The Gospel
Originally Preached 11.27.11 in Redding,CT
Proverbs 14:29-31; James 1:19-21 I’m going to start my sermon with a story about the day I fell in love with this congregation. It was a Friday evening last summer. I sat at one of those round tables in Fellowship Hall with the delightful people on the search committee. There was a lot of laughter, there was a lot of camaraderie, there was a lot of God. I haven’t felt that at home at any church since I was in high school. So there I was, late on a Friday night, driving back to Boston on route 90 East. It was about midnight, so I was expecting to easily glide back home without a hitch, which was GREAT because I was TIRED. It was midnight, and I only had 15 miles to go, and all I wanted to do was to flop down on my bed and pass out. And that’s when that string of red tail-lights lit up in front of me. You know what, I’m talking about. You can see it 10 cars in front of you. One after another, after another light up all in a row. And out of nowhere, your speedometer drops from 70 to 20 to 5 to 0. Don’t you just hate it? Midnight on Friday! So close to home you can feel it! So tired you would do anything to roll out of the car onto your bed. And the traffic stops dead in its tracks. I was tired and my tired turned into annoyed, and my annoyed turned into frustrated and my frustrated turned into anger. I was ANGRY. Now I can’t be the only one in here who experiences this type of traffic rage. Anyone else? Who’s with me? I’m sure you’ve been there. At least I know I wasn’t the only angry one because when I looked over at the car next to me, I saw a young woman shouting.....and when I say she was shouting, I mean she was SHOUTING. I couldn’t hear her through the closed windows, but her entire body was screaming anger and her mouth was forming a slew of profanities and she was slapping her steering wheel as if hitting it hard enough would magically make all the cars disappear. But there we sat.....waiting.......angry.....helpless......isolated. This is a story about anger. Now there are many ways to deal with anger. Some people sit and quietly stew, some people direct their anger at steering wheels..........But Do you know what Jesus did, our moral exemplar, our Prince of Peace......Do you know what Jesus did when he got Angry?......................He grabbed a bullwhip and beat the heck out of some moneylenders until they fled the Temple, but that’s a story for another day. The point is this, When even Jesus exhibits a certain emotion, it helps us know that it’s okay to feel anger sometimes. But we can’t let anger be our first response. We see it throughout the Bible, “Be slow to anger.” Even in our readings for today, be slow to anger. It doesn’t say, never be angry. But be slllllllllooooooow to anger. The problem is that anger can be a powerful emotion. The problem is that anger can be an easy first reaction. Anger is a powerful thing and it takes over quickly. In these days of economic hardship, it seems like anger is everywhere. Anger is in our politics, on our TVs, it’s out on the street, carrying signs in every major city in the US right now. Have you heard about the Occupy Wall Street movement? It’s a movement, a series of ongoing protests because people are angry at the way the poor have been mistreated. People are angry at the unjust system that corrupts our political process and increases the economic divide, and bankrupts our country financially and morally. And they should be angry. That’s exactly the issue that got Jesus worked up enough to grab a whip. But when large crowds get together carrying signs, anger can be a dangerously powerful thing. When large angry crowds get together they tend to shout things like “Crucify him!” Anger is a dangerous thing. I wonder if Scott felt anger. As he walked into the church, I wonder if Scott felt anger. As he walked through the protestors who were carrying signs of hate and blame and bigotry, signs that read “God hates you, Scott Anderson” ....... “You’re going to hell, Scott Anderson.” When Jesus was angry, he grabbed a bull whip. These days people make signs, and sometimes signs can do more damage than any bullwhip could ever do. As he walked through the crowd of hurtful signs, I wonder if Scott felt anger. This was his ordination day after all. This was supposed to be one of the most joyful occasions in his ministerial career. And yet here they were, about a month ago, even his fellow Presbyterians, standing outside his church in Madison, WI, shouting hateful words, angry words, because Scott was about to be the first openly gay minister ordained in the Presbyterian church. I wonder if Scott felt anger. Hear now the words of Proverbs and James: Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor God. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Over and over and over again in the Bible we see it written, “You must understand this, my beloved....be slow to anger.” It can be so easy to let anger be our first reaction. Amen? Anger even feels good sometimes, Amen? But when we are quick to anger, all of a sudden, anger controls you. Because anger only thinks of anger, and anger begets anger, begets more anger, and pretty soon anger has consumed your whole life. And the way we live our personal life resonates throughout all of Creation, and pretty soon, our world is ruled by anger. You can hear it in the TV pundits who would rather scream about “class warfare” rather than discuss significant proposed legislation. You can hear it in the TV preacher who blames our latest natural disasters on same sex marriage. It is shaping our nation. It is strangling our world. The protestors stayed throughout Scott’s ordination service. They carried their signs throughout the service. They shouted out hate, throughout the service. They could not be ignored. So naturally every person who spoke in the service, made mention of the protestors. They could have spoken in anger. But they refused to let anger rule their church. Here’s what they did. They didn’t pick up a whip and beat the Westboro protestors, although I’m sure they would have liked to. Instead, They prayed. They prayed for the well-being of the protestors, they prayed for themselves, for the healing of the Church, for the healing of the world, for the beautiful ministry of Scott Anderson. They prayed. And the anger melted away. And God filled their hearts with compassion. They prayed, and everything within them, and the whole Church around them changed forever. Often when we pray, we pray because we want God to hear our words and grant us our wish. We pray because we hope it affects the people we pray for. We pray because we want the impossible to happen. But more importantly, we pray because prayers change the person praying. We pray because prayer changes us. We pray because it takes away all of that anger, and puts compassion and love and empathy in its place. Whether or not our prayers work some sort of magic on the people we pray for, our prayers work miracles on ourselves. We pray because praying changes everything within us and around us for the better. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly. And so, in the midst of all of this anger on Wall Street, in the midst of people carrying sarcastic signs, in the midst of people angry about the inequities of this world, a group of young seminarians gathered together calling themselves “the Protest Chaplains.” They pour hot tea on chilly evenings, they pass out hundreds of granola bars a day both to protestors and cops, they hold nightly vespers and communion services open to all, and they pray. They pray with anyone and everyone, They pray with people who need a brief moment of sanctuary, with people who have lost everything, with people who have never had any exposure to religion before. They remind people that Jesus may have chased the moneylenders out with a bullwhip, but he also sat with them, and broke bread with them, and prayed with them. Amidst chants of “This is what democracy looks like,” The Protest Chaplains chant “This is what Christianity looks like.” Amidst signs that say “I won’t believe corporations are people until Texas executes one,” the Protest Chaplains carry signs that say “Blessed are the poor” and “Blessed are the Peacemakers.” Amidst anger, and pain, and suffering, The Protest Chaplains pray. They prayed, and everything within them and everything about the protest around them and everything about the world around them changed forever. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor God. Anger begets anger, begets anger. Anger thinks of nothing else but anger. And we completely forget those who are suffering around us. Our anger makes us forget the suffering of the poor and needy and lonely. Our anger insults our Maker. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, quick to prayer, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. I was fifteen miles from home. On route 90. And it was midnight. In watching the ridiculous display of anger from my neighbor, I started to realize the ridiculousness of my own anger. And having moved passed my self-centered frustrations, I started to put two-and-two together. It was midnight on a Friday. And there was only one thing that could cause the traffic to stop dead so suddenly. The traffic started moving past a faded, forest green sedan, flipped upside down, with all of its windows blown out. My anger melted into sorrow and empathy, compassion and love. I have to be honest here: I may be a minister, but I am not a praying man. Praying is the most difficult thing for me to do in my own spiritual life. But I am trying. And when I come across moments like this, moments when I don’t know what else to do. Moments where I don’t want anger to be my first response anymore, there is nothing I would rather be doing than praying. So, I said a little prayer for the driver who was whisked away by blasting sirens, and for the people who work 12-hour shifts at the hospital on a Friday night, and for the people on the scene, who worked so quickly to keep that highway safe, so that after only a five-minute delay, I was back on the road, headed for bed. It was awkward. It was informal. It was not the kind of poetic prayer you hear from Dean on a Sunday morning. But it was a prayer. When I reacted with anger, I was alone. I thought I was the one in need of God’s assistance. I was isolated by a wall of anger and all I could see was the inconveniences in my own life. Because all anger thinks about is anger, and anger begets anger, begets anger. When I reacted in prayer, my heart opened up to the suffering around me. When I prayed, I realized I was surrounded by blessings and a whole world of people in need. When I prayed I realized that this was not a time for anger, but a time for compassion, and love, and empathy. When I prayed, everything within me and everything around me changed for the better. It’s all the same, whether you’re in the car, the Church, or Wall Street. If we are quick to anger in the car, we will be quick to anger in our legislature. If we are quick to anger in our church, we will be quick to anger in our global problem-solving. What we do in the minor everyday details of our lives amplifies throughout the Universe. Amen? That’s what Church is for. This is where we practice being slow to anger, by being quick to prayer. We are a diverse community in a tight space. It’s easy to crash into each other. It’s easy to get angry at each other. It’s easy to be quick to anger. That’s what Church is for. This is where we practice being slow to anger, by being quick to prayer. So let’s start changing the world here. Let’s start changing the world now. Let’s start with me. In this, my first full sermon as your Associate Minister, I can already tell you I will make mistakes. I know this because I have already made mistakes. So I ask you to be slow to anger and quick to prayer. When I forget your name, forgive me. When I schedule an event at an inconvenient time, forgive me. When I misspeak and say something offensive, forgive me. Forgive me, and pray for me, because I will be praying for you. And in praying for each other, everything within us and the whole of Creation around us will change forever. When you see those red break lights lighting up, when you discuss politics and the economy, when someone is screaming hateful words at you, when you feel that familiar tug of anger...... Don’t grab the whip. Make a sign. Make a healing sign, a sign of God’s love, a sign of prayer, a sign that says “slow to anger, quick to prayer.” And when you’re done praying, and when you feel that anger melting away, and when you feel everything within you changing, there is only one word that will do............and that word is Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen......And the whole church said........
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