May 6, 2007

Well, we are into it now. The rush of spring. Turning on the sprinklers and sprucing up the yard, cleaning the windows and clearing out the clutter if not the gutters, digging dandelions out of the dirt and dusting off the softball gear and tackle box, seeing neighbors again after a long winters pause, and attending the many school concerts and programs prelude to graduation.

Yes, we are into it now, the month of May. "The merry, merry month of May," as Stephen Foster composed it in 1862, a popular tune in its time, first verse: We roamed the fields and river sides,

When we are young and gay; We chased the bees and plucked the flowers, In the merry, merry month of May.

You know, this really is a lovely time of year. As I think about it, May is a month of blessings. We take a running start at it, with Confirmation the last Sunday in April, as we were blessed with 12 new youthful members into our congregation. Then without stopping to pass go we are off to our Conference Annual Meeting, the blessing of the wider church family, this weekend in Red Lodge, from which I came back early just to be with you. I hope that is a blessing, too.

Then we are immediately on to Mother's Day, or the "Festival of the Christian Home," as we also call it, preceding our own Annual Meeting of the church, at which time we will also celebrate our high school graduates and give thanks to our choir members and Sunday School teachers. Through in a couple baptisms and a few birthdays, we had one on our household yesterday, which is not uncommon, and I think you will agree, yes, May really is a month of blessings. So spring alive and don't miss it!

Perhaps you missed it last night: (02-03-04-05-06-07 illustration). Another May blessing, while you slept.

Of course, this begs the question what is a blessing? Blessing. I can tell you it is one of my two favorite words. "Blessings" and "grace." These are my favorite words. I usually sign my e-mails and letters "Blessings, Jim." Even my business communications. I don't know if it means anything to lawyers and bankers, but what heck with it. "Blessings, Jim."

"Blessings," it's a great word. Right up there with "grace." I was born on a Tuesday. Tuesday's child is full of grace. So naturally it is a favorite as well.

But back to blessing, what is a blessing? I think Peter helps us with this in our text for this morning. The Apostle Peter, writing to the church of Asia Minor, and instructing them on what it means to be a Christian, writes, "Do not return evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called..."

Peter, to the persecuted church of Asia Minor, where to be a Christian was to live in the prospect of being put to death for your faith, writes, "Do not return evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary repay with a blessing." This is powerful. Or crazy! And there we have it. What is a blessing? A blessing is us. We are to be a blessing. In response to the evil and abuse in the world, we are to be a blessing, as "it is for this that we were called."

Now doesn't this sound a lot like the teachings of Peter's boss, Jesus, who as we know, said things like, "love your enemies" and "be good to those who hate you," or the writings of Peter's barnstorming companion, Paul, who wrote to the Romans, "Bless those that persecute you. Bless and do not curse them."

And isn't this the choice we always have, whether in the face of enemies who curse us or friends who flatter us, whether surviving another Montana winter or chasing the bees and plucking the flowers, In the merry, merry month of May, we can be a blessing or we can be a curse? It's your life. It's your world.

I think the novelist John Updike had a correct observation when he wrote, "We get our bearings daily from other people." For instance, when we tell someone over and over again what a failure they are, or what a disappointment they are, how they will never amount to much, pretty soon they'll begin to act like it, if not already. Certainly they are not going to improve any, for we have cursed them. We might as well have stuck pins in a voodoo doll. Dumb is going to get dumber to prove our prophecy.

Conversely, when we remind somebody that they are made in the image of God, that God loves them, and so do we, that they have great potential, and even should they fail, there is forgiveness, the chances are they will keep on trying and likely as not even succeed in life, for we have been a blessing unto them. "It is for this that we were called."

Like the little pre-school boy. The practice in the preschool was to recognize the children for their achievements. Which can call for creativity on the teacher's part when dealing with three and four year boys. The award was to pin a star on their clothing.

One day the little boy came home with a big star blazed across his shirt, kind of like my son, JJ, going to school with four ribbons pinned to his t-shirt following the Special Olympic Area Games last week.

The amazed mother asked, "What did you do to earn the star?" Answered the boy, "I am the best rester!" The teacher had blessed him for his achievement as a nap taker. Which I suppose really was a blessing for the teacher. "Best rester." Not now!

We are made in the image of God. And there is a wonderful life that is waiting for each one of us. We receive that life to a certain degree from other people, in that they tell us who we are and what we're worth. They may or may not be right, but it leaves an impression.

Which is why it is well to listen to Peter, the disciple who three times denied knowing Jesus, when he says, "Do not repay evil for evil...but, on the contrary, repay (evil) with a blessing. It is for this that (we) are called..."

Peter is helpful in the preceding verse as well, when he writes, "have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind." It is these last two qualities, "a tender heart and a humble mind," that I want to mention briefly as we warm up to Mother's Day, and then we'll get on to communion.

"A tender heart." The Greek word that Peter uses means "compassionate," which itself means, "to suffer with." "Passion," the root, which means, "to suffer," "Com," the prefix, meaning "with." Compassion or "to suffer with."

To be tender hearted is the lovely human capacity to feel what another person is feeling, to put oneself in another person's place, to get inside another person's skin so you experience what it is they are experiencing, even if the experience is bad. "To suffer with" is to be tender hearted.

When the crowd calls for crucifixion, when the wronged rage for retribution, when the majority votes for vengeance, we are to have the courage of compassion ("to suffer with") and therefore be tender hearted. Only Christianity.

A "bleeding heart," as some say pejoratively, not knowing the expression comes from the common Christian art of the Middle Ages which depicted Jesus upon the cross with blood coming from his heart. Rather awful art, I think, but serving the purpose of showing Jesus as tender hearted, as we should be.

Jesus disregarded the external realities, and looked to the person within, made in the image of God. Jesus saw not only the way people were, but he saw they way they might become. He saw not only what they had done, but he saw as well what they were capable of.

Jesus treated us as people with potential not because of anything we had done, but because we are loved by God. He came to tell us this, in word and deed and death.

And when we do likewise we are a blessing.

"A humble mind." This sounds about as mushy as "a tender heart." Turns out a humble mind is as tough as a tender heart, in terms of courage. What Peter means by a humble mind is described by Paul when he writes to the Philippians, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant...and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (2:5-8)

A humble mind, like a tender heart, means giving yourself to others, completely. It is not claiming your place on the hierarchy. Rather it is showing compassion ("suffering with") your fellow humans.

A humble mind understands, that is, it "stands under" the pain of others, or stands with others in their pain, as opposed to standing over or above their pain. This is what Jesus did on the cross,

"humbling himself unto death."

I think this is what Peter had in mind when he wrote, "have a humble mind." He meant be fully present to those in need, to those we know, to those we love, and to those who are strangers or the least among us.

In this way we will be a blessing, and God's world will be a better place. Tony Campolo, the popular lecturer and evangelical preacher, who teaches at Eastern Baptist College, tells the story on himself of attending a funeral for a friend named Kilpatrick. At least he thought he was attending Kilpatrick's service. He went to the funeral home and entered the chapel, where the casket was up front. Nobody was there yet, so he sat down and waited for the people to arrive, assuming himself to be early. No one arrived. Finally he went up front to the open casket and looked in. It was not Kilpatrick. He was in the wrong place, or the wrong time. Anyway, it was the wrong funeral.

He turned to leave, and just then an old woman walked up to him and took his hand. "Thank you for coming," she said. "I wasn't sure anybody was going to be here. Most of our friends are gone and we have very little family. So you knew my husband, did you?"

Campolo says he is not quite sure what came over him, but he lied. He said, "Yes, your husband was a good man. Everybody liked him." She smiled with tears in her eyes, nodded and said, "Won't you sit with me?"

Campolo sat, the preacher came in and offered the service. Afterward he went with the woman to the cemetery, where he stood by her at the graveside. As the casket was lowered into the grave he took a flower and placed it upon the casket. She was touched by this fitting farewell.

On the ride back to the funeral home Campolo confessed, "I would like to be your friend. But I cannot really be your friend unless I tell you the truth. I am sorry to tell you that I actually did not know your husband. I came to his funeral by accident."

The woman paid absolutely no attention to what he said. Instead she replied, "You'll never, ever, know how much your being here has meant to me."

It's not what Tony intended. It really was a mistake. But apparently God meant it for something else. God intended his presence to be a blessing, which is what God intends us to be, even when we are making mistakes.

Blessings, it's a great word. So suitable for "the merry, merry month of May." The refrain which goes like this: Oh, yes, with ever changing sports, We whiled the hours away; The skies were bright, Our hearts were light, In the merry, merry month of May.

Blessings! It's what life should be about. It's what we should be about. "It is for this that we were called." So be a blessing, and make your mother's proud. Happy May Day.

AMEN