THE SUNDAY CALLED QUINQUAGESIMA
FEBRUARY 7, 2016
A SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM R. FLEMING
THE EPISTLE FOR THIS SUNDAY IS A STRONG PORTION OF SCRIPTURE TO THE CORE OF
OUR FAITH. SOME THEOLOGIANS CALL CORINTHIANS THE FINEST CHAPTER IN THE BIBLE. AS
SAINT PAUL PUT IT,
“CHARITY
SUFFERETH LONG AND IS KIND.”
THERE ARE NUMEROUS
SYNONYMS FOR CHARITY, WHICH ARE, FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY…KINDNESS, LOVE,
BENEVOLENCE, GOOD WILL AND LOVE OF NEIGHBORS. I WANT TO FOCUS THIS MORNING ON
KINDNESS AND LOVE WRAPPED IN CHARITY.
AN ANONYMOUS WRITER PUT IT THIS WAY,
”KINDNESS
IS A LANGUAGE WHICH THE
BLIND CAN SEE AND THE DEAF HEAR.”
PAUL HAD A VERY DIFFICULT TIME MINISTERING TO THE CHURCH IN CORINTH. TO PUT
IT DIRECTLY, HE STARTED WORRYING AS SOON AS HE LEFT CORINTH. AS HE LOOKED BACK AT
THE PEOPLE, HE ENVISIONED THAT THEY WERE ALREADY ARGUING AMONG THEMSELVES AS TO
WHO IS THEIR LEADER…WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. PAUL WAS A FRUSTRATED SERVANT
OF GOD, DEALING WITH A FRUSTRATING CHURCH. HIS MISSION TRIPS TO CORINTH WERE
CONSISTENTLY DIFFICULT. WE ALMOST HEAR PAUL SAYING…”THEY ARE HOPELESS, A LOST
CAUSE…SHOULD I GIVE UP?” HIS WRITINGS HOWEVER TELL US HE DID NOT GIVE UP AS HE
REMEMBERED CHRIST’S CHARGE, “IT WON’T BE EASY”.
1 MY RECENT EXPERIENCE AS I LEFT THE CHURCH ONE LATE AFTERNOON BROUGHT
KINDNESS AND THE LACK OF SAME TO MIND. NOW I AM NOT MAKING ANY EXAMPLE OF MY
ACTIONS IN THIS SITUATION. AS I LEFT, THERE WAS DIS-SHELVED MAN STANDING IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE TUNNEL’S EXIT ROAD, ALMOST IN JEFFERSON AVE.
HE HELD A SIGN WHICH
TOUCHED ME. I PULLED OVER TO THE CURB, HE CAME TO THE CAR, AND I HELPED HIM A
LITTLE. MEANWHILE A SINGLE MAN PULLED UP NEXT TO US AND STARTED YELLING HOW
STUPID I WAS BECAUSE THE MAN WOULD USE THE RESOURCE TO BUY ALCOHOL. I’VE BEEN
YELLED AT BEFORE, I WAS NOT TROUBLED, BUT THE LANGUAGE HE USED IN ATTACKING THIS
MAN IN NEED WAS MORE THAN I COULD IGNORE. FRANKLY, I DIDN’T CARE WHAT HE DID
WITH THE MONEY. FOOLISH OR NOT, IF I AM ABLE, I WILL HELP GOD’S STREET PEOPLE. I SAY
AGAIN THAT I AM NOT SUGGESTING WHAT OTHERS SHOULD DO AND I KNOW THAT MANY OF
OUR PARISHIONERS HELP SIMILAR PEOPLE. I AM SIMPLY SAYING THAT ALL OF US SHOULD DO
SOMETHING TO HELP OTHERS.
GOD IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN BE GOODNESS AND KINDNESS.
I BELIEVE EACH ONE
OF US HAS OUR WAY OF SHOWING COMPASSION, CARING, GOODNESS, OR KINDNESS, ALL AKIN
TO OUR LORD AND ABSOLUTELY IN THE FAITH WE PROFESS.
SAINT AUGUSTINE:
“WHAT
DOES LOVE AND KINDNESS LOOK LIKE? THEY HAVE THE
HANDS TO LOVE OTHERS; THE FEET TO HASTEN TO THE LOST AND NEEDY; THE EYES TO SEE
MISERY AND WANT; THE EARS TO HEAR THE SIGHS AND SORROWS OF US ALL; AND FINALLY THE
2 BRAINS TO PUT ALL THESE THINGS TOGETHER AND TAKE ACTION. THAT IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS
LIKE.”
THE
WORD AND CONCEPT OF KINDNESS ALL TOO OFTEN SEEMS WEAK, EVEN
SIMPLISTIC. WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT WE SHOULD BE MORE KIND AND NICER TO EACH
OTHER? IT WAS WHEN I LOOKED TO OUR LORD’S TEACHINGS THAT IT BEGAN TO CLEAR.
“KINDNESS,”
CHRIST SAID,
“IS
A CORE QUALITY OF GOD HIMSELF.”
THE GREEK WORD FOR
KINDNESS VARIES IN MEANING; BUT AS ONE ANGLICAN PREACHER PUT IT,
“IT
IS LOVE IN
ACTION.” HE CONTINUES…”KINDNESS IS THAT FACET OF LOVE WHICH ACTS WITH CARE,
TENDERNESS AND RESPECT. IT BUILDS UP RATHER THAN TEARS DOWN. IT FOCUSES ON THE
NEEDS OF OTHERS, RATHER THAN OURS.” WHAT A CONCEPT…WE ARE CALLED TO FOCUS ON
ACTS OF KINDNESS FOR OTHERS!!!
KINDNESS IS NOT JUST ABOUT BEING NICE. FEW WOULD CHARACTERIZE OUR LORD AS
“SIMPLY A NICE GUY.”
KINDNESS IS IN FACT AMAZINGLY POWERFUL AS IT DRAWS US TOGETHER TO SHARE
THOSE THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON AND TO BRIDGE THOSE THINGS WHICH TEND TO DRAW
US APART, WHEN WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING MEANINGFUL, IT
ULTIMATELY FINDS ITS MOST EFFECTIVE PATH AND STRENGTH IN AN ACT OF KINDNESSOTHERWISE KNOWN AS CHARITY. FROM THE INTERPRETERS BIBLE, “BESTOW ALL MY GOODS TO
FEED THE POOR AND THOUGH I GIVE MY BODY TO BE BURNED AND HAVE NOT CHARITY, IT
PROFITETH ME NOTHING.”
3 ARCHBISHOP TUTU HAS PROVIDED US WITH A WONDERFUL LOOK AT LOVE
/
KINDNESS
/
GOODNESS:
“WE
WHO ARE HUMAN, ARE KEPT BY THE VERY BREATH OF GOD, FROM MOMENT TO
MOMENT. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE STATEMENT ABOUT
GOD, BECAUSE GOD DOES THAT
EVEN FOR THE ONES THAT WE KNOW AS POOR PEOPLE. GOD IS INTIMATE WITH THEM
AS GOD IS INTIMATE WITH THE MOST SAINTLY.
I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NOT A SINGLE
PERSON THAT GOD GIVES UP ON, BECAUSE GOD KNOWS THAT WE ARE MADE TO BE LIKE
GOD, THIS GOD WHO IS GOODNESS HIMSELF.”
THIS
IS NOT ONLY A FAITH CLAIM. GOD CREATED US TO DEPEND ON ONE ANOTHER
FOR OUR LIVES. HIS MEANING IS THAT WE HAVE NO OPTION BUT TO STAY TOGETHER. THIS IS
WHY FEAR OF OSTRACISM LURKS IN THE CORNERS OF MANY HUMAN MINDS.
EARLY STUDIES OF HUMAN SURVIVAL HAVE NOTED THE FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT STRESS
RESPONSE. NEWER RESEARCH HAS OBSERVED THAT NOT EVERYONE RESPONDS TO STRESS IN
THE SAME WAY:
INSTEAD OF FIGHT OR FLIGHT, SOME ADOPT A TEND-AND-BEFRIEND
RESPONSE. BY CARING FOR THE YOUNG AND BANDING TOGETHER FOR PROTECTION AND
SUPPORT, WE HAVE ENSURED OUR FAITH. THIS PATTERN OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING NOT
ONLY ENSURES OUR FAITH BUT ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO WELL-BEING. WE KNOW THE SIMPLE
JOY OF BEING ABLE TO HEAL A HURT.
4 THE IMPULSE TO CARE, THE INSTINCT FOR GOODNESS, IS A SHINING THREAD WOVEN
INTO THE FABRIC OF OUR BEING. AS HUMAN BEINGS WE MAY TARNISH THE SHEEN OR REND
THE FABRIC OF OUR OWN GOODNESS.
BUT, BECAUSE WE ARE HUMAN, WE CANNOT
COMPLETELY DESTROY EVERY VESTIGE OF THE GODLINESS BY WHICH AND FOR WHICH WE ARE
MADE. WE ARE MADE BY GOD WHO IS GOODNESS ITSELF. WE ARE MADE LIKE GOD. WE ARE
MADE FOR GOODNESS. MY HUMANITY IS BOUND UP IN YOURS.
WILLIAM BARCLAY SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT LOVE AND KINDNESS:
“LOVE
NEVER CEASES TO HOPE. JESUS BELIEVED THAT NO ONE IS BEYOND HOPE. THE
METHODIST ADAM CLARKE WAS ONE OF THE GREAT THEOLOGIANS, BUT AT SCHOOL HE
WAS VERY SLOW TO LEARN. ONE DAY, A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR PAID A VISIT TO THE
SCHOOL, AND THE TEACHER SINGLED OUT ADAM CLARKE AND SAID:
‘THAT
IS THE
STUPIDEST BOY IN THE SCHOOL.’ BEFORE HE LEFT THE SCHOOL, THE VISITOR CAME TO
THE BOY AND SAID KINDLY:
‘NEVER
MIND, MY BOY, YOU MAY BE A GREAT SCHOLAR
SOME DAY. DON’T BE DISCOURAGED BUT TRY HARD, AND KEEP ON TRYING.’ THE
TEACHER HAD NO HOPE; BUT THE VISITOR WAS HOPEFUL, AND –WHO KNOWS? – IT MAY
WELL HAVE BEEN THAT WORD OF HOPE AND KINDNESS WHICH MADE ADAM CLARKE
WHAT HE ONE DAY BECAME.”
“LOVE BEARS EVERYTHING WITH TRIUMPHANT FORTITUDE.
OF THE GREAT GREEK WORDS.
THE VERB USED HERE IS ONE
IT IS GENERALLY TRANSLATED AS TO BEAR OR TO
ENDURE; BUT WHAT IT REALLY DESCRIBES IS NOT THE SPIRIT WHICH CAN PASSIVELY
5 BEAR THINGS, BUT THE SPIRIT WHICH, IN BEARING THEM, CAN CONQUER AND CHANGE
THEIR VERY NATURE.
THE
SCOTTISH MINISTER AND HYMN-WRITER GEORGE
MATHESON, WHO LOST HIS SIGHT AND WHO WAS DISAPPOINTED IN LOVE, WROTE IN
ONE OF HIS PRAYERS THAT HE MIGHT ACCEPT GOD’S WILL
‘NOT
WITH DUMB
RESIGNATION BUT WITH HOLY JOY; NOT ONLY WITH ABSENCE OF MURMUR BUT WITH A
SONG OF PRAISE.’ LOVE CAN BEAR THINGS NOT MERELY WITH PASSIVE RESIGNATION,
BUT WITH TRIUMPHANT FORTITUDE, BECAUSE IT KNOWS THAT GOD’S HAND WILL
NEVER CAUSE HIS CHILDREN A NEEDLESS TEAR.” LOST OF FAITH
ONE THING REMAINS TO BE SHARED: WHEN WE THINK OF THE QUALITIES OF THIS LOVE
AND KINDNESS AS PAUL PORTRAYS THEM, WE CAN SEE THEM MADE REAL IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
HIMSELF.
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