World Communion Sunday - October 2, 2005

A Message for the Day by Rev. James  Farrell

The parables are really all we have of Jesus that give us a glimpse into his life in a way that only real conversation can…remember that it would be as hard for Jesus as it would be for any of us to turn to the power brokers of his day and say "the weight of the love you are rejecting will crush you…if you fall into this love it will utterly destroy you!"

That's a pretty mixed message. This love will destroy you!?

But that is what he was saying. What I'm offering is so far removed from everything you trust that if you really embrace it…the you, that you are right now, will cease to be. That's his message.

How did he get that message across? Jesus tells a story that convicts his listeners right where they stand and it convicts us too. If we prefer to reject his message—a message that invites us to allow the love of God to fall upon us and move us to a place of new beginnings—then we miss the glorious chance to fall into this wonderful love. What is being spoken of is nothing less than a New perspective that WILL destroy what values people choose to live with.

By this point in Jesus' ministry the people regarded him as a prophet.

The history of the prophets was well known to the people of Jesus' day…it was their TV of sorts…the dramas they knew well enough to speak of came from their history, their ancestry…it was the stuff of story telling and the stuff of education—the stuff that gave them purpose and that called them to account in their lives. 

If you go to Jerusalem today you will still see the tombs of the ancestors as they line the Kidron Valley opposite the temple mount…they were a common fixture in ancient life. The stories of the prophets were cultural bits that were always in the face of everyone, all the time, which kept their history alive.

So, when the people thought of Jesus as one of their prophets and his story telling confronted the learned and powerful folks with their own bigotry and nastiness it was an interesting cultural dynamic to say the least…the learned, the powerful, the people of privilege, only really had their power as long as there were those who differed to them…if the regular folks stopped treating them differentially, they no longer had any real status or prominence.

So "when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them." And, they were infuriated. "They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet" in the tradition of the prophets.

In spite of their desire to silence him they had no choice but to allow Jesus the slack he needed to keep about his teaching… at least for the time being.

And so he continued with teachings that completely annoyed and aggravated the powerful—the status bearers.

In many ways everyone of you here today are status bearers in our society. I know we don't think of ourselves in that light…I hope…but to the unemployed or underemployed …we are the status bearers. To the outcasts of society… those living with addictions, or HIV or chronic illness, we fortunate enough to be part of a church are the status bearers.

For those whose lives are covered with the shadows of depressive darkness that have them teetering on the brink of suicide, we are status bearers…we are the privileged, the blessed, the fortunate. We are those that others only wish they could be. And from time to time we trade those positions as life has a way of changing them for us.

Monday night I attended a yellow ribbon information night at Medicine Hat College. The yellow ribbon program is designed to let hurting kids and adults know that there is help. The program was developed when Mike Emme from Westminster, Colorado, a popular and friendly kid, known by his friends as the helper in their lives, took his life when he did not know what words to say, or how to let anyone know he was in trouble and needed help.

The color yellow symbolizes Mike's cherished yellow Mustang. Mike didn't want to die…he wanted the pain to end!

I went to the YELLOWRIBBON.ORG website…3.6 million people have been there…the need is great and the help the program offers is vitally important.

A teacher asked her class what each wanted to become when they grew up. A chorus of responses came from all over the room.

"A football player," "A doctor," "An astronaut," "The president," "A fireman," "A teacher," "A race car driver."

Everyone that is, except Tommy.

The teacher noticed he was sitting there quiet and still. So she said to him, "Tommy, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Possible" Tommy replied.

"Possible?" asked the teacher.

"Yes," Tommy said. "My mom is always telling me I'm impossible. So when I get to be big, I want to be possible."

The yellow ribbon program is now throughout our city and many others because Mike's family and friends reached out and reached toward one another to share what they believed to be possible.

I went Monday night because I believe that people need to know that there are places they can turn…there is help available.

For families, an awful stigma is attached to Suicide. We are only beginning to be open about its realities…many of our young people and not so young have contemplated suicide and if we can help them over that hump that leaves them feeling that suicide is their only way out of the pain we may be able to save many lives and help mould some wonderful young people into wonderful older people.

The radical thinking that Jesus tried to share with people was to get folks to see that our movement beyond the surface to a deeper place is the only action that can allow the heart of God to be revealed in us.

In this way people can embrace the crush of love that alone changes who we are into people who care for everyone simply because we need each other.

I think we all believe that we need help when we are babies… we probably all believe that we need help from one another when we are aged…the truth of the matter is that we need each other along the whole journey from the cradle to the grave and embracing that truth is what Jesus' message is all about…it is what we declare this World Communion Sunday as we approach his table in the same way that people the world over are doing this very day. Perhaps, at this table we will find the grace to be God to one another as Jesus intended. Amen.