January 30, 2005

Good Words, Good Deeds

by Julianne Stokstad

It's only been just a month since I began as Pastor here and now my friends and colleagues ask me whenever we meet, so how is it going? All I can say is Great! I am so deeply grateful and joyful. My joy isn't a cheap kind of thrill or superficial satisfaction, but rather something bubbling up, like from an artesian well from a deep well inside me. I'm not giggling all the time but what I do feel is a deep peace and as I said, I find myself being extraordinarily grateful for each day. "Oh", my friends say," it's the honeymoon." Maybe, so, I don't know, but I do know that what I am experiencing is a great big blessing from God. I hope I can keep this joy for a long long time.

We get used to things and soon begin to take them for granted. We can even forget the blessings we have. How many of us are grateful for health, safety, and the extraordinary abundance in our lives? How many are truly grateful for this community? I hope we can help each other remember our blessings.

Awareness of God's blessings is the foundation of a good life and that is what our scriptures today are about. The Bible teaches when you're in right relationship with God you have a deep happiness and well being and joy that comes from deep inside which are not dependent on the circumstances in which you find yourself. Interestingly, the Greek word translated as blessing, markarios, is a very special word that means a perfect godlike joy, untouchable and beyond life circumstances.

As our gospel from Matthew begins, Jesus has been preaching the kingdom of God and healing everywhere in Galilee. Great crowds have gathered to listen to Jesus. He sat down and began to teach them. But what he said isn't what they or we expect to hear. The Beatitudes shock us. How can the least likely, the weak, the suffering, the grieving, and the very ones who aren't making it, be blessed? What about suffering being punishment for sinning? It's like saying the poor ragged homeless drug user is special and blessed by God. It just seems backwards. That is exactly Jesus' point that society's values of power, prestige and position don't bring us closer to God, but rather separate us from God, feeding our ego not our soul.

The Beatitudes tell us the kingdom is right here when we are in relationship with God. We all are blessed, because of God's amazing love. It's not an if-then thing: if you do this, then God will love you and do that for you. It's about God's unconditional love for us. When we know God's love, then because we know it, we want to do what is right, we want to make peace, and we want to help others and it really doesn't matter what else is happening with us. Being happy, living a good life, depends upon our right relationship with God. But these blessings mean little unless we remember them each moment and act accordingly out of a response to God's love for us.

The prophet Micah said a similar thing to the errant Jews of Judah hundreds of years before Jesus. Micah asks God so what is it You really want from us? God doesn't want first born children or ten thousands barrels of oil, what God wants from us is answered in my very favorite Bible verse, Micah 6:8.

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Simple, clear rules for the good life that demand over-coming self-centeredness and selfishness to be in relationship with God. To live a truly joy-filled blessed life God must be at the center, not ourselves. The great expectations of God are: for us TO DO JUSTICE in our outward actions.

TO LOVE KINDNESS AND GENTLENESS in our thoughts;

And TO HAVE HUMILITY BEFORE GOD in our hearts.

It is a big challenge to have balance in our outer actions and inner thoughts and hearts. We can all think of examples of someone out of balance. It is much easier to see this in someone else. Someone so certain of doctrines, liturgies and what is right for everybody that all can see arrogance and a lack of humility. Or have you known justice workers so filled with anger that they caused more harm than good to those they are earnestly trying to help. Or have you known a church member who just burned out? Burnout happens when there is too much action demanded and not enough prayerful filling of the spirit. It is a clear sign of being out of balance.

When we have balance our words are reflected in our deeds. We have an integrity all can see. Balance sounds so simple, but it isn't. The problem is people don't agree on how these instructions are to be lived out. Good people differ because there is not just one way to live a good life, with God at the center.

What we need is self-awareness and it comes slowly. Self-interest so often blocks our balance. We know about un-intended consequences of actions intended to help, another sign of a lack of self-awareness. It has taken me an extraordinarily long time in my life to gain a measure of self-awareness, to begin to see in my actions and myself what others might see. I remember clearly a class long ago where my geography students were giving oral reports. One girl after her report came up after class apologizing profusely, saying how sorry she was her report was so awful. I remember being very confused because she had given an excellent report. She said to me, "You were frowning at me the whole time I spoke." I was shocked and told her the truth, if I frowned, which I wasn't aware I was doing, it was because I have a terrible headache. How many students had I unintentionally discouraged? I became a bit more self-aware about how my actions affected another.

Here in this church there is a wonderful history of good words and good deeds. You walked the talk Jesus was talking about in the 1970's when you built Pilgrim Park, providing desperately needed low cost housing right here on your own property. I find this a truly wonderful Christian action. In the 1990's when you voted to become Open and Affirming congregation, you actively stated your acceptance of all people. I am so happy you are because I have never understood how any Christian could ever refuse or reject another person especially in a church. In the late 1990's Every Dollar Feeds Kids was formed and you joined together with other congregations to support a program in Cuernavaca, Mexico dedicated to helping feed hungry children. Alan Miller tells me EDFK has recently received non-profit status. The very large amount raised by this little church is astounding to me. I've never seen a group where so many people quietly do so many things to help others in our world.

And now there are future challenges ahead. Here we are, the wonderful little church on the hill, how do we shine our light into the world? How do we witness in our community? How do we decide what is the best use of our resources for the greatest common good. I know that I want whatever we do to bring us joy. I want us to be alive in the Spirit here, with a balance in our lives.

I want to end with Eugene Peterson's translation from the Message of the Micah passage: "God has already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love and don't take yourself too seriously. Take God seriously." May it be so with us. Amen.