June 26, 2023
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Pastor Lois Pallmeyer, June 25, 2023
Romans 6:1:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39
Dear Friends in Christ, God’s grace and peace be with you. Amen.
Hanging near the door as you leave the new Hope Breakfast Bar in Eagan, hangs a portrait of Don Ritchie by artist Joey Africa[i]. Don was known as the Angel of the Gap[ii]. Living near the Pacific coast outside of Sydney, he spent long parts of his day just taking in the view of the ocean surf.
But over 160 times (and some say the number was much higher,) Don would notice someone in despair, preparing to throw themselves off the cliff to end their suffering. Don would slowly cross the street, and quietly approach the person in distress, asking, “Can I help you in some way?”
More often than not, Don’s gentleness could calm the tension, and he would invite the troubled person back to his home for cup of tea and a visit. His family describes how many people would visit years later, thanking Don for saving their lives, calling him an angel, the Angel of the Gap.
I wonder how many of the people Don Ritchie met would identify with these hard words of Jesus[iii]? How many of them had felt their lives had led not to peace, but a sword? How many of them had felt rejected from home, left out of friendship, or abandoned by society? Not just son against father or daughter against mother, but one person, who felt as if the whole world was against them, without a friend or connection anywhere.
It doesn’t have to be Pride Month to know that for far too many people trying to live freely in bodies and relationships, life in families or under societal expectations can become strained to the point of feeling unbearable. In order to fully embrace a life of love and fullness in the body God has given them, they have had to step away from toxicity, shame, rejection and conflict, and find a new way.
Jeannette Walls was interviewed by Kerri Miller on MPR on Friday[iv]. Nearly 20 years ago, Walls wrote a heartbreaking memoir about her childhood entitled The Glass Castle. In it she describes her wildly erratic upbringing, her alcoholic father, the sexual abuse she faced, her mother’s neglect, and her parents’ eventual path into homelessness. While she clearly loves her family, Jeannette realizes at a young age, that she has to escape their inability to care for her. In her interview on Friday Walls said that while she tried to hold on to the mythology of a loving family that would protect and provide for her, she knew by the age of 13 that her father’s illness could no longer allow her to find safety at home.
Fortunately, most of us don’t face the extreme danger that Walls faced in her early life, and perhaps never get to the point of being ready to end our stories, but too many people know the heartache and fear of Jesus’ words. Finding health and strength to live the new life we trust God desires for us, might mean turning away from a home or a relationship, might mean realizing that a foe is a member of one’s own household.
It sounds so strange and unsettling to imagine that the way of Christ might be away from people or places. The resurrected life might mean a breaking of relationships, a loss of familiar, expected roles.
But then again, isn’t this the message we’ve been shouting to each other since that first Easter? Death has no more dominion over us. The cross of the old empire will longer destroy us. We no longer need to live in places of pain, subjugation or hatred. We have been freed for life.
Jesus is still calling disciples into work. He invites us to join him in bringing hope and compassion to people in pain, offering a new way to those who have learned that patterns and messages of oppression are no longer tenable. Jesus draws us into the work of sharing good news. We get to shout from the housetops that the old ways of belittling, neglecting, or humiliating others will no longer shape our interactions. We get to let others know they walk in the light of reconciling, transforming, grace-filled love[v], and nothing else gets to define them.
For some, that could mean leaving behind family, or home, to embrace the love God intends for us. But for all of us, resurrection always implies a new way of life. Paul reminded the Romans: Just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life[vi]. Whether we have been abused or been abusive, whether we have shunned or been shunned, whether we have benefited from injustice, or been on the losing side, God calls us into a new day.
How might we be signs of resurrection life to the world around us? Might we be a community that repents from all the ways we have fostered oppression or bias to work to find a new way? Might God be calling us to be the Angels of the Gap, finding those who are in despair and offering a cup of tea and a listening ear? Might we go out of our way to remind the loneliest that God knows how many hairs are on her head, and thinks each one of them is wonderful? Might we tell the most distraught that God has never abandoned even one tiny sparrow, and that God certainly hasn’t forgotten him? Might we find words of hope and goodness that if we can’t shout from the rooftops, we could at least whisper to those standing at the brink of despair?
It is Pride Weekend, and we get to celebrate that bigoted hatred no longer has a say in our lives. We get to sing that life in bodies is good, that God creates each of us for love and connection. We get to dance with lives declaring Christ is risen, so violence and ignorance, bullying and shame no longer have a place in our relationships. Might we dare to dance in the joy of new life?
Nearly 1000 years ago, Persian Lyric Poet Hafiz poetically reminded us.
I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy
My mind is too busy
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life
I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up
O, Sacred One,
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious[vii].
The love and freedom of a God of grace is contagious, friends! Are you catching it? If dancing is too far out for you, might you at least sing? I sing because I’m happy, Paul is going to remind us. I sing because I’m free. If God’s eye is on each sparrow, then certainly we can trust God watches you and me.
Dear friends in Christ, God loves each part of this creation, knows how many feathers are on the tiniest sparrow, counts the hairs on our head, wipes the tears from our eyes, holds our dreams and our hopes, takes our hand, and leads us into life.
Like those who have been touched by angels of the gap, we dance in the light of a new day.
Thanks be to God. Amen
______________________
[i] https://artbyjoeyafrica.com/
[ii] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/australia-mourns-angel-of-the-gap-don-ritchie-the-man-who-talked-160-out-of-suicide-7754339.html
[iii] Matthew 10:24-39
[iv] https://www.mprnews.org/arts/books
[v] Working Preacher’s Sermon Brainwave “#909: Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 12A) – June 25, 2023,” published June 18, 2023. https://, www.workingpreacher.org/podcast-type/sermon-brainwave
[vi] Romans 6:1b-11
[vii]Hafiz, The Sacred Dance for Life. https://livingthepresentmoment.com/the-sacred-dance-for-life-hafiz/