INSPIRED
July 15, 2007
sermon given at St. Thomas Episcopal Church,
Medina, Washington
Last Wednesday, after the kids from Vacation Bible Camp had gone home for the day, Gerry Gallaher and I stood in the kitchen and watched as the last of the old St. Thomas School was destroyed. Not having a lot of history here, I didn’t experience the feelings of sadness or nostalgia that some of you did. I just thought it was cool to watch what looked like a Tyrannosaurus Rex biting off the roof of the school and chewing it to pieces!
It was pretty impressive. You know, in less than two years as Head of School, Kirk Wheeler has already brought the whole thing crashing to the ground … in a good way, of course. Come back in 14 months and you’ll see a brand new state-of-the-art facility ready for the children of St. Thomas School.
I was inspired by the school’s willingness to just go for it—to decide what needs to be done, and then to get it done. And that got me thinking about what it means to feel inspired. I felt like a hot air balloon filling up and preparing to lift off into the sky. And that felt very appropriate. In fact, the word “inspire” comes from Latin words that mean “to fill up with air.”
Our Vacation Bible Camp last week was built on the theme “Lift Off! Soaring to New Heights with God.” For five consecutive mornings, sixty children from St. Thomas and other congregations took over these two buildings. They made hot air balloons and balsa wood airplanes. They listened and wondered about some of our most sacred faith stories. They drummed and clapped and sang and danced. They played rowdy games in the park and, I suspect, they learned a lot about loving God and loving others.
I learned a lot, too. I felt high all week, full of air and ready for flight. But I realized that this week was mostly about getting ready to fly. The actual flying comes after camp is finished. We’ve been inspired: filled full of air, the potential energy we need to fly. But if we are only inspired—if we look back on this week as a really fun time, but we don’t do anything as a result, then “inspired” is all we’ll be: full of hot air!
Jesus talks about this exact thing in today’s Gospel reading, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer came to Jesus to ask him how to be in relationship with God. Jesus, knowing he was a lawyer, asked him to answer the question in terms of the law—in the way that most inspired him. And in their culture, there were a lot of commandments you had to follow. If you didn’t follow them exactly right, people thought that God would not approve. To this day, some people think that you have to believe exactly the right things and obey many, many rules in order for God to love you.
When I was taught about the Ten Commandments in Sunday school, I was inspired. I thought, “Great! I’ll just make sure I never break any of these rules, and then life will be perfect.” But you see why this isn’t enough. If you spend all your time just NOT doing anything bad, you’ll be too nervous and stressed out to actually DO anything good, for fear of messing up.
Now there’s nothing wrong with rules, of course. Rules teach us how to live life in harmony with others. Rules are helpful, but they are not everything. Jesus taught us that God loves us even when we break the rules. That’s not license to go out and start breaking rules. It just means that God asks us to learn what the rules are for, so that we are free to worship God instead of worshipping a rule book.
So getting back to the lawyer, he answers that the only two rules that matter are to love God and to love our neighbors. And Jesus tells him he’s absolutely right. These aren’t like any other rules we know, because they’re not about THOU SHALT NOT. They’re about going out and doing positive things! And you can decide whether a rule applies by subjecting it to the love test. Any other rules worth keeping follow logically from the rules of love.
Jesus then shows us that the word “neighbor” can be applied to anybody, even—or maybe especially—our enemies. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most famous stories in the Bible, but how many people realize that by making the “good guy” a Samaritan, Jesus was telling a truly shocking story? The people Jesus was speaking to would have hated and feared Samaritans.
How would you feel if a convicted terrorist saved your life? Would you save the life of a convicted terrorist? If that sounds extreme, that’s because it’s supposed to. Jesus used extreme examples to make clear just how big God is. God loves everybody, no matter how many mistakes they’ve made or how big those mistakes have been. So we should go and do likewise.
Whoa. That sounds much more difficult than just keeping a list of rules. Yet it’s inspiring to hear. So what actions will this story bring about in you?
In a few minutes, Matthew will be baptized. Matthew’s parents and godparents have chosen to inspire him, to fill him up with potential energy as a Christian. That’s wonderful! But the real action happens over the rest of Matthew’s life. He’ll need constant inspiration from everyone who makes these promises today. And then it’ll be up to him to use that energy lovingly.
That’s inspiring to hear, too. So later this week or later this year, when you think about Matthew’s baptism or your own baptism, what will you do about it?
Today’s reading from Deuteronomy offers a vision of what it means not just to be inspired, but to lift off and soar to new heights with God. Sometime during the week, I was talking to a nine-year-old boy who said, “I like reading my children’s Bible. And I can read the big Bible, but I think it’s boring.” I tried to explain about getting older and having more experiences such that you start to understand the big Bible a little better. But for the sake of our campers, please allow me to take this reading we heard from Deuteronomy and paraphrase. Kids, listen up—this is what the Holy Spirit is saying to you today.
“God will support you in everything you do with your body, with your possessions, and with the things you create. God loves supporting you and helping you, and always has. God loves you, just like God loves your parents and grandparents and every other person who has ever lived.
“So it’s good to be thankful for God’s love. How can we show our thanks? Through prayer, God comes so close to us, and we come so close to God, that we can keep learning more about God and about what it means to love other people. We also learn more by doing good things for others, and by remaining curious about the world we live in.
“That’s all God asks of us. God isn’t up on the highest shelf, where you can’t reach. God isn’t out there in outer space somewhere. You don’t have to rent a hot air balloon and go up to heaven to find God. God is not so far away that you need an adult to drive you there. You don’t have to go to school or seminary for many years to understand God. No matter how young you are, you have a relationship with God today. Listen! God is right inside you, in your mouth and in your heart.”
So be inspired by our sacred stories. Be inspired by the words of Jesus. Be inspired by those who have gone out and done bold, loving things. Be inspired by this sermon if that’s possible, but realize that sermons don’t change anything. You do. And then, after some prayer, answer this question: what are you and God going to do together … today?