Head and Heart: This is Us--A Sermon on Inclusion--Everybody!

photo by Dawn (Willis) Manser / flickr

Sitting in my den, half-watching TV a commercial came on from the YMCA. A voice simply asked: “How do we get back to us?” Good question

And it’s an old question. How do we get back to us? When Paul wrote the letter we now called Ephesians he didn’t write just to one church but to all those little tiny house churches scattered all over that part of the world. Paul had spent three years in Ephesus as their Pastor. And he moved on and when we come to this letter, Ephesians some scholars think he wrote it from his prison cell in Rome. We are not sure. We do know that there, toward the end of his ministry after he had criss-crossed the country preaching and listening and dealing with all sorts of problems—much like ours--he saw a very troubled world. It was just a mess.

And I think he wrote to help bring some order in a very troubled world. He tells us in the tenth verse of his first chapter. Listen” “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will…as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.” To bring together all the fractured, divided parts. That’s was God’s dream for us all.

Paul looked out on a world much like our own. There were not many us-ses. Church even then was divided. Converted Jews that followed all the rules—and these Gentiles that some were inviting into the church. Some even said they could join. There were the cursed Samaritans that nobody liked—and into the church the lines were clearly drawn: the Jews that felt every Christian had to be circumcised and the Liberals who felt like, well—you do not have to be circumcised if you were a Gentile. So into the church poured all these divisions: worship problems…moral problems…who was the best preacher they had ever had and why couldn’t they get somebody like that again. Outside their doors there was cursed Rome that it's their thumb on anything Christians tried to do. If they found out you would not say Caesar is Lord—why you could not only lose your job but your very life. Us—where was the us? The us seemed to have fallen through the cracks.

And Paul sitting in that jail cell far away in Rome had a lot of time to think about the mess his world was in. And so he sat down and began to write to all those little fragile churches. “Remember…”he began. “that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called the uncircumcision—remember at that time you were without Christ. Aliens…Strangers…outsiders—having no hope and without God in the world.”

Their Temple was a symbol of their divisions. There was the Outer Court where anybody could wander in and out. Even Gentiles. There was another wall erected and only Jewish women and men could come in. Though no man in his right mind would be caught dead in the women’s section. And closer in was the Men’s section. Reserved of course for only Jews. And if that was not enough—there was another wall where only the Priests could go. It was the Holy of Holies. Nobody, but nobody could enter except a priest. And if you tried to enter you would be killed.

photo by numb3r / flickr

There were a lot of them’s. And that was the problem. Nobody, but nobody wanted to be a them. An outsider. And alien. A stranger. Ever felt that way? We all have. Growing up in that little cotton mill village when we got to High School somebody would say: “Don’t you live in a mill village?” Or “What does your Daddy do?” Or “How does it feel not to have a car and have to ride the bus everywhere?” And you would mutter something. But you would feel like an outsider. And if you happened to be black or not too pretty or have some kind of physical defect—well, that settled it. Maybe you couldn’t play football. Maybe you got passed over for Cheerleader. You felt like a loser. A term we’ve heard lots these last few years.

We’ve got a whole lot of people that feel left out today. Liberals…and Conservatives…and women hit on…and men who feel they don’t have a chance…and Democrats and Republicans…and Foreigners…Immigrants…gays…folks on food stamps…not to speak of those who went to college and those who had to go to work after High School. We’re pretty good at making a list of who’s in and who’s out. And nobody but nobody wants to be left out.

You take every one of those who took a gun and wounded and killed so many. The list seems to go on and on. Pittsburg…California…Parkland…Orlando. Charleston. They were all loners and they just exploded. Maya Angelou expressed it this way:

“Lying, thinking

Last night

How to find my soul a home

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone

I came up with one thing

And I don’t believe I’m wrong

That nobody

But nobody

Can make it out there alone.”

And so many of us feel that way. James McBride once took our pulse and wrote: “I can’t remember a time where people are afraid to speak how they feel. I cannot remember a time, “ he said, “when people were actually afraid to ask someone what party they belonged to or who they voted for.”

I heard Andrew Young tell this story in Birmingham He said that there was an old farmer who had two roosters that he wanted to fight in the cock fight down the road. So he trained them and one morning he put both of them in a cage and shoved them into the back of his truck and headed for the cock fight. He said when he got there he pulled the pen out of the back and he couldn’t believe it., Both roosters were dead. He said, “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. The only thing in this cage are blood and feathers. They killed each other off. They didn’t know they were both on the same side.”

This is what Paul was trying to say to his world. All of us really are on the same side.

“When are we going to get back to us?” Good question.

Read Paul’s letter. He didn’t stop with Aliens and strangers and those who had no hope. No. This was the vision he threw out to all of them. And nobody was left out. “So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.”

Folks, this is the good, good news. He took the circle which for all of us is too little and tiny and small-minded. And God stretched it and stretched it and stretched it until everybody was included and nobody was left out. Reckon God got a little carried away?

God knows we have all felt at some time or other like strangers and aliens. Outsiders looking through plate-glass window on what is going on the inside. Terrible feeling.

Not having enough money. Getting a divorce. Having a child that broke your heart. Ashamed. Embarrassed. Hoping you don’t see anybody at the grocery store. Being sick with something that might not have a cure. All your hair gone. Wearing a wig. Being old and looking at those 24 year old Doctors and Policeman. Some of you know how it makes you feel. And Paul had a word for all of us that feel this way. And that word, believe it or not was us. Yes—us. Us.

Listen: you are no longer stranger and aliens and outsiders but members of the household of God. I love the way I Peter 2.10 puts it: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

That’s a tall order folks. To transcend barriers in this world. Seems well-nigh impossible, Did you know that we are up 17% in hate crimes in 2017? Paul. I just don’t know. You see I want everybody to be like me. Or at least vote like me. I’d like everybody to pull for Clemson. I keep asking: What in the world is wrong with these people?

But the old question lingers: When are we going to get back to us?

It’s our job. Yours and mine. This little light of mine…I’m going to have let it shine…have to let it shine…have to let it shine. Even on all those that I am not all that sure of. God promised peace to those far off and those near. And I don’t care how you feel today or what you brought in here with you—the good, good news is that He promises peace. Not answering all our prayers. Not working it out the way we want. But despite it all—when we lay down at night—Paul said he wants us all to know peace. A peace that passes all understanding. Settling down on you and me like a down comforter.

photo by Richard Feliciano / flickr
Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson

Let me tell you of a victory that many people never heard. It took place in Cincinnati in 1947. Jackie Robinson had been hired as the first black player to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. And you can imagine the reaction in 1947 of people in this country. Whew! And many in the country were furious. Furious. Civil rights was a cuss word for so many people.

Robinson had to suffer many death threats. And when the team stopped at mainline hotels to spend the night Jackie had to find another place. And when he came up to bat day after day fans yelled terrible things at him. And some spit and some even threw bottles. He was scared for his life. But he stood there alone. Saying not a word.

One Southern-born Dodger named Dixie Walker hated Robinson and turned his back every time Robinson came out on the field. Many of the players felt the same way and weren’t quiet about it. But there was another player the Team Captain—Kentucky-born Pee Wee Rees—would not turn his back on Robinson. So one night in Cincinnati

photo by Rogelio A. Galaviz / flickr

many in the crowds were yelling at Jackie and calling him everything. As he fielded grounders Pee Wee Reese strolled out across the infield. He started whispering to Jackie for a few minutes. The crowd grew quiet. The players just looked. And then the strangest thing happened: Pee Wee put his arm around Jackie’s shoulder quietly sending a message to fans and players and sportswriters. Jackie Robinson went on to become one of the great baseball players of all time. Reckon the Clemson football team could have won the National Championship without heroes like Jackie Robinson?

I don’t know who it is you need to put your arm or shoulder around. In this church or in the world. And keep faith with what Paul said. But that’s our job. And if we will all do that it would change the picture of this country and I think, in time, the world.

And this is how we get back to us.