point is not to just get by.

We want to live well;

but our foremost efforts should be

to help others live well.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN