The Missing

This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday September 11, 2016, the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

There are certain Sundays pastors look forward to preaching, and certain Sundays we don’t. They vary from pastor to pastor of course. As for me, I believe this is the first time I have ever preached on September 11th. It’s not that I’ve avoided it in the past, and I might be wrong. If I did the sermon wasn’t memorable. This year is different for some reason.

Fifteen years ago I was sitting in a seminary classroom learning the Hebrew alphabet. At 9:30ish there was a commotion in the hall, but I thought nothing of it. Some classes let out at that time. It was louder than usual, and Prof. Rev. Dr. Kathryn Roberts did not take interruptions lightly, she took them personally. So I focused on the board instead of the distraction.

I went down to Financial Aid after class. That was when I first found out about what had happened in New York City. None of the computers at the seminary were powerful enough or fast enough to process video, except for the server room of course. So Financial Aid Director Glenna Balch and I listened on the radio. I told her this must have been what listening to “War of the Worlds” felt like, except this was really happening. Then I rushed back to our apartment where I found Marie in shock.

In New York City people started putting up signs almost immediately. There were flyers with people’s pictures everywhere asking “Have you seen…?” followed by somebody’s name. Pictures from people hoping, begging that someone might have seen someone else. Had a piece of news. Maybe a friend of a friend or something.

First responders, police, firemen, EMT’s, nurses, all sorts of people came out of the woodwork to make things better. They became helpers. Some became heroes. Some became fallen heroes. Some were looking for loved ones. Everybody was looking because it was the right thing to do.

The last missing person, Michelle Guzman McMillan became a survivor when she was pulled from the rubble at about 12:30 pm on September 12. That was more than 27 hours after the North Tower fell. Her office was in that tower on the 64th floor.

But I don’t have to tell a Sooner about any of this. A little over six years earlier, Oklahoma City had its own disaster at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. On April 19, 1995, a Ryder truck loaded up with fertilizer and diesel was dropped off and detonated in front of the Murrah building blowing the front third off of the building killing 168 people, 19 of whom were children under the age of six and wounding 800 more.

At 9:03 am, the first of over 1,800 911 calls were received by the OKC Emergency Medical Services Authority, but by that time, EMSA ambulances, police, and firefighters were already headed to the scene, because they heard the blast. People who had witnessed or heard the blast arrived to assist the victims and emergency workers soon after. Within 23 minutes of the bombing, the State Emergency Operations Center was set up, with representatives from the state departments of public safety, human services, military, health, and education. Assisting the them were agencies like the National Weather Service, the Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol, and the American Red Cross to find the lost, tend the wounded and recover the dead. Immediate assistance also came from 465 members of the Oklahoma National Guard, who arrived within the hour to provide security, and from members of the Department of Civil Emergency Management because heroes need heroes too.

The summer of 2002, the summer after 9/11, Marie and I stopped at the Oklahoma City National Memorial traveling from Austin to Kansas City. I’m getting choked up, forgive me. Two things left me raw, emotionally raw from the visit. The first was the 168 chairs on the lawn, each one bearing the name of one of the victims ripped from this life. Of course there was a special punch in the stomach for the 19 child sized chairs. The other was the chain link fence that still bore the flyers with people’s pictures everywhere asking “Have you seen…?” followed by somebody’s name. Pictures from people hoping, begging that someone might have seen someone else. Had a piece of news. Maybe a friend of a friend or something.

Brandy Ligon was the last person to go from missing to found from the Murrah building bombing. She was fifteen at the time. She was in the nursery and could hear children crying after the bombing. Of course she heard children stop crying too. She was saved thirteen hours after being listed among the lost.

This is the week when we read that a shepherd will leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep to return it to the flock. This is the week when we read that a woman will sweep her house until she has blisters on her fingers if it means finding a tenth of her wealth. Both then will call everyone they know to celebrate because what was missing, is now found.

Most pastors at this point in the sermon take apart the parable to make sense of it. I have preached this passage before and that’s what I did, but not this year. The usual lesson we take from this is that we are called to seek the lost to make life whole again.

But after considering 9/11 and 4/19, it hardly makes me think we will ever really feel whole again, not this side of glory.

This year I stopped reading the passage after verse two, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”
So why did I stop here?

These readings are about the missing, the lost. These two short parables preface the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s gospel, a story of a wayward son, but even more so, the story of a Father who longs for his son’s return.

These parables, the two we read today and the parable of the Prodigal, are about the missing which is found. So instead of saying we are called to seek the lost, which is surely true, let me say this instead, in Christ, we are never missing.

In Christ we are never missing.

So often, the Pharisees of this world look at those they call “sinners,” and call them the lost. They have left the fold. They are weak. They are soiled. They are unclean. They are broken. They allow themselves to be used. They point and ask “Where is God?” and the answer is found right here. God in Christ is right there, at the table, breaking bread with them.

I often talk about of our baptismal identity because baptism is the sacramental symbol that shows how Christ joins us. Being celebrated once, unless we make a real effort to remember our baptism, its importance wanes, and I want us to stem that tide, so I remind us to remember our baptism.

Today we look at the other sacrament we celebrate, the Lord’s Supper. Jesus feeds his disciples, his children, the missing and the lost of this world because we are all missing and lost. The Apostle Paul knew this, maybe a bit melodramatically he shares this with Timothy. For all of the good that Paul has done and for the status he holds, he knows that he has done horrible things and is a man of sin, not grace. Paul also knows and shares that salvation comes through grace alone, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He writes, “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

This grace comes not because of who Paul is or anything he did, but because of who Jesus is and what he does. Who is Jesus and what does he do? He is Immanuel, God with us, who comes and he sits with sinners, breaks bread and shares a meal. Through the Lord’s Supper, a meal only he can invite us to take and eat, we continue to share this meal.

In a few minutes, we will hear from Ashlyn Dillon who will tell us about her African mission trip last summer. This was not her first trip, and maybe not her last. The recurring theme I hear from missionaries is that when they return, their faith is stronger. I’m sure there are many reasons this could be, but I have a guess… I bet they sat down, shared a meal together, and discovered that in Jesus Christ, they weren’t among the missing anymore.

Amen.

The Test and the Tutor

This sermon was heard in Rossville, Indiana on Sunday February 28, 2016, the 3rd Sunday in Lent.

Isaiah 55:1-9
1Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

About twenty years ago, my wife Marie and I were involved with a Presbyterian Revival organization that went to local churches. We were blessed to visit churches in La Junta, Colorado and Papillion, Nebraska. On our first trip with this organization to La Junta we were making a planned stop at a nursing home visit to a woman who had lost nearly all of her hearing. Her daughter was there with her and explained that her mother would not be able to hear us, but she would tell her mother what was going on because they could still understand each other.

As we were getting ready to leave, Marie looked at me and said, “Well Paul, do you have a word of scripture before we go?” and frankly I didn’t. Instead of saying “Nope, what do you say we pray…” I silently prayed “Lord, I don’t have a word and I need your help here. Bless me with your word to share with your child.” So I opened my bible blindly. I opened a little more than three-quarters into my bible, knowing I would be in the New Testament, hopefully in the Gospels. Well, close, but no cigar. I ended up opening my bible to our reading from 1Corinthians. The heading at the top of the page, the one that gives the highlight of what’s happening on that page, read “Sexual Immorality.”

I’m sitting bedside of an 85 year old woman, in a nursing home, with her daughter, I pray for scripture, and I get “Sexual Immorality.” Thanks God, so glad to know you have such a wonderful sense of humor.

When I read the passages for this week’s sermon, that was my feeling. These are glorious pieces of scripture. All scripture, even the difficult and weird stuff is glorious. Our reading ends with God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength,” but who’s going to remember that when you begin with “Sexual Immorality?”The heat is on, when I’m preparing to share the Word of God in a place I hardly know, the lectionary gives me Sexual Immorality and the death of hundreds and thousands of people. It’s not what I wanted to see.

At least I know better than to ask, “O Lord, what am I going to do with this?” That’s the wrong question. The better question is “O Lord, how are you going to shape me, how are you going to shape your people for your word?” Those questions I asked, again and again.

As I already read, our gospel passage gives us not once but twice, “do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others…? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” This is the equivalent to reading “Sexual Immorality to an 85 year old woman. Yeah, sure, there is something there, there is wisdom in the passage, but you have to pray and work to find something.

One of the issues that all pastors face when interpreting scripture is how it is to be read, not only reading silently but aloud. Our bibles have all of this wonderful punctuation that didn’t exist in the original manuscripts. All of the commas and semicolons and periods are later additions. With translation and interpretation we often end up losing nuance too. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “even the funniest joke translated into King James English is destined to sound like Charlton Heston.”

In this case it is easy to read that Jesus is telling the people that unless they repent they will die the same miserable, horrible, tragic deaths that the people of Galilee and Jerusalem faced, not to mention those folks in 1Corinthians. When we read that we will die “just as they did” we might read that “we will die in a similar manner.” Do we fear this means our remains will be desecrated like Pilate desecrated the Galileans? Do we fear this means we will be crushed in the falling of a great tower, like what happened in New York City not fifteen years ago? If you read it this way you have achieved a faithful reading in English, but I don’t think that’s what the original text meant. I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant.

A better reading is that as they died, we too will die. It’s Ecclesiastes, “To everything there is a season/A time to live and a time to die.” It is a statement of fact more than it is a bold theological assertion. But that assertion comes with its own bold declaration.

In Christ’s baptism he identified with humanity. Even without sin he identified with the human condition. Being fully human and fully divine he embraced the words of the John Donne poem “No Man Is an Island:”

Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

I suggest this is what Jesus meant when he said “we too will die.” When we die, when anyone dies, a little bit of all humanity dies too. As humanity dies, the humanity of Christ suffers. The deity of Christ grieves.

So if this is what our death means to the Christ, what does it mean when Jesus says “unless we repent, as they died, we too will die.” If it doesn’t mean we will die facing the same earthly fate from Pilate or architecture, then what?

Repentance is an easy word, and a difficult concept. It means turn around. We have placed a lot of theological and cultural baggage on this word, but in its simplest form, all it means is turn around.
Yes, this turning means that we are to turn from our old ways, the ways of sin and death and toward the ways of new life. This is where we get to the “easier said than done” part of our program, isn’t it? I’ve always found it to be that way.

The parable of the man and the gardener gives us a wonderful example of moving on, changing, growing, or to use the image from John’s gospel, bearing good fruit. The parable reads: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. For three years he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to his gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still nothing! Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ The gardener replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year. Let me dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

There was the landowner, like a judge, like Pilate condemning the fig tree for not doing what fig trees are supposed to do. But the gardener knew better. He knew that if the tree received nurturing it would stand a better chance of reaping a harvest next season. He was prepared to tend the roots and the soil. He was ready to fertilize and water. He was ready to bring in the harvest the tree should be ready to produce. He was there to help. He couldn’t bear the fruit, but he could help in as many ways as possible.

This is something I read on the Internet, so you know it must be true. It’s attributed to a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a PC (USA) seminary:

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news and my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.

This Presbyterian Minister was the Rev. Fred Rogers, yes, that Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers, and he’s in accord with our parable’s gardener. When the fig tree, which often stood for Israel and Judah in Isaiah’s prophecy, when the fig tree faced sudden annihilation, the gardener was there to help. The tree has to bear the fruit, and the gardener does all he can to help it along.

This is the lesson of Mr. Rodgers too, when someone says he wants to rip you out of the soil, pray there is someone else nearby to help you grow into the tree you are meant to be. When it comes time to change behaviors in your life that need change, pray there is a helper there for you. Who are these helpers?

The first and most important helpers are parents. Believe it or not they have seen what you are seeing. It looked different when they saw it, I know, but they saw it. They want to help. You may have a big brother or big sister who is willing to help too. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, coworkers, all of these people can be helpers too. Of course your Pastor and Sunday School teachers want to help you too. There is nothing that any of us wants more than to see you grow into the best fig tree you can be.
In the case of the fig tree, to repent means to turn from a leafy tree and become a tree that bears good fruit.

Of course, the one who helps you and all of the helpers is our Lord Jesus Christ. We are all tested every day. There are little tests and there are big tests. There are tests that are pretty obvious and tests that are far more subtle. Tests that are overt and tests that are covert. Tests that are hidden like blood in wine and tests that fall literally like a ton of bricks. Praise God we have a tutor. Jesus who came as one of us. Jesus who is fully human. Jesus who is less when we fail because as John Donne says:

Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind

So sitting in a nursing home in La Junta, Colorado, opening my bible to “Sexual Immorality” and giving thanks to the Lord (more like “Gee, thanks God…”) I wondered “what next?” Next was on the facing page. That page was 1Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” I reminded her that to the glory of God, she taught her children to be imitators of Christ for the glory of God. Her daughter agreed and was preparing to tell this to her mother.

Hooray, something worth sharing! God is great! No sexual immorality and I don’t look like a complete fool saying “Nope, sorry honey, no scripture, let’s just pray this out and get going before the shadow of shame covers me completely.”

And then something amazing happened… This 85 year old deaf woman looked at me and said, “I always made sure we were in church so that they could learn what’s right.” By the grace of God, she heard what I said. It wasn’t because of my big voice, my fog cutter pipes. I had spoken earlier and she didn’t hear me. But when I read and God’s word was interpreted for her, she heard me. You should have seen the look of shock in her daughter’s eyes too, “Mom heard.” Praise God, we were all taken aback.

Lent is a time of reflection and repentance. It is a time to take stock and inventory. It is a time to see where we have come from and where we are going. It is a time to stop and if need be, it is a time to turn around.

For this woman in the nursing home in La Junta, her kids had many teachers, including the First Presbyterian Church of La Junta. They all had one tutor, the Lord himself. Many lessons were learned, and yes, I am quite sure the roots needed some tending and the tree needed some pruning; and good fruit was borne. There were figs aplenty. She was passing her test. Death would come; death, like life, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe that was the difference Jesus was talking about all along.

This Lenten season, let us reflect on that; stop, reflect, and ask what do I need to repent? What do we need to repent? And thank God we have a tutor to help us with the test to come.

Amen.

Homily for the Kuhn-Bankston Wedding

Cindy Kuhn and Michael Bankston entered into the covenant of marriage at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on December 12, 2012. This text and recording are just the scripture reading and homily. If you are interested in the full service, please contact Michael and Cindy through the church. Congratulations to you and your family on this glorious occasion.

Hear the Word of the Lord from the Book of Genesis, 2:4-7 and 18-24:

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

How many of you remember the 1970’s sitcom “All in the Family”? It has been on TV for so long it’s hard for me to believe the first-run shows went off the air when I was in high school, before you two were even born! Between TBS, TV Land, Nick at Night, and now Antenna TV—not to mention local channels showing reruns—there probably hasn’t been a time in the last 30 years that “All in the Family” was completely off the air.

Anyway, I wonder if you remember an episode when Archie was talking about how women were inferior to men using this passage from scripture. Archie railed on and on about how woman was just a helper. She is just a part of man. She is less because she was taken from a rib, which is a cheaper cut of meat. That is when the studio audience laughs at Archie’s bad theology and stubbornness.

I suspect we Texans also laugh knowing that with a good rub, proper smoking, and maybe a decent sauce, ribs are legendary! Those Yankees from New York City just don’t know the value of a slab or ribs.

I beg your indulgence, as members of this congregation Cindy and Michael know that I can wax poetic about the Old Testament text in its original Hebrew and that’s what I’m about to do. There’s a word in our reading, helper. It comes from the ancient word “ezer.” It’s where we get the word Ebenezer. It means, “The rock is a helper.” It’s where we get Gideon’s father’s name Eliezer, “My God is a helper.”

Other places in the bible use this word when two kings join together. They plan and fight great battles. They make right great wrongs. They share victory. They share. One King is not greater than another; they are equals among the greatest peoples in the world.

This word that we read as helper is hardly the submissive woman and cheap cut of meat Archie Bunker tells us about. The word we read as helper is not a servant, not someone who is a second to Adam’s first. She is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. They are a part of each other. The Lord created all sorts of companions for the man; but none were suitable, none were even close until the man was introduced to his ezer, his helper, his equal.

It has been an honor and a joy to meet with Cindy and Michael preparing for the wedding. They have taken time to talk about their hopes. They have talked about their dreams. They have shared what they pray for the future of their family, their wonderful blended family. They have shared dreams for each other. They have shared dreams for their children. They have shared their hopes for the future. They met as two people and now share these aspirations as partners, equals among great people. What’s the word? Ezer? Suitable partners.

Yes, when I look at Michael and Cindy I see suitable partners. Our lives are not Eden, not by any means. There are challenges. There are obstacles. Yet what do I see? I see a family and I see the glory of God. I see two loving parents. I see their kids. I see their family. I see their friends. In the midst of a world that is not Eden, I see love, faith, compassion, care, and joy. I see their joy in the Lord and in one another.

So friends, join Michael and Cinty, take a look at your family with you this evening. See your suitable partner. See your ezer. See the glory of God. And remember, like good ribs we must be seasoned properly, smoked just right—not too much heat, we don’t want anything to get burned— and maybe a little saucy…

Archie Bunker wasn’t much on good biblical theology or Texas Bar-B-Q. He would never consider that a rib is a suitable partner, it’s always at your side and it always protects your heart. Just a rib? Just a helper? Indeed, in Christ there is no such thing as “just.”

Let us pray…

Merciful and gracious God

who provides his children with their most suitable partner,

bestow upon Michael and Cindy your blessing;

granting them grace to fulfill with pure hearts and steadfast action

the vows and covenants they are about to take.

Guide them in the way of righteousness and peace

that loving and serving you with one heart and mind

they may be enriched by your everlasting love.

In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Buddy System

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday July 8, 2012, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Podcast of "Buddy System" (MP3)

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Psalm 48

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Mark 6:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

The last time I was in this chancel, at this pulpit, I told you all how good it was to be back again. Well, again, it’s good to be back again. This time we covered a little over 2,200 miles in six days, traveling 600 on the final day of the trip. It was hot, it was humid, it was long; but it could have been so much worse.

We were cutoff only once by a vacation home on wheels. I couldn’t count the number of speed checks we went through especially in Ohio. There were dozens of wrecks none of which involved us. Marie needed to get off the road about 20 miles north of Nashville and there we found out about a very bad accident that had closed the highway. Only because we pulled over did we take an alternate route and pay just $3.05 per gallon for gasoline. So yes, we were trapped in one interstate delay that took us 90 minutes to move 10 miles, but only one. I even hit a fresh semi-truck tire that didn’t destroy the undercarriage of the Xterra. All in all, we were blessed, it could have been much worse.

I mention this because worse almost happened last night in Longview. Somebody decided to pass between us and another vehicle when we were not a car length apart. So there I am; slamming on the breaks, weaving quickly into the left turn lane, and tossing Marie from side to side. We were safe, but it made me think about our trip again. It made me think about high school when I took driver’s education.

We were taught that when we drove, we should work toward one goal, drive so no one else has to adjust to my driving. Make it so no one has to swerve or slam on the breaks or make WARP speed because of my driving. This is the opposite of aggressive driving, driving like you are the only one on the road. Aggressive drivers drive like everybody better adjust. I was taught was to drive so nobody has to adjust.

I love the concept of defensive driving. My driving teacher taught us to drive like everyone else on the road is an idiot. Drive like nobody’s going to signal and if they do it’s because the signal has been on since the car left the factory. Drive like the person behind you doing 90 is going to cross four lanes of traffic to take the exit—barely making it. Drive like you’re on defense because you don’t know who’s drunk or stoned or on other drugs or smoking incense purchased from a convenience store. You know, the kind you find right next to the pipe cleaners.

What’s good about driving defensively is that you can’t overestimate the skill of the people on the road with you. You just can’t, so drive like everyone else is an idiot. The problem with this though is that you drive like you’re all alone in this world, you’re the only person in a world of zombies behind the wheel of a car. Living like we’re all alone is no way to live.

Don’t get me wrong, defensive driving is smart, but acting like everybody’s an idiot is an awful way to live.

I have heard people say that all they need in this world is “Me and Jesus.” That’s it, nothing else. Friends, we need to remember this, if we say we need only “Me and Jesus,” if we say that we don’t need anybody else in this world. If we say we are better off without other people then we do not know God’s truth.

Two weeks ago I began at the very beginning, Genesis 1. Today, I want to share something from the next chapter:

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

    for she was taken out of man. ”[1]

In Genesis it was clear to the Lord God that it is not good for us to be alone. When it becomes even more clear that beasts wild and domestic are not enough, the Lord God creates a suitable helper.

From the beginning, the Lord God understood that people were better when they lived in community than when living alone. The Lord God knows that the old “Me and Jesus” is not enough, we all need a suitable helper. We all need someone at our side. The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”[2] A suitable helper is vital to make our lives complete.

Jesus knew how important a companion was. When Jesus sent out the twelve, he did not send them out on their own; he sent them out in pairs. He sent them out two by two. He sent them out and gave them authority over evil spirits. They took nothing but their staffs, sandals, and the clothes on their backs. No extra tunic, no extra bread, nor extra cash. They were traveling light; all they had was their clothes and the Christ’s authority.

They went out with his authority, and frankly it seems pretty logical to think we need nothing more than that. What do we need beside the authority of Christ? The answer to that question is we need a companion. The Lord God found that we humans needed companions since the first human was created. Jesus knew this lesson so well he sent the twelve out in pairs. He sent them out as comrades. He sent them out as suitable helpers.

The Claddagh ring is a traditional piece of Irish jewelry that originated in a small fishing village of the same name. The ring’s design is a band with two hands holding a heart on which a crown sets. The hands, heart, and crown stand for friendship, love, and loyalty. There is a method to wearing a Claddagh ring. When the ring is worn on the right hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is single and may be looking for love. When the ring is worn on the right hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is in a relationship, or their heart has been captured.

In 1996, sixteen years ago, Marie came to Missouri to meet my family over Independence Day weekend. That weekend, in my own words, to make a longer story shorter, she told me she wanted to be more than friends. Then she showed me her Claddagh ring.

She explained its significance and the significance of how it was warn. She was wearing it with the point of the heart point toward her fingertips. She was hoping I would turn it around. I would love to tell you that I turned the ring without hesitation, but well, I was still in the “being alone” stage of life. Another way to say it is that I was stubborn and stupid. My parents would have said it that way.

A couple of days later I came to my senses. With her permission, I turned her ring over. We were engaged to be engaged. On the last day of November that year I proposed.  We wed a year after I turned her Claddagh on July 5, 1997.

This week, Marie and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary. God knows we are better in pairs. So while I cannot speak for anyone else; when I compare the first thirty-four years of my life verses the last sixteen, these are the best years hands down. Thanks be to God.

Right now, I would love to tell you all what it takes to have a wonderful marriage. I would love to tell you what it takes to find and keep and be a suitable helper. I have some ideas on the matter too. Most of them are overly specific to my marriage and personal experience.

What I do know from Genesis and Mark is that God creates the pairs. The Lord God created the man and the woman. Jesus sent the twelve out in pairs. When we let God be in charge, as God is always in charge, pairs are created are blessed.

Maybe, maybe, that has something to do with why Jesus could not perform miracles in his hometown. Mr. Al[3] tells a story of a man who greets people when they come to town. The moral of this story is that we tend to find the kind of people we expect to find.

Jesus returned to his hometown after performing great acts of power and authority. When he got there he was unable to do any miracles except for a few healings. When Jesus returned to town, the people got what they expected… the son of Mary not the Son of Man. They only saw the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. They saw the brother of sisters. They did not see the Messiah and they took offense with him. They did not receive the Messiah, instead they got exactly what they expected. When they didn’t let God be in charge, they got what they expected.

This goes to show that in our own ways we can limit God. When we expect God will do nothing that is all we can see. But next Jesus sends out his disciples with authority sending them out in pairs.

Today we welcome our youth back from Camp Gilmont. When I was young I went to Boy Scout Camp. Some of the most fun I had was in the pool, but there were rules. One of rules that kept us safe was that we entered the pool in pairs. We were supposed to always have an eye on that other scout and that scout had an eye on me. It was a Buddy System.

There was always someone making sure I was safe and I was making sure he was safe. The pool had lifeguards, but our buddy was our first line of defense. The life guard is in charge and your buddy is keeping an eye on you.

In this life, God is in charge, and God has created buddies, helpers, companions to help keep an eye on us. Buddies help keep us safe and secure. Buddies keep us company and lift us up. We serve God alongside our buddies.

Robert Fulghum had this figured out. He wrote “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Where we used to live, there was a poster in the office with highlights from the book including this quip, “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”[4]

We have been sent into the world. That’s actually what the word “apostle” means, ones who are sent. We are sent with our Lord as shepherd and God. We are sent with authority and with power to exercise that authority. Our God saves. That’s more than enough, and we are sent with even more.

We are sent with a buddy, a Godly buddy system, to join us in this life. God has given us suitable helpers to carry out the mission we have been sent to carry out. We are called to keep an eye to the Lord and an eye on our buddy. Fulghum got it right. “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.” By God’s power and authority we can do great things this way.

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[1] Genesis 2:19-23

[2] Genesis 2:18

[3] Al Key is an Elder, Worship Leader, and purveyor of children’s sermons at First Presbyterian—Marshall.

[4] Fulghum, Robert, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things.”