Sunday's sermon at Highlands "Called"

“Called”

Highlands Presbyterian Church

February 10, 2013

Imagine the look on poor Isaiah’s face as you listen to God’s words. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah stands before the Lord in the temple. The smallest hem of the divine robe swallows the holy house in eternal fabric; the mighty seraphim, monstrous six-winged creatures now screech the praise of the Holy One, and God, amidst the fire and smoke announces what it is Isaiah is called to do.

“Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds.

The command is devastating to Isaiah. God commands the prophet to speak in such a way that no one will understand what it is he is saying. Their eyes and ears will be useless, so dull and sightless that their minds will be clouded with confusion. As a result, their healing will be delayed.

And God said, “Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes.”

The prophet is called…Isaiah is called to speak but his words will not make the people any wiser of their lives easier, or their road smoother, or their responsibilities plainer. Everything will be more confusing and less certain. It will be more difficult to perceive just what it is that God wants from the people.

Not surprisingly, that eager prophet who in verse eight said, “Here I am, send me,” the ready follower of the mighty Lord of the temple who is so anxious to do the divine work, now sounds very different in verse eleven, after hearing what God has in mind for him. Instead of "Here am I," the prophet bleats like a goat going to the sacrificial altar, "How long, O Lord?"

How long must I do what it is you have asked of me? And God said, a long, long time. “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

You can hear in these words an undercurrent of the response Moses once gave the same God who asked him to go and command the great Pharaoh…"choose somebody else, anybody else, please.”

We speak a great deal about being called. Paul told us we have all been given one gift or another and God expects us to use those gifts to bring peace to the world, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, comfort to the ill, freedom to the captives.

Cotton Mather was an early New England Puritan minister, remembered for his role in organizing the Salem witch trials. This was clearly a man who believed in answering the call…even though, in his case it might have been a wrong number.

Cotton Mather said, “Every Christian should have a calling. That is to say, there should be some special business, and some settled business, wherein a Christian should for the most part spend the most of his time that so he may glorify God. It is not lawful, he said, for a Christian ordinarily to live without some calling or another, until infirmities have unhappily disabled him.” Mather thought it “a wonderful inconvenience for a man to have a calling that won’t agree with him.”

Isaiah was given that “wonderful inconvenience” as were the fishermen Jesus encountered that day along the Sea of Galilee. Imagine you are just living your life, you have a family to care for. You’re a fisherman who has boats, nets, mouths to feed. Along comes this itinerant preacher who starts the conversation by telling you how to do your job.

You’ve been out in the boat all day in the hot sun and haven’t caught a thing. And this fellow standing on the shore watching you do all the work gets into your boat and starts issuing commands. He says, “You’re not doing it right. Get back in your boat, put out a little farther and drop your nets a little deeper.”

Probably the most surprising thing about the story is that they do what they are told. They load their nets, head out a little farther, drop the nets a little deeper and lo and behold…the nets fill up with fish. The preacher was right! Others have to come help. Boats overfill with the catch of the day. And scripture says that when the fisherman, soon to be former fisherman, Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” SIN?

What was Peter’s sin? After all, Peter did exactly what he was called to do…he took the boat out, lowered the nets just as he was told. Maybe he regretted his initial reluctance. He did initially question the call. He had all the resources to follow the call but questioned Jesus when Jesus asked him to use them.

So what does it mean to be called. Scripture always tells stories that make it sound as though there is a voice involved, a voice of God speaks or Jesus speaks…that the sound of the call is actually audible. It’s not. And yet it’s clear. Remember God’s words to Isaiah? “Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds.” You don’t get off the hook by saying you didn’t hear it, didn’t understand it. You’re not supposed to.

William Booth was the Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General in1878. General Booth said, “Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call? Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help.”

A little dramatic, but you get the point. You see the call is heard through the gifts we have each received. It’s not all that hard to comprehend if you take an inventory of the skills and gifts you’ve been given. Actually…the first indication that you are being called is the fact that you awoke this morning on this side of the sod. If you are alive…God is calling.

God is very specific about what each of us is called to do by the talents, skills, experiences, and resources we are given as individuals and collectively. For some among us the call has been heard in their ability to plant a community garden, for others the call is heard in the ability to knit stocking caps and gloves, for some it’s the skill to work with those who have Alzheimer’s and for others it’s the gift of empathy and experience to comfort and guide recovering addicts.

If you’ve been blessed to come out of poverty, God is calling you not to judge those who are poor but to use the skills that helped you succeed to help others to achieve the same success in their lives. If you’ve been homeless and now have shelter, that’s the sound of God’s call in your life.

I look back on my own life…God gave me a gay brother, alcoholic parents, time in politics and law teaching me to speak and to write…time working among the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua, time to work in public welfare and mental health…all those experiences and gifts were more than spending my time waiting for the Grim Reaper…they formed my call…seems clear to me that I have been called to speak for the marginalized.

The same is true in your life…look back over the years…what talents and skills did God give you, what experiences formed your life, what gifts and resources do you have? That’s God’s call.

When Jesus asked the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee to use their talents and their resources to go deeper, to venture farther from the shore…it wasn’t about teaching them to fish. They knew how to fish. It was about saying to them, you have the skills you need to find others,  to lead others, to get them to listen, to teach, to lead…and when they realized they were being called, not to simply fish but to obey, they brought their boats to shore, left everything and followed him.

Jesus never once asked them to do that. Jesus simply gave them the confidence to see that they had already been given the gifts and the experiences God needed at that time and place.

Take a personal inventory. What skills do you have? What experiences molded your life? What resources have you been given. Then look carefully on the cross…see that place where it intersects? That is the place where your skills, gifts, experiences and resources intersect with the need God is calling you to meet.

Cotton Mather said it’s not lawful for a Christian to not have a calling. I don’t know about that…I tend to question anyone who thought his calling was to burn witches at the stake…but I do believe it is not possible for a human being not to have a calling. It’s why we are here, here at Highlands at this time in our lives…it’s the purpose of our lives. And it’s not all that difficult to figure out. AMEN

Wyoming: Love it or leave it. Really?

Audette Fulbright is a newcomer to Wyoming. She’s one of those bright, creative people most American communities welcome. She is the new minister at Cheyenne’s Unitarian Universalist Church. Reverend Audette is from South Carolina, graduated from seminary in California, and served a congregation in Virginia. Someone like Audette has choices about where to live. Last year she chose Cheyenne.

Last week she made a newcomer’s mistake. Audette had the audacity to actually write legislators voicing concerns about some of the legislation making its way through this session. In all honesty, there’d be something seriously wrong with anyone who didn’t have concerns about a lot of the legislation under consideration this year. But I digress.

One legislator Audette wrote was Hans Hunt, a Republican rancher from Newcastle. It’s always interesting when one politician actually says what others believe but are smart enough not to say (ala Todd Akin). Hans wasted no time telling the good Reverend what he thought about her and her opinion.

“I’ll be blunt,” he wrote, “if you don’t like the political atmosphere of Wyoming, then by all means, leave. We, who have been here a very long time are quite proud of our independent heritage.” He said it offended him “to no end when liberal out-of-staters such as yourself move into Wyoming, trying to get away from where they came from, and then pompously demand that Wyoming conform to their way of thinking.” The he told her not to let the gate hit her on the backside. “So, to conclude, if you’re so worried about what our legislature is working on, then go back home. Sincerely, Representative Hans Hunt-House District 02”

To be clear, Hans was only putting into an email what many of his colleagues and a lot of his constituents believe. It’s kind of like, “Fewer people choose to live in Wyoming than any of the other 49 states…and if you’re so damned smart, how come you moved here?”

Our legislators certainly capture the nation’s imagination. Whether it’s an email like Hans sent, a bill to criminalize the enforcement of federal law or another to legalize the eating of road-kill, neither the Wyoming Business Council nor the Tourism Office have budgets big enough to overcome the loud national guffaws.

During campaigns, legislative candidate wring their hands about how to diversify the state’s economy. They expound on bringing new businesses to Wyoming to create jobs and broaden the tax base. They fail to realize there aren’t enough photographs of Old Faithful erupting or Devil’s Tower rising to overcome the damage they do to the state’s image in those 40 days.

Richard Florida of George Mason University in Washington, D.C. Florida researches economic development strategies for states. His book The Flight of the Creative Class, argues persuasively the answers are what he calls “the 3 Ts” of economic development - technology, talent and tolerance. Florida says while all three are necessary, “the third one, tolerance, is essential.”

He argues “truly successful societies go out of their way to be open and inclusive.” There’s a strong relationship between economic vigor and openness to immigrants, artists, gays, and all levels of socio-economic status. It’s neither harmless nor humorous when Wyoming legislators advertise their intolerance.

From bills targeting Muslims under the guise of prohibiting the use of Sharia law in our courts to the bigotry exposed in debates over the rights of gays and lesbians, Wyoming legislators communicate to the world that we may be “open for business’ but only if you are “our kind” of guys.

Legislators should set aside their prejudices and take advantage of Wyoming’s natural beauty and history to draw diverse talent from around the world. Talented people and creative thinkers want to live and work in communities open to them and others. No matter how pretty the scenery, they won’t come and have avoided a state that adamantly bucks the national tide which daily moves inexorably toward tolerance.

Wyoming has too many Hans and too few Audettes for its own good.  

This is what’s come of Thomas Jefferson’s vision?

This is the new America? This is what’s come of Thomas Jefferson’s vision? After a 237-year experiment with democracy and freedom, some of those who’ve been given the mantle of leadership in the United States of America are apparently willing to sacrifice it all on the altar of their demagoguery-fueled perception of gun rights.

In Wyoming, legislators have introduced the blatantly unconstitutional “Firearm Protection Act.” They seek to create a felony punishable by five years in prison for any “official, agent or employee of the United States government” who enforces “or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the United States government” regulating gun safety.

The Ft. Collins Republican county sheriff says he’ll violate his oath by refusing to enforce federal laws he considers unconstitutional. He’s mimicking other sheriffs around the country who have decided they have authority to decide which laws are not constitutional.

The sheriff of Jackson County, Kentucky, Denny Peyman, falsely claimed the federal government plans to ask him to confiscate guns, “and I said ‘you are never going to pull a gun from Jackson County,” adding, “I am responsible for the people inside this county… if Obama passes this, it doesn’t matter what he passes, the sheriff has more power than the federal people.”

He wasn’t the first Southern politician to pretend he has “more power than the federal people.” Sheriff Denny and the boys didn’t learn much from what they call the “War of Northern Aggression.” They got another lesson when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled their schools had to be integrated. But politicians are politicians. Although they knew they couldn’t get away with it, they couldn’t resist playing to their less-informed constituents.

Like those sheriffs and Wyoming legislators who sponsor the “Firearm Protection Act,” Southern governors knew more votes could be won than lost by playing the fool. In1957, when nine children arrived at a Little Rock high school where the Supreme Court said they could begin classes, segregationist governor Orville Faubus, turned them away, defying an order of the Federal District Court.

President Dwight Eisenhower refused to allow Faubus to disrespect the Constitution. Eisenhower was as determined to uphold his responsibility as this governor was to ignore his. Eisenhower reaffirmed that ours is a country of law, and patriotic citizens, regardless of their prejudices, traditions, and customs, are expected to obey the law. "The foundation of the American way of life," Eisenhower reminded them, "is respect for law."

Another Southern governor required a remedial course. Alabama’s George Wallace stood in another school-house door and attempted to defy federal law. “I stand here today, as Governor of this sovereign State, and refuse to willingly submit to illegal usurpation of power by the Central Government.” In spite of his rhetoric, federal agents moved Wallace aside and the federal law was enforced.

Pseudo-conservatives like Faubus, Wallace and those Wyoming legislators aren’t so ill-informed as they are ill-motivated. They know the law. They just don’t respect it. They’d rather play to the crowd than lead. During the segregation battles, politicians irresponsibly incited not only disrespect for democratic institutions but violence as well.

These demagogues regurgitate words of the “founding fathers,” demanding the Constitution be interpreted as the “fathers” intended. They can’t help themselves when an opportunity comes to trash both the “fathers” and their handiwork.

James Madison wrote the Federalist Papers Number 47 discussing federalism and the separation of powers. These legislators should read it instead of the junk they receive from the NRA. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

State legislators don’t trump federal law. They can’t prevent federal officials from enforcing it. Sheriffs don’t get to decide whether laws they don’t like are constitutional. In a dictatorship, only one opinion matters, but maintaining a free society requires the self-discipline to understand your opinion is just one of many.

An open letter to Dick Cheney

An open letter to Dick Cheney:

Dear Mr. Vice-president, you’ll be in Cheyenne this week to speak at a Republican Party gathering. As a father who knows the truth, you could educate some of them on a human rights matter, the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.

It’s ironic, perhaps hypocritical, that Republicans invite you to speak and raise money for them while most insist your home state be one place where your daughter could never have celebrated one of the most important events in the life of your family, her wedding. It isn’t just that they refuse to recognize her marriage, but what they think and say aloud about people of her sexual orientation that is most troubling.

This year several courageous Republicans supported marriage equality. Representatives Keith Gingery, Sue Wallis, Dan Zwonitzer, Ruth Ann Petroff, Matt Greene and Senators Michael Von Flatern and Bruce Burns deserve our gratitude.  These honest conservatives joined Democrats Cathy Connolly, Mary Throne, James Byrd, Chris Rothfuss, and Bernadine Craft in asserting that a government that can decide who you can marry is too big and intrusive.

There are others who are not near so enlightened. Take Representative Lynn Hutchins. You’d think someone whose ancestors confronted “Whites Only” signs at drinking fountains wouldn’t support a “Heterosexuals Only” sign at the marriage bureau. But she told fellow-legislators, “Science does not evidence a genetic involvement to homosexuality. It is but a choice. Being black is involuntary. Homosexuals may choose who they want to be.”

Mr. Vice-president, you and I know better. Like you, God made someone close to me homosexual. In your case a daughter, in mine a brother. Your daughter married her partner in 2012. My brother died of a heart attack in 2006 after 20 years in a committed, loving relationship. You and I witnessed their struggles and suffered with them. Neither had any choice whatsoever over their sexuality. No one submits voluntarily to the worst kind of discrimination and public taunts of politicians.

Being homosexual means being targeted by derisive and mean-spirited judgments of people like Rep. Hutchins who told colleagues, “The gay lifestyle is harmful to the mind, spirit and body.” Mr. Vice-president, tell Ms. Hutchins and Rep. Mark Baker of your daughter’s delightful spirit, how she brings you joy and how her sexual orientation should not deprive her of constitutional rights.

Hutchins also called AIDS “gay-related immune deficiency.” Rep. Mark Baker told the House that same-sex marriage would be good “for the funeral business” because most gays and lesbians die early of AIDS. That’s not only ignorance. It’s bigotry. And no one chooses to subject themselves to that kind of hate speech.

Unless you and I challenge the lies and those who tell them, homosexuals will always be subjected to the judgment of people who self-appoint themselves as God’s quality control team. Pastor Shaun Sells of Calvary Chapel told legislators homosexuality is “morally depraved. The Bible, he said, is “very clear.” Apparently it isn’t clear enough about loving one another.

The problem is, no matter what preachers say someone may believe them. Jesus called those who read the Bible so literally as to harm others “a brood of vipers.” While you’re in town you’ll have the opportunity to speak to the brood, not only as a fellow Republican but also as a father.

There is perhaps no one with the high standing you have among the brood who knows that what they say is foul, offensive and despicable. As a pastor, I’ll debate them over their flawed and hurtful reading of the Bible. But as a father, you can tell them what you learned from the experiences of your own family, the painful as well as the joyful.

Friends shouldn’t let friends remain bigots. Fathers shouldn’t stand silent among those who falsely judge their daughters and others like them. You and I know homosexuality is not a choice. It’s the way God chose to make some of us and that’s okay because our God doesn’t make mistakes.