18
year old Joe Herman stepped out of the building of his summer job. He worked as
a mail clerk at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, though he preferred to be called
the “interoffice liaison.”
Joe had heard something about a march happening in town and while breaking between mail runs… ahem… “interoffice liaison connections” he thought it would be interesting to see what it was all about.
Joe took his time walking; after all it was a hot and humid day in the District of Columbia- August 28, 1963. As Joe made his way down from 19th street -18th street, 17th, 16th – he slowed to halt. Looking down the bright street, the heat emanated from the ground like in those old westerns, staring off in the distance.
Through the haze he could see them coming, a tidal wave of people from curb to curb, linked arm in arm. Black folk and some white folk sprinkled in, row by row with no end in sight they marched. They marched and they sang, “freedom, freedom, freedom, oh freedom.” Like the tide of the seas, Joe was swept into the waves of marchers and made his way through town.
He didn’t know it then, but young Joe Herman, standing in the shadow of the Washington monument was about to witness one of the most famous oral discourses of the 20th Century.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on that bright August day, shined light on the darkness of racial discrimination and segregation. Through the decades they have reflected their message to radically reorient our minds and our actions to embrace ALL people as equals regardless of race, class, or creed that we might be a people who live in peace, harmony and non-violence. These words are as needed today as they were almost 51 years ago and even before that.
Yet long before two hundred - thousand people marched on Washington and received a prescription from a doctor to realize the kingdom of heaven through racial harmony, the voice of our Lord called out to a town of about one thousand people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Repent. Repent is such a worn out word for us, I think. We often talk about repentance in the Hebrew way which is to turn around particularly when it comes to sin. However, the Greek here is really saying change our minds, the way we think, radically reorient ourselves towards the will of God. This is not an easy thing for us and we can look to the Civil Rights movement for evidence of that.
It is with this radical reorientation in mind that Matthew tells of the disciples’ call with such immediacy. At first glance we can be surprised even intimidated by the sense of urgency on the part of the disciples to give up everything and follow this seemingly random person. They just dropped their nets and left.
Could you imagine their father? “Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here!”All their lives they have learned this trade and they have supported their families and community by getting up every day and going out on the water to reel in the catch.
And then as they prepare for yet another day’s work, this Jesus calls, “follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And they go. Just like that. So who is this Jesus and why is it easy for them to go?Back up to the beginning of the passage, and we learn that upon hearing of John’s arrest, Jesus leaves Nazareth and moves to Capernaum, a small fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. It’s so subtle in the text that we easily glance over it but it says that “he left Nazareth and made his home” there. He made his dwelling, he settled down, he moved in. Guess who’s coming to dinner!
Jesus settled in this place, referred to by the prophet Isaiah as Galilee of the Gentiles, a place with a variety of people, once again, not all of whom bear Jewish ethnicity. This is where Jesus begins his ministry. This is where Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of heaven has come near… to all people, so it is time to radically reorient ourselves to the way of the kingdom.
And if we view the passage with this lens of Jesus’ entrenchment into the diverse community of Capernaum, then we observe a different perspective from which these fishermen see Jesus.In such a small town, Jesus is someone whose message they have heard, someone whom they recognize, someone whom when he calls their hearts pound with anxiety and excitement for the untraveled road ahead, because they see what Jesus is doing, turning the rhetoric of us and them into we and compelling these fishermen to join in the journey acknowledging they have gifts for the work.
Our congregation is walking down a tough road and we are unsure where the marching might lead. Some of us are still grieving members who have left our ranks and hope they’ll return one day.
Some of us fear that we might be called up to the front of the line into new roles. Or perhaps we fear that with change along with some of the things that we have loved about our church we will be pushed out of the march altogether.
But we also recognize this as a march away from stagnant waters, the kind which breeds algae and mosquito, towards the shores of the sea which always provides a fresh catch that will continue to nourish and strengthen our community.
Sisters and brothers, we may have been living in darkness, but the light of Christ shines brightly on this community. We have heard his message and we see what Jesus is doing right here, setting sail the nave of St. Luke’s, naming the gifts that we have been given to cast into the sea of Hamden.
This radical reorientation is happening by the grace of God working in each one of us. Jesus has made his dwelling among us and compels us into the kingdom of heaven, here and now, in this town, to a life sharing the good news of Jesus’ promise to be with us to the end of the age.
Joe had heard something about a march happening in town and while breaking between mail runs… ahem… “interoffice liaison connections” he thought it would be interesting to see what it was all about.
Joe took his time walking; after all it was a hot and humid day in the District of Columbia- August 28, 1963. As Joe made his way down from 19th street -18th street, 17th, 16th – he slowed to halt. Looking down the bright street, the heat emanated from the ground like in those old westerns, staring off in the distance.
Through the haze he could see them coming, a tidal wave of people from curb to curb, linked arm in arm. Black folk and some white folk sprinkled in, row by row with no end in sight they marched. They marched and they sang, “freedom, freedom, freedom, oh freedom.” Like the tide of the seas, Joe was swept into the waves of marchers and made his way through town.
He didn’t know it then, but young Joe Herman, standing in the shadow of the Washington monument was about to witness one of the most famous oral discourses of the 20th Century.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on that bright August day, shined light on the darkness of racial discrimination and segregation. Through the decades they have reflected their message to radically reorient our minds and our actions to embrace ALL people as equals regardless of race, class, or creed that we might be a people who live in peace, harmony and non-violence. These words are as needed today as they were almost 51 years ago and even before that.
Yet long before two hundred - thousand people marched on Washington and received a prescription from a doctor to realize the kingdom of heaven through racial harmony, the voice of our Lord called out to a town of about one thousand people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Repent. Repent is such a worn out word for us, I think. We often talk about repentance in the Hebrew way which is to turn around particularly when it comes to sin. However, the Greek here is really saying change our minds, the way we think, radically reorient ourselves towards the will of God. This is not an easy thing for us and we can look to the Civil Rights movement for evidence of that.
It is with this radical reorientation in mind that Matthew tells of the disciples’ call with such immediacy. At first glance we can be surprised even intimidated by the sense of urgency on the part of the disciples to give up everything and follow this seemingly random person. They just dropped their nets and left.
Could you imagine their father? “Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here!”All their lives they have learned this trade and they have supported their families and community by getting up every day and going out on the water to reel in the catch.
And then as they prepare for yet another day’s work, this Jesus calls, “follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And they go. Just like that. So who is this Jesus and why is it easy for them to go?Back up to the beginning of the passage, and we learn that upon hearing of John’s arrest, Jesus leaves Nazareth and moves to Capernaum, a small fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. It’s so subtle in the text that we easily glance over it but it says that “he left Nazareth and made his home” there. He made his dwelling, he settled down, he moved in. Guess who’s coming to dinner!
Jesus settled in this place, referred to by the prophet Isaiah as Galilee of the Gentiles, a place with a variety of people, once again, not all of whom bear Jewish ethnicity. This is where Jesus begins his ministry. This is where Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of heaven has come near… to all people, so it is time to radically reorient ourselves to the way of the kingdom.
And if we view the passage with this lens of Jesus’ entrenchment into the diverse community of Capernaum, then we observe a different perspective from which these fishermen see Jesus.In such a small town, Jesus is someone whose message they have heard, someone whom they recognize, someone whom when he calls their hearts pound with anxiety and excitement for the untraveled road ahead, because they see what Jesus is doing, turning the rhetoric of us and them into we and compelling these fishermen to join in the journey acknowledging they have gifts for the work.
Our congregation is walking down a tough road and we are unsure where the marching might lead. Some of us are still grieving members who have left our ranks and hope they’ll return one day.
Some of us fear that we might be called up to the front of the line into new roles. Or perhaps we fear that with change along with some of the things that we have loved about our church we will be pushed out of the march altogether.
But we also recognize this as a march away from stagnant waters, the kind which breeds algae and mosquito, towards the shores of the sea which always provides a fresh catch that will continue to nourish and strengthen our community.
Sisters and brothers, we may have been living in darkness, but the light of Christ shines brightly on this community. We have heard his message and we see what Jesus is doing right here, setting sail the nave of St. Luke’s, naming the gifts that we have been given to cast into the sea of Hamden.
This radical reorientation is happening by the grace of God working in each one of us. Jesus has made his dwelling among us and compels us into the kingdom of heaven, here and now, in this town, to a life sharing the good news of Jesus’ promise to be with us to the end of the age.
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