Ecclesiastes 3:1-4  (written perhaps by King Solomon near the end of his life.)

I Thessalonians 5:16-19

Matthew 11:16-19

Laughter

A young woman came home and told her mom that her steady boyfriend had proposed, but she had turned him down because she found out he was an atheist, and didn't believe in Heaven or Hell. "Marry him anyway, honey. Between the two of us, we'll show him they both exist."

An atheist in Scotland was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Lock Ness Monster. In one easy flip the beast tossed him and his boat in the air and was about to swallow both in his gaping mouth. As the man sailed head over heals he cried out. “Oh my God. Help me.” Suddenly the whole scene froze and the man and his boat hung suspended in mid-air over the huge mouth. A booming voice came down from the clouds, "I thought you didn't believe in me!"

"Come on God, give me a break!!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"

There was a novel a few years back called The Name of the Rose.  It is set in a 14th Century Abby and tells the story of a Franciscan monk, William of Baskerville, who was played by Sean Connery in the movie version. The background finds William attending a convocation of theologians to debate whether or not Jesus owned his own clothes. This may seem trite to us, but that was the way of ecclesiastical ponderings of that age. During the debate, a priest dies and the story becomes a classic murder mystery - and a stern warning of how closed minds find “sinful” people at every turn.

But a most intriguing element of the movie relates to a small, but vital part of the set up for why many of the other monks in attendance dislike William: he laughs - a lot. The order to which William belongs, the Franciscans, travel with a light heart. They embrace when they meet, enjoy friendship and life, and above all - they laugh.

This would hardly seem a stigmatizing problem, until you make note of the others at the convocation. No one could ever accuse them of being overly playful. They are dour, stern, and above all - serious. One of these priests confronts William and notes no where in the Bible does it say Jesus laughs - therefore, laughter is not to be the mark of a good Christian, for laughter mocks the seriousness of life and keeps one from focusing on the mind on God - and all those other serious spiritual questions - like if Jesus owned his clothes.

I am afraid the idea of the "serious" Christian is still part of our cultural heritage. Go back to the Puritan ethic, and you'll find anything pleasurable, from a good meal to a good laugh, were suspect of being from Satan. You couldn’t even celebrate Christmas. The Salem Witch Trials grew out of all that radical sternness and rigidity. Look at many, many TV or movie presentations of the clergy or religious types: they are often stern, humorless and opposed to having "fun." There was a time when you didn't go to the movies, play cards, or throw a party on a Sunday. You certainly could never do these things in church.  Why not? Because these things were having a good time - which somehow just wasn't related to the things of God.

But why would laughter and light-heartedness get such a bad press from the Christian community? We can lay the blame on Saint Augustine - one of the most profound and powerful thinkers of the early Christian church who about 700 years ago wrote volumes about what it was to be a Christian. Augustine argued that pleasant things were distracting from the soul, and were not just to be avoided, but were deemed sinful. What would distract the soul? Well, such things as good food; non-God centered mental activities as puzzles and games; and emotional distractions such as humor. None of that is actually scriptural, though many today think it is.

From Saint Augustine’s perspective, life was serious business, and "good" Christians were to spend all their time in prayer, fasting, singing hymns, and escaping from life. The rise of monasteries and convents were an outgrowth of that philosophy. Many monasteries were—in some cases still are—places to which to go to escape from the distractions described by Saint Augustine. Not that many years ago, a "good" Christian was not much fun to be with—and you certainly didn’t expect a minister to have “fun”. If such an attitude were in control today, everything from your favorite TV program and the kid's video games to the local paper’s crossword puzzles would be in the trash – along with all the good food we share after worship at a coffee hour or that we enjoy at a local restaurant or with our families.

Unfortunately, much of our culture translated that "Dark Ages" philosophy into contemporary stereotypes of Christians. And we don't often help ourselves. We tend to formalize our "spiritual" language, as if God only understands prayers and hymns in 1600’s King James English. And some of us may remember a pastor who could give you a look that would make water run up hill if you giggled during a worship service.

But let's look at both sides. What if they are right? The Bible never does describe Jesus laughing, and the only mention of God's laughter is in ridicule over the wicked. All of us are well aware of suffering in life. If we couple that with moments where we stood in the awesome mystery of God's powerful presence and been tearfully overwhelmed by the love and grace of Jesus' sacrifice, humor can seem out of place. And in all honesty, there is nothing funny about God's Son hanging on a cross.

But perhaps that is where we are at risk. If all we focus on is the cross, we miss the broader story of the Gospel. The cross is significant because it points to the self-less love of Jesus' life. But there's more. There is the GOOD NEWS. If we spend all our time at the foot of the cross, we miss out on joy expressed in Jesus' life described well in the Gospels. We miss the celebration that is the glory and mystery of the resurrection and the joy of the early church living in the gift of God's Holy Spirit. You see, if the mark of the Christian was to continually be solemn as a heart-attack, the Bible would reflect a very different story of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Look back to the writer of Ecclesiastes. He notes life is a blend of experiences, all a gift of God. There are times for birth and death; times for labor and rest; times to cry - and times to laugh. If we understand the message, it portrays the richness of the human experience including laughter as a gift of God.

Look closer at the passage from Matthew and what is implied there. Jesus is accused by the Pharisees of being a glutton and a drunkard because he's a party-goer. Let that sink in for a moment and follow where that logic leads. Scripture is clear. Jesus maintains moral integrity, but he hangs out with folks who know how to have a good time. And these folks listen to him and learn of the love of God through his care.

Here's the point. If Jesus were as serious all the time as some paint him, what is he doing at wedding parties or hanging out at the First Century equivalent of the corner pub or dance clubs? Ask yourself this: would the everyday folks - like tax collectors, fishermen and tent makers - be attracted to a guy who never laughed? I don't think so. I'm reminded of Billy Joel's musical line, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - 'cause sinners are much more fun." If I read the Bible correctly, Jesus did.

In fact, if you read the Gospel story closely, it would appear Jesus had a good sense of humor. If I were a betting person, I'd bet if you spent time around Jesus, the laughter was loud, long and abundant - for a Christ who talks about the abundant life and the kingdom of God being like a welcome home party is a Christ who laughs often - and with a freedom and joyousness that is contagious.

Laughter has been proven to be good medicine. The author Norman Cousins wrote a book, The Anatomy of An Illness, in which he describes how he laughed his way out of an incurable disease of the spine. Clinical studies in numerous medical journals have shown 1 minute of laughter is worth 40 minutes of meditation, 100 laughs are equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Heart disease, anxiety, peptic ulcers, depression, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colds, insomnia, tension headaches, allergies are all helped by laughter. People without a good sense of humor are shown to have a 40% greater likelihood of heart disease.

The story of Jesus is called the Good News. It is something to celebrate and to be joyous about. Christ conquered death. We can now laugh in the face of death, because we have the promise of the resurrection if we believe and follow Christ. It is when we take ourselves too seriously we are most in danger of playing God, and looking down on people or condemning them because they are not like us. Indeed, if we can't laugh at ourselves in the church we are in serious trouble. 

Amen

Freedom

Exodus 6: 6-8

Galatians 5: 1, 13-15

John 8: 31-36

               

Freedom

Atop the hill in Washington, D.C. stands the Capitol Building of the United States of America. The cornerstone was laid in 1793, but the crowning touch, is the statue on top of the rotunda known as the “Freedom Lady” that was placed there in 1863. The Freedom Lady, stands nearly 20 feet tall (that’s some lady), and stands proudly atop the dome. A crest of stars frames her face. A shield of Stars and Stripes is in her left hand.

Sculpted in Rome, “the Lady” was brought to America aboard a sailing ship. During the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, a fierce storm developed. The Captain ordered cargo thrown overboard to lighten the load. The sailors wanted to throw the heavy statue overboard, but the captain refused, shouting over the wind, “No! Never! We’ll flounder before we throw ‘Freedom’ away.” And so, “Freedom” was saved, and the statue stands above the dome today, because one man stood for “Freedom.”

For me, one word sums up America, freedom. America prides itself on her freedom. Yet freedom in the history of our nation has gone through  phases since our inception.

The first phase has been the phase that I call Freedom From. This began with the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence, seeking freedom from tyranny, oppression, and the war we fought for that freedom.  This was something that the Israelites sought over and over from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus, and beyond.

The second phase has been Freedom For.  This is how we have defined our nation, beginning first with  the Constitution, and finally the Bill of Rights. In 1787, our constitution was written, and sent for ratification to the states. As the ratification process went along, people want the guarantee of specific freedoms, and within a few years, the Bill of Rights were added as the first 10 amendments to our constitution. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of people to peaceably assemble, and many of the other freedoms we enjoy. Paul reminds us in Romans 13:4, "The government is God’s servant working for your good."

Then we had another phase of Freedom From. We fought the Civil War. The South fought for freedom from a strong central government, for states’ rights, so that each state could choose to do its own thing, and each could choose to continue to hold slaves. The North fought for unity and a strong central government, and for freedom from slavery.

 Over the years, and especially over the last 50 or so years, we have seen a change in freedom. We have entered still another phase of Freedom From--- a mistaken freedom from responsibility.  For too many Americans today freedom means to be free from any type of restraints. Freedom that is similar to what one finds in the Old Testament in the book of Judges 21:25, "At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing."   It is a selfish freedom, an irresponsible exercise of free will.

 Bill Maher observed, “We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.” A recent survey indicates only 13 percent of Americans still believe in all 10 Commandments. 9 out of 10 citizens admit they lie regularly. For 10 million dollars, 7% of our people say they would kill a stranger.

However, most Americans are also seeking a freedom that they have yet to understand. Even though, as Pew Foundation research polls show, they may say that their faith is not important in their lives, or that going to church is not important, and they lack any understanding of the bible, they still say they believe in God and are spiritual. That is, they are still seeking something beyond themselves, and their current lifestyles.  We call it prevenient grace-- God’s pull on their lives, their realization that despite all their human freedoms and exercise of their free wills to their own pleasure, they have an emptiness in their lives.

We need to enter a new phase of Freedom For. That is where Christ, you, and I come in. Christ offers a different kind of freedom.  The freedom Paul is preaches calls us beyond independence to interdependence, beyond autonomy to community, beyond self-indulgence to service. We have been set free by Christ so that we can move beyond selfish freedom and become servants to one another, as Christ served. It is the freedom that comes from learning to love others as God loves us. We are called to be his servants.

Christian love is a particular kind of love. It is born out of a freedom of strength, not weakness. It emerges out of a sense of fullness rather than emptiness. It's goal is to affirm and serve rather be affirmed and served. It is true unconditional love. Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky understood this when he wrote, "If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me."  

The alternative, any kind of love born of a desire to have one's own needs met, is a destructive kind of love. Friendships, marriages, church communities built on this kind of love are as dangerous. There are many of things that keep us from living in the freedom of God's love and power. They keep us from experiencing the reign of God in our lives. Little can destroy a person, or a church,  more than enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and factions.

No matter how noble our intentions, no matter how lofty our aspirations, no matter how virtuous our goals, as Christ has taught us without the Spirit of God, none of us can live in real freedom.   In Jesus we have the power to be truly free so you and I might love one another as Christ loves us. Christ gave us the gift of himself and with it power to put away the things that would divide us. In his love he gives us power to move into life-giving servant-hood, servants to one another, and most of all, devotion and obedience to the One whose service is perfect freedom.

Another thing that Christ has taught us is, life is not worth living until you have found something worth dying for. But it is also true, life is not worth living until you have found something truly worth living for. If something is worth our lives, it is worth everything. But we also want meaning to life. People want to live lives that matter. Paul understood this and affirmed it with his entire life. Christ died because we are worth his dying for. And through the resurrection God gives us a promise worth living for.

We need encourage our friends and families to celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow. We need to stop and remember those who laid down their lives for our country to protect our freedoms. And, most of all, we need to celebrate the ONE, Jesus Christ, who laid down his life so we might be truly free to live.  

If men and women are willing to volunteer to join our Armed Forces and go into harms way, if they are willing to die in uniform for us, because they have found something worth dying for, how can we not honor them by finding something truly worth living for?  And what is more worthy of living than living our faith in such a way that others will come to know Christ and God’s love?

Perhaps if we live reaching out to others, as Christ did, to love them as God does, then men and women would not have to take up arms and die.

Amen

Responsibility

Genesis 41:41-57

2 Corinthians 11:23-30

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Luke 17: 7-10

John 21:15-17

Responsibility

Memorial Day weekend. For most people it means the start of summer, a long weekend of picnics, maybe a parade, and to most of us it means grills, food, family, and fun. For a few people, it means going to the graves of deceased loved ones and remembering those who have passed away who fought for our country.

Reverend Martin Niemoller’s confession in 1945 carries a warning for us all:

“In Germany, the Nazis came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for me... by that time there was no one to speak up for anyone.”

These words sound like they came from a man who was too afraid to stand up against what was happening around him. However, the words come from a man who also declared that he “would rather burn his church to the ground, than to preach the Nazi trinity of ‘race, blood, and soil.’”

Martin Niemoller had been a U-boat captain in WW I prior to becoming a pastor. And he supported Hitler prior to Hitler’s taking power. Indeed, initially the Nazi press held him up as a model for his service in WW I. But Niemoller broke very early with the Nazis. In 1933, he organized the Pastor’s Emergency League to protect Lutheran pastors from the police. In 1934, he was one of the leading organizers at the Barmen Synod and became an enduring symbol of German resistance to Hitler.

From 1933 to 1937, Niemoller consistently trashed everything the Nazis stood for. Rev. Martin Niemoller was protected until 1937 by both the foreign press and influential friends in the up-scale Berlin suburb where he preached. Eventually, he was arrested for treason. He was found guilty, but perhaps due to foreign pressure he was initially given only a suspended sentence. However, then he was almost re-arrested almost immediately on Hitler’s direct orders. From then on until the end of WW II, he was held at the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Near the end of the war, he narrowly escaped execution.

Martin Niemoller, despite all that he did to speak out against the Nazis, accepted a share of responsibility for what happened in Germany during that awful period from 1933 to 1945. He felt he could have spoken out more.

We live in a time when too many people do not assume their responsibilities, as parents, as workers, as citizens of this nation, as members of human kind, as Christians. People are too quick to say, “It isn’t my job.” We live in a time when too many people want to let others take responsibility, when too many people want to blame others for problems. A person cannot live a fulfilled life always blaming others for the way things are. A person cannot be a Christian without assuming responsibility for their life and what happens to them.

Some years ago a former American astronaut, Frank Borman, took over as head of a major airline, determined to make the airline’s service the best in the industry. Frank Borman was the astronaut who read from the Bible while in route to the moon during Christmas in 1968. One day, as he walked through a particular department, he saw an employee resting his feet on a desk while the telephone on the desk rang incessantly. “Aren’t you going to answer that phone?” the Borman demanded. “It isn’t my job-- this isn’t my department,” answered the employee nonchalantly, apparently not recognizing his new boss. “ I work in maintenance.” “Not anymore you don’t!” snapped Frank Borman. The young man lost his job.

Up to a point a person’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his or her grasp to shape the clay of personal life into the sort of thing he or she wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, “This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.”

It has been said, life is not really worth living until you have found something worth dying for. For anyone who seeks life that matters, we must find something worth our very lives.

In 2 Corinthians Paul tells about all he has suffered in following Jesus. He recalls frequent imprisonments, whippings, beatings, stonings and a shipwreck. He's been betrayed, he's been left exposed and starving and he's undergone sleep deprivation. And yet he keeps on going. Paul was a man with a purpose, a man with a clear sense of mission. At the time he wrote the second letter to Timothy he was an old man, scarred by stonings, beatings, shipwrecks, and disappointments.

What fills Paul with a sense of vocation and purpose and meaning, even in the face of persecution, is the good news of Jesus' coming into the world, his historic death, resurrection and ascension, which the Lord himself had commanded Paul to preach to the world. He tells Timothy: "God's grace has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Life is not worth living until you have found something worth dying for. It is also true, life is not worth living until you have found something truly worth living for. If something is worth our lives, it is worth everything. But we also want meaning to life. People want to live lives that matter. Responsible commitment to a goal or ideal that matters provides that significance. Paul understood this and affirmed it with his entire life.

One of the greatest problems facing our children, youth, and adults is not that they are apathetic. The problem is that they have not found something that makes like worth living. They are looking for something to which they can give their lives.

These days the world teaches that nothing really matters, that no life makes a major difference. The world teaches that responsibility is not important because ultimately nothing truly matters. Mother Teresa said, “You think that what you are accomplishing is a drop in the ocean.  But if this drop were not in the ocean, it would be missed.”

In 1944-45, Dr. Viktor Frankl was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Europe. While observing hundreds of fellow prisoners during those terrible years, he made a startling discovery: People could live through even the most deplorable conditions as long as they had a clear purpose to hold on to. That purpose for living could be anything from planting another garden, to holding a loved one's hand, to finishing a piece of art. As long as prisoners felt they had some tangible goal to live for, they could tolerate incredible doses of emotional and physical trauma. But once they lost their picture of a positive future, it wasn't long before they were at risk.

"It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future" wrote Frankl. Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost." 

 Fulfilling responsibilities brings discipline into our lives and lets us spend our life on things that count.

The world’s true heroes are those who fulfill their responsibilities every day. They are the people who work hard at being good parents, turn out to vote in every election, express their thoughts and needs to elected officials, stand up against poverty and speak out against those who would diminish our rights, and the rights of people around the world.

Being a Christian gives us certain daily responsibilities:

We are to advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus together. We will  pray for those who need God’s presence in their lives. We will reach out to those who need our help.

We will work with integrity and diligence in our jobs and domestic situations and honor the name of Christ in all we do.

We will seek to speak of our trust in Christ to others in a kind and relevant manner, and invite them to learn more about Jesus, and to worship.

We will become servant leaders and assume leadership when it is needed and when we have the talent to do what is needed.

And we will do all this in the knowledge that God will give us the strength and the grace even in the face of adversity and ridicule to feed his sheep.

Responsibility makes life rewarding. God rewards responsible followers. We may not get rich. We may have to endure hardships. But God’s reward is eternal life. God has promised us that if we assume the responsibility of feeding his sheep, he will be there with us through every trial, every problem, even through death.

We will never be perfect in our following of Jesus. But Christ counts all our efforts to be responsible as if we did our work perfectly. If we do our best, God counts it as perfect. God will use our efforts on his behalf to do wonderful things. When we are responsible in what God gives us to do we discover something worth giving our lives for, we gain life worth living .

If men and women are willing to volunteer to join our Armed Forces and go into harms way, if they are willing to die in uniform for us, because they have found something worth dying for, how can we not honor them by finding something truly worth living for?  And what is more worthy of living than living our faith in such a way that others will come to know Christ and God’s love?

Perhaps if we live reaching out to others, as Christ did, to love them as God does, then men and women would not have to take up arms and die.

Amen