How many of us know who Daryl Davis is? We should, we really should. He is a blues piano player, but we shouldn't know him for his music. We should know him because he is a black man who has befriended over 200 KKK members and convinced them to turn in their robes and give up their racist beliefs. And he is still going about the business of converting them to seeing all God's children as brothers and sisters. Young Cha Prince is a name we may easily overlook, her and her husband ran a hotel in Denver, when he died, she was unable to keep up with all the work and was slowly closing it down and planning on moving back to Korea, until she ran into some immigrants at a 7/11 and invited them to stay so they could get out of the cold. There are now about 300 living there, where she cooks them three meals a day. The city is trying to shut her down because of health and safety violations, but the people would just return to the street, so she carries on.
As I alluded to in the poem, when you hear somebody say, "Hold my beer!" you know that something really stupid is about to be done and someone is probably going to the ER. If we really are to be fools for Christ as Paul alludes to in his letter, then we should be able to say, "Hold my Bible!" and help people.
Just look at the stories in today's scripture (Mark 2:1-22). First we have Jesus teaching and healing inside a house. Four friends, who desperately want their friend to walk again, carry him to Jesus, but when they can't get close enough, they climb up on the roof of the house. The construction of the house isn't like ours with rafters and shingles, it was mainly layers of wood and straw held up by a few beams of wood or an arch of rock. So the friends dig through the layers of the roof after bringing their friend up to the roof probably on an external staircase and lower him so that Jesus might heal him. The friends could have pushed their way through, though unlikely as the story tells us that even the door is jammed with people. They came up with an out-of-the-box idea and went for it because of their love for their friend. And Jesus didn't call them to task for damaging the house (possibly his because it is written Jesus has come home), he instead took this opportunity to forgive the man's sins (which we know nothing about), but to prove that the man's sins are forgiven, "Which is easier, to say to this person, you're sins are forgiven, or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk?'"
And then.... If you are starting a revolution, you don't want to be seen conspiring or even talking to the enemy, but here is Jesus, going to the local tax man for the Roman government and asking Levi to follow him. And then, and then, going to his house and eating with other tax collectors and others who are known sinners. Hold my Torah, says Jesus, there are people who are in need of fellowship and a way to live a full life.
And then... Jesus gets criticized because his disciples don't fast as the Pharisees and John the Baptist's disciples do. He doesn't say they won't ever fast, or that they shouldn't fast. He tells his critics that while the disciples are with him, they are to feast, but there will be a time when they return and will fast just like the rest of them. So not everything is thrown out the window, it is just asking what is needed in this situation? Do we condemn the friends for ruining the roof or help their friend? Do we not associate with those people or do we take a chance and befriend them? Do we eat, drink, and be merry when Jesus is among us? Of course! But we also return to our spiritual, discipleship practices to continue to keep our faith.
Tuesday night, there will be a gathering of people, inside and from outside our church, to discuss what is happening in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. I have written about this in the mail chimp and the Shining Light, I have preached about it, and we have lifted them up in prayer and I believe that you have donated through our church or other non-profits who seek to help. When we were in Aberdeen, we had dinner with a friend who said that he was concerned about Russia and Ukraine, but this is just more of the same and it is hopeless what is happening in Gaza. I choose not to try to convince him otherwise, but I cannot believe this is hopeless. To quote from Bob Dylan, "How many deaths will it take to he knows, that too many people have died?" I don't know who is coming and if they have hope or not, but I am reminded of a story:
A old hippie was holding up a protest sign and stood on the corner every day. This was noticed by a commuter who regularly went by them. One day the commuter got off the bus and walked up to the hippie and asked, "Why do you protest? You know you will not change people's minds." The hippie answered, "I do not this not to change their minds, I do this so I won't change mine."
May we continue to strive for peace and justice, inclusion and fellowship, hope, and above all else, love, seeing God's image in every single human being and in the world around us. Amen.
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