Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Unexpected Treasures: Hey You Guys!

When I lived elsewhere, there was this guy.  He was a friend of a friend and I could not stand him.  We had spent enough time around each other that I believed that we had nothing in common.  His name had syllables that echoed a name for the Devil, and I confess that I referred to him that way more than once.  However, for today I will call him, Mouth.  I disliked Mouth so much that on a World Cup afternoon, when the café I was at was packed to the brim, when I had a seat right in front of the screen, noticing Mouth coming in the door, I put my head down, and wished that he would not notice me.  I figuratively walked to the other side of the road.

We spent the week diving into the Good Samaritan who is the outcast, the unwelcome stranger who is the most unlikely hero, the unexpected bearer of grace who carries a beaten man to safety.  We explored how God has already gifted us with everything we need for the rescue of the whole creation, it is already here, often in unexpected people like us, and waiting to be revealed and put to good use.  We also strangely enough, spent the week following the Goonies.  A group of outcast teens who are about to lose their homes.  They were looking for rescue, they were hoping to save their neighborhood.  And we met Sloth, a beaten and deformed and uncared for man who calls out to them, an unlikely superperson.  Hey you guys!

So these Goonies teens, they followed a whispered rumor of treasures underground.  Those Goonies were just kids, however they dared greatly and entered into the adventure of hope. They went through dark tunnels,  full of booby traps and dangers.  They find their strength in each other, they find that there is something that matters more than their pain.  The Goonie journey is a metaphor of bold trust, transformation of hearts, and a metaphor for the treasures that await when we step out with the trust of a child.  It is amazing what big whole hearted love can do.  It is stunning what daring to welcome a stranger can do.  Loving the hard to love neighbor is a treasure that can heal, loving the scary creature is a gift that can feed, loving the outcast is a holy blessing. 

The treasure that waits right underneath our feet is the good news that Christ is a gift for us.  Jesus wants us to shout love and whisper kindness and live his call to love the whole neighborhood.  Jesus invites us to embrace his whole life in the center of our being.  He wants for us to discover the gifts of love that are already present, precious jewels in us and all around us, priceless good news which can shine bright enough to transform all the dark tunnels we find ourselves in.  These Goonie friends rescued one another, liberated a broken stranger, and in so doing rescued their neighborhood.  Jesus calls to us in his parable, calls to Go and Do Likewise.  Go Love God with all we have.  Go Love All People as Much As God Loves Us.  Go Rise By Lifting Others.  Go Be a Gift Giver.  Go Pay Attention, because treasures come in the most unexpected ways.  

So my friend of a friend, the one I am calling Mouth, the one I needed lots of help learning to love, one day he surprised me.  We were chatting at one more gathering of mutual friends, and I was hoping for social rescue.  Somehow the topic of the Governor came up.  And he said, ‘I just love that woman’.  I knew enough about Mouth to know that his political opinions didn’t jive with anything she ever did or said.  So my ears perked up and my lips uttered the word ‘Really???’ ‘Yeah’, he said.  ‘I don’t like her policies, but one day last year I decided to pray for her. Everyday. So I do. And man, I gotta tell you, I love that woman.  I don’t like her choices, I ain’t gonna vote for her, but I love that woman.’ So here was this guy, who I derided and avoided the company of, showing me how to truly love the other as Jesus commands us to.  Showing me how to heal.  Unexpected treasures, right in front of me. 

The question posed to Jesus is ‘how do we find union with God, how do we make God’s reign real on earth and in our lives?’  His answer is by loving God with all your heart, and loving all your neighbors as much as God loves you.  All of them.  Sometimes our rescue comes in unexpected treasures and unfriendly faces.  Hey You Guys…Go! Love, Serve, Heal, Pray… and Wake the World!

Camp Cross Closing Eucharist
August 6, 2016


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