“Words to Live By”

(Romans 12:9-21)

Love should be shown without pretending.  Hate evil, and hold on to what is good.  Love each other like the members of your family.  Be the best at showing honor to each other.  Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord!  Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer.  Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home.  Bless people who harass you—bless and don’t curse them.  Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying.  Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else.  Instead, associate with people who have no status.  Don’t think that you’re so smart.  Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good.  If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people.  Don’t try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath.  It is written, revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back, says the Lord.  Instead, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink.  By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head.  Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.

So, on this Labor Day weekend, it is important to talk about work.  Some of you are still gainfully employed (as in not retired) so I encourage you, always, to frame what you do within Paul’s words to us today.  He says, “Contribute to the needs of God’s people….  Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think you’re better than anyone else.”    

Suppose you’re a teacher.  You are obviously contributing to the needs of the children AND of their parents—and serving your community by answering your call to teach. 

Suppose you work in manufacturing.  You work with a variety of people, and in this morning’s lesson Paul spends a lot of time laying out how we all need to treat others.  In addition, perhaps you can think of the product that you produce as a strand in the web of providing what is needed for our economy to run smoothly. 

Perhaps you are or have been a police officer.  Your work is so important in the creation of a culture of safety and respect.

Maybe you are in management or sales.  You know that this is all about relationships and treating people with respect.  Not only will you be liked and sought out, you will be knocking it out of the park for your company.

I know that to meet Paul’s standards in today’s text is pretty difficult for all of us, working and retired people, but also you young people who are doing your work in school as well as those who are working jobs that enable them to attend school and begin their career.  The Apostle Paul is speaking to us all. 

Implicit in Paul’s words are the importance of using the gifts that God has given us to create a world of compassion and respect.  We are charged with casting a vision over our little corner of the world.  It is important for each of us to understand our work as a way to further God’s vision for us, for all of humanity.  I know this can be hard when our work may seem repetitive, when our tasks seem never to be completed, when our work seems to be not directly connected to care and compassion.  But you can see, that we all, in one way or another, have a connection to this web of humanity that we’re part of.

…Our grandson, 14 year old Wesley, entered high school this year.  His task over the summer was to read the Harper Lee novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Rick and I were so excited for him to do this so that he could fall in love with this book and the movie that is such a wonderful, beloved classic film.

He kept putting it off, though we had pulled the paperback version off our shelf and bugged him about it every single time we saw him.  What I learned in conversation with him is that sitting down and reading a book is very hard for him because of his attention issues.  He’s really smart, but reading is a huge chore. Still, he does enjoy listening to audio books.  Also, he refused to watch the movie until he had finished the book.  He was firm on that.  Finally in the last couple of weeks before school started he got busy listening and, just as we thought, he very much liked the book.  Then we got to watch the movie with him.

So, I decided to reread the book.  The thing is, as I read it, I realized that I had not read the book in the first place.  My love of To Kill a Mockingbird had come from watching and rewatching the movie.  In this case, that wasn’t such a bad thing.

Anyway, I have sat completely engrossed in the story that is told in such great detail.  Atticus Finch, for me, will always look and sound like Gregory Peck.  Today I want to talk about Atticus (which is what his children, Jem and Scout called him).  I see Atticus Finch, not as perfect, but as a person who, intentionally or not, lived out the mission to which God, through Paul in the Book of Romans, had called him.

To remind any of you who hasn’t read or watched To Kill a Mockingbird in a while, Atticus Finch was a defense attorney in a small town in rural Alabama in the early 1930’s.  His wife had died when Jem was 6 and Scout was 2, and Atticus, with the constant help of a wonderful African American woman, Calpurnia, was raising these energetic, creative, always busy, big idea kids.

Atticus always works for a pittance because nobody had any money in those days.  The hatred toward black folks exhibited over and over in the book right here in our country is appalling.  Scout is the story teller, and she tries to sort out what is going on around her.

Meanwhile, Atticus is tasked with defending a young black man who has been accused of raping and beating a white woman.  In those days, particularly in Alabama, a black man in this situation had no chance at all of having a fair trial nor of being exonerated.  But Atticus, in the midst of huge pressure to just mail in a defense for this young man, took his job very seriously and made a brilliant defense. He showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not possible for his client to have done this crime. 

Meanwhile we see what a fine Christian man, in the best sense of the word, Atticus Finch was.  He treated everyone with the same respect in spite of how he was treated.  He was a wonderful role model for his children in a world that could be so hateful. 

I think Atticus Finch illustrates today’s lesson from Romans.  He used his God-given talents to attempt to spread respect in a town that was filled with racism and classism and hatred.  Let’s hear again some snippets from Romans 12:9-21 from The Message Bible: “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it…  Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle….  Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.  Help needy neighbors; be inventive in hospitality….  Bless your enemies….  Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.  If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do….  God says I’ll take care of it.  Our scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy them lunch.  Or thirsty, get them a drink.  Your generosity will surprise them with goodness.  Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”  Sounds a lot like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, doesn’t it?

…I know in these days it’s hard to hear some of these words that call us to treat our enemies well, and even harder to do it.  Now, in To Kill a Mockingbird there was definitely evil that had to be stood up to, and that evil was enacted by the antagonist throughout the book.  But this actual perpetrator of the crime that the young black man was accused of, sought to get revenge on Atticus by attacking, with intent to kill, Jem and Scout. 

Atticus mistakenly thought that Jem had put the knife in the perpetrators belly and so he was determined to let that truth be known.  The sheriff of the town had to take over the narrative in order to stop Atticus.  Atticus’ belief that the court would handle things properly and that justice would prevail was so deeply ingrained in this good man.  Atticus was determined that he had to act in such a way that his children would see him walking his talk.

Fortunately the Sheriff prevailed and the evil was brought under control.  I know that I struggle to maintain a spirit of love every day when I see selfish, mean-spirited people making decisions that will condemn the children, the immigrants, the poor and the elderly to difficult, even impossible lives. 

I know that many of us are trying to counteract these big feelings by working for the good, by writing letters, by making phone calls, by spreading love in our little corners of the world. 

Rick, on top of all that he is doing, is also organizing drivers to pick up food for folks in the Spanish speaking community on North Hill in Akron.  Turns out that this is good, rewarding work, both for Rick and the drivers.               This is a way to be activists for love.  This is a way to counteract feelings of helplessness these days.  I know that many of you are engaged in ways to share the love of Christ in your world.  We each need to find our way.  In navigating our way through these tough times, we must be wise as serpents while being innocent as doves.  We must be compassionate.  We must expect the best of others.  We must treat all people, as much as we are able, with respect.  We must love without ceasing and always, always, stand up and work.