Luke 7:1-10

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us." And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, "Go,' and he goes, and to another, "Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, "Do this,' and the slave does it." When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Now, in this day and age, it can be theologically risky for pastors and preachers to wax patriotic in worship, so please bear with me, that is not my intention. We do not worship our country here. We do not worship our flag. We do not worship the war that makes a holiday weekend like Memorial Day necessary. I want to be clear about that. And, while we honor them, we don’t worship soldiers or military men and women, either – our own or those of any other nation.

But it is a holy kind of coincidence that this Gospel reading shows up for us on a Sunday like this – this weekend when our country calls us to remember and give thanks for the sacrifice of all the men and women who have died in military service to our country. Men and women who have lost their lives – we hope and pray and trust – for the sake of, and in the name of, peace and justice in this world. And I’ll come back to this and try to explain myself in a moment. But first, this Gospel story from Luke, which speaks for itself well enough if we know some of the things Luke assumes we know about the players in this story.

See, Jesus is summoned today to the home of this Gentile centurion, having been asked to heal his slave. And, because neither Jesus nor the centurion himself are supposed to be all that inclined to like one another – let alone expect favors or perform them for one another – all of this humility ensues, this “I’m not worthy,” “I’m not worthy,” stuff from the centurion. (Do you remember that old Saturday Night Live, “Wayne’s World” sketch?)

It started when the Jews who summoned Jesus in the first place, try to explain to him why this particular Gentile centurion is worthy of Jesus’ help. Unlike so many other Gentiles, this guy was one of the good ones they say – he loved the Jewish people, he cared about his sick, suffering slave, he even helped to build the synagogue in town. See? He’d earned it. He deserved it. And the Jews thought their recommendation would help his cause and matter to Jesus.

And then, the Centurion himself gets into the game. Once he finds out Jesus is on the way, he sends his people out to stop him, saying something like, “I didn’t want to bother you. Please know I’m aware I don’t deserve this. I wouldn’t presume to impose upon you. I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy.” Again, he stated his case. He was appropriately humble. He apologized for imposing and tried to lessen Jesus’ burden.

And the truth is, this Gentile centurion was as worthy by the world’s standards as he was unworthy in the eyes of the faithful Jews of his day. To so much of the world, he was powerful, after all. He had slaves and knew what it was to tell soldiers to come and they would come, or to go and they would go. To the Jews, though, he was as unworthy as any Gentile – he was a Roman pawn, an outsider, a non-believer, not one of God’s Chosen Ones, a sinner, by every faithful definition of the day.

But somehow – and only in the eyes of God’s messiah – he was worthy. And Jesus proves it by offering up the healing of his slave, just as he knows the centurion desires.

The point is, of course, none of us is worthy when measured by our own standards, or the world’s – Jew or Gentile; Centurion or Slave; Capitalist or Communist; Saint or Sinner, no matter how hard we try. And yet, by God’s grace – and by God’s grace alone – every one of us is worthy, Jew and Gentile, Centurion and Slave, Capitalist and Communist, Saint and Sinner. And God’s love in Jesus Christ means to feed us and fill us and love us with such overwhelming abundance and grace and mercy and more, that we are called to practice receiving it and letting it change us into men and women and children of God who long to love others in return.

Which brings me back to Memorial Day and this holiday we’re called to honor. Just like that Centurion wasn’t worthy, for so many reasons in the eyes of the world around him, to receive what Jesus showed up to offer, when I consider all the lives lost so that I can live more freely and more comfortably and more safely and more soundly than so many men, women, and children around the world, the only honest confession I can find is, “I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy.”

[And, as if the thousands who have died in battle, in the act of fighting or preparing for or engaging in war isn’t bad enough, I read this week that nearly 30 veterans out of 100,000 commit suicide each year, which amounts to something like 22 veteran suicides per day. The sacrifices we remember on Memorial Day are not confined to the battlefield, that’s for sure. And “I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy.” I don’t know who among us could pretend to be.]

So I guess what I’m feeling this weekend, and in light of this Gospel story, is a deep gratitude for the ways grace finds us, in spite of ourselves. And I wonder if we aren’t being called to look for ways – with humility and gratitude – to receive the blessing and love and generosity that finds us in ways we could never earn no matter how hard we try.

And I’m feeling called to let all of that be a reminder about… a witness to… a celebration of… just precisely how God’s love and grace and mercy and forgiveness come into my life – worthy or not. And then hope it inspires some ministry or service, some generosity, gratitude and humility, at least – in me and in each of us – that will share grace with somebody else – anybody else – who doesn’t deserve it any more than we do.

Amen

John 16:12-15

[Jesus said] "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

There has been a daily countdown in the Stamper household for the past few weeks. As of Friday afternoon, the countdown reached “4.” As in, only four days left of school for my oldest son, Nolan. Four days until summer break.

With the school year almost over, I asked Nolan to reflect on what he appreciates, remembers, and learned in the course of the year. He talked about friendships with classmates, how excited he is that he can read almost everything we put in front of him, how he really likes math, and how disappointed he is when he can’t play basketball during recess because another class is always out there already and doesn’t share.

I’m grateful to have a child who is capable of reflection. This has been a point of emphasis in our parenting style. We started early by seeking to identify his emotions and teach him their names, which would often result in humorous experiences like when he would scream at us as a toddler and we would look at him and say, “Oh, you’re so mad!” Exchanges like this taught him a vocabulary that allows him to express himself. Also, he knows that every day when I take him home I ask him to describe his day and that every night we gather as a family and take turns sharing our highs and lows from the day.

He doesn’t always wax poetic about his experience of life. He's as likely to mumble a response as any other kid. And when we ask him “How was school today?” Nine times out of ten he’ll reply “good.” But we persist, because we know that reflection yields wisdom and empathy. And relationships are enriched by our ability to put our reflections into words and actions.

But not all words are equal. By themselves, nouns are pretty much useless for reflection. Imagine this conversation:
Q: “How was school today?”
A: Pencil, friends, recess, teacher, book, math.

Adjectives, by themselves are a little better.
Q: “How was school today?”
A: Good, fine, exciting, stressful,
Unfortunately, this is where most of our reflection and expression stops.

Where things get really exciting, though – where the truth really comes out – are our action words – verbs.
Q: “How was school today?”
A: We laughed, I studied, we played, I learned

Paying attention to the ways we use words to describe our experiences is helpful on days like today when our focus is on the Holy Trinity – the foundation of Christian faith.

The Holy Trinity, as described by nouns, is pretty much useless for reflection:
The Holy Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in One and One in Three.

The Holy Trinity, as described by adjectives, is only a little better:
The Holy Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; they are related and connected; distinct from one another yet equal to one another.

The Holy Trinity, as described by verbs, gets to the heart of the matter. In fact, one of the earliest ways of speaking about and understanding the Trinity was the word perichoresis , meaning, the divine dance (from the Latin roots peri- around and choreo - where we get the word choreography). Using the action words we begin to see that…
The Holy Trinity is what flows under, around, and through all things – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit divinely dancing. The Holy Trinity is what we enter into as God’s beloved creation; our participation in the flow and divine dance enables us to be generous, serve others, and experience connection, harmony, and love.

Relationship, connection, energy, generosity, and love are at the core of Holy Trinity. Because the Trinity is the foundation of our faith, that means relationship, connection, energy, generosity, and love are available to us and can shape our entire faith and involvement in the world. The Holy Trinity invites our participation. It forces us to be active. It makes our faith a verb.

The Holy Trinity is the foundation of our faith; but unfortunately, not much has changed since 1970 when Jesuit priest Karl Rahner indicated (in his book, Trinity) that Christians could drop the doctrine of the trinity tomorrow and most Christian literature, practice, and devotion would remain virtually unchanged.

One could argue, as many theologians are, that the normal Christian image of God is still pagan; that is, Zeus – a man with a white beard sitting in a throne, getting involved in worldly affairs only once in a while (either when he is asked enough times or when he feels like it), sometimes with lightning bolts at the ready.

It is a false and destructive path for Christians to profess the divinity of Jesus Christ yet continue to think of God as an individual who passes judgment and destruction, promising good things to only those who tow the line. If we believe that God sits on a throne and passes judgment, we will model our life around this belief.

If, on the other hand, we believe God is in relationship, dancing, flowing, energizing the everything from the grass of the field to the cells of our bodies, then how amazing it would be for us to model our life around this belief. Perhaps we would choose grace over judgment, peace over pain, relationship over isolation, forgiveness over self-righteousness, and action over ignorance.

For a Christian Church that professes and worships the Holy Trinity, nouns are pretty much useless:
building, committee, pastor, bulletin, hymn, band, wine.

For a Christian Church that professes and worships the Holy Trinity adjectives are only a little better:
good, nice, welcoming, inclusive, entertaining, nurturing

For a Christian Church that professes and worships the Holy Trinity, verbs get to the heart of the matter:
We who are caught up in the divine flow of the Holy Trinity worship, learn, serve, pray, proclaim, love, hold, and forgive.

Our challenge today is to reflect on the true nature of the Holy Trinity in which we place our trust and gain our strength – a creating God the Father, a redemptive Christ, and a life-giving Holy Spirit, each one united in a divine dance of relationship, connection, energy, generosity, and love. The Trinity calls us out of isolation and apathy and invites us to participate in the verbs of our faith so that all may join in the divine dance.

Amen.

"I'm Not Worthy" – Luke 7:1-10

"The Divine Dance" – John 16:12-15