"How to be Amazing", March 27, 2022

 How to be Amazing

By Rev Jamie Green Klopotoski
Based on Luke 15: 1-7; 11-32
March 27, 2022
First Baptist Church, Gloucester, MA

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/100000138252260/videos/2186826728139975/

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see.” I want to tell you about the man who wrote these beautiful lyrics. His name was John Newton, and for almost a decade in the mid 1700s, he was actively involved in the slave trade, helping to transport people from Africa across the Altantic Ocean to the Americas to be sold as slaves. Newton was the first mate aboard the slave ship Brownlow and he made three voyages as captain of the slave ships Duke of Argyle and the African. After suffering a severe stroke in 1754, he gave up seafaring, but he continued to invest money in slaving operations.

Slowly over the years, though, Newton began an intense personal transformation, converting to Christianity, being called to ministry, getting ordained in 1764, being appointed rector of St Mary Woolnoth Church in London, and eventually becoming an abolitionist. In 1788, he published a forceful pamphlet called “Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade”, in which he described the horrific conditions of the slave ships on the Middle Passage. He confessed that he, quote: "was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders."

In the midst of these changes, he wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace”, based on his experience of being redeemed by God after repenting of his sins of participating in the slave trade.  He truly found it amazing that God could forgive even a sinner like him who profited off of selling people into slavery. 

Part of John Newton’s story is portrayed in the 2006 film “Amazing Grace” (which I highly recommend; I brought my copy if anyone wants to borrow it!). The movie is based on the true story of the end of the slave trade in Britain and shows the influence John Newton had on one of his parishioners, parliament member William Wilberforce, who ended up being one of the most committed abolitionists in history. Before Wilberforce began his work leading protests, organizing petitions, and presenting abolitionist bills before parliament, Wilberforce himself felt called by God, and was torn between living a life of spiritual, meditative solitude and a life of political activism, so he visited his old pastor, John Newton, for advice. Newton helped convince him that living a spiritual and Godly life could most definitely include being a political activist, especially when it comes to doing the work of ending the slave trade and trying to make the world a better place. Newton shares that he is haunted by the ghosts of 20,000 slaves, men, women, and children; that he has blood on his hands for his sins, and admits, “I’m a great sinner, but Christ is a great savior”, echoing back to his “Amazing Grace” lyrics. Newton supported Wilberforce’s tireless efforts to abolish the slave trade, and lived to see it outlawed by the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, just months before his death.

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed, John Newton’s "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the world. It is estimated that the song is performed about 10 million times a year.

I’ve always loved this song, because it so beautifully portrays the grace that God has for us. God’s grace is utterly undeserved, unmerited, unearnable, and unexpected. Any time I have ever felt unworthy, unloved, unforgiveable, guilt-ridden with all the mistakes I have made in this life, I remember this amazing grace that God has for me. 

In the parable I read today from the Gospel of Luke, the son makes several HUGE mistakes: he demands his inheritance before his father is dead, runs away from home and abandons all of his responsibilities, squanders all of his money on reckless things (probably indulging in food, women, gambling, and fine clothing) and ends up poor and crawling back home to daddy. But even after all of that, his father welcomed him home with open arms. Before an apology was even shared, the father forgave him and loved him, and then threw a party for him, for he once was lost, but now was found. 

Often, the son is called the “Prodigal Son”. The first meaning of prodigal in the Oxford English Dictionary is "recklessly extravagant". And while, yes, that does seem to describe the son’s lavish lifestyle after he left home, it also seems to me to be an apt description of the father's welcome home party for his son. Reckless and extravagant! Even the father’s older son thinks so. It’s not fair that his little brother gets this big party thrown for him after he made every mistake in the book. The older brother did NOTHING wrong, and he never got a party. It’s not fair!  To some people, that’s what God’s grace may feel like. Unfair. Some people do really really bad things. And others of us only do little bad things. But we all get the same grace bestowed upon us. God’s grace is recklessly extravagant. God gives us unconditional grace, all of us, me, you, our families, our neighbors, even our enemies. 

One of the lessons of this parable that Jesus taught is definitely about the amazing grace God has for us that is just like parents have for their children. It is not too terribly difficult for parents to forgive their own flesh and blood children; at the end of the day parents still love their children even when they make mistakes. This is why the God as parent metaphor works so well. With few exceptions, parents will do anything for their own flesh and blood children. What is incredibly hard and sometimes even seemingly impossible to do is to forgive and to love other people out there in the world who are not related by blood to you. 

So this is the other lesson I think Jesus is teaching us through this parable--- that we are ALL God’s children, we ARE all related, we are all a part of one big human family, and we ought to try to practice the same amazing grace that God bestows on us. Jesus even taught us to pray to God to forgive us of our debts, our trespasses, our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us! God gives recklessly extravagant and amazing grace to each and every one of us, and we should follow suit. Because we are family. Strangers are family, enemies are family, humanity is a family. 

It may seem unfair and extravagantly reckless, but even people like Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber responsible for killing 168 people, are given God’s amazing grace. A name named Bud Welch gave him amazing grace, too. Bud lost his 23 year old daughter in the bombing. He first went through a period of rage when he wanted Timothy dead. But there was a moment when he remembered the words of his daughter, an advocate for reconciliation, who said “Execution teaches hatred.” Bud decided to stop the cycle of violence and arrange a visit with McVeigh’s dad and family. Bud grew to love them dearly, and spoke around the country against the death penalty because it teaches that some people are beyond redemption, while God does not teach that any people are beyond redemption. Bud pleaded for the Timothy’s life, because as he began to look into his eyes, the eyes of a murderer, he saw the image of God. 

It may seem unfair and extravagantly reckless, but even people like Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the murderers of Emmitt Till, are given God’s amazing grace. A woman named Mamie Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, gave them amazing grace, too. She was asked if she harbored bitterness toward the two white men or toward whites in general, for the brutal murder of her son in 1955. This is what she said: “It certainly would be unnatural not to hate them, yet I’d have to say I’m unnatural… The Lord gave me a shield, I don’t know how to describe it myself… I did not wish the white men dead. I did not wish them in jail. If I had to, I could take their four little children- they each had two- and I could raise those children as if they were my own and I could have loved them… I believe the Lord meant what he said about love, and I try to live according to the way I’ve been taught.”

Awhile back, I watched a great PBS special called “Race: The Power of an Illusion.” I will never forget this one fact shared by an evolutionary biologist, Joseph Graves. He said that “the measured amount of genetic variation in the human population is extremely small. Genetically, we really aren't very different. In fact, genetically, we are among the most similar of all species. Only one out of every thousand nucleotides that make up our genetic code is different from one individual from another.” Then they showed a picture of a group of penguins who look exactly alike. Turns out these penguins have twice the amount of genetic difference amongst each other than humans. That means there is more genetic diversity in this group of almost identical-looking penguins, then a group of very different looking people. Even science points to the fact that we are all closely related. 

If we could somehow see each other as brothers and sisters, as family, as closely related, -- because we ARE – then maybe our actions would be different. Maybe we wouldn’t have traded African people as slaves. Maybe we wouldn’t ignore the plight of the homeless, the hungry, the refugee, the immigrant. Maybe we would offer amazing grace to all. That’s how we can be amazing. By sharing God’s recklessly extravagant and amazing grace with all of the world, all God’s children, all of our brothers and sisters on this planet. We once were blind, but now we see. Alleulia.  Amen. 

"Forty Days and Forty Nights", March 6, 2022

 Forty Days and Forty Nights

By Rev Jamie Green Klopotoski
Based on Luke 4:1-13
March 6, 2022
First Baptist Church, Gloucester, MA

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/476126755790467/permalink/4915938108475954/

I have always been fascinated by the fact that the number 40 appears so often in the bible. 

• The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years before entering the Promised Land.  

• Several early Hebrew leaders and kings, including Eli, Saul, David, and Solomon are said to have ruled for forty years. 

• The epic flood in Genesis lasted forty days and nights. 

• Noah waited for forty days after the tops of mountains were seen after the flood, before releasing the raven and dove. 

• The ceremonies surrounding the embalming of Jacob lasted forty days. 

• Jonah’s prophecy urged the Ninevites to fast for repentance for forty days. 

• Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for forty days before David defeated him. 

• Moses spent three consecutive periods of "forty days and forty nights" on Mount Sinai. 

• The prophet Elijah had to walk “forty days and forty nights” before arriving at Mount Horeb.

• And in our scripture lesson today, Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil, before he officially began his public ministry.

It is unlikely that all of these events actually lasted a literal forty years or forty days and forty nights. The number “40” was used hyperbolically to mean “a really long time”.  Nowaways, you might hear people say that something “lasted forever” or took “a gazillion days” to refer to something taking a long time, but in biblical times, you might have heard people say something took “forty days and forty nights”. The number 40 was especially used to describe periods of time that involved trials, tribulations, tests, suffering, like the flood, the wandering in the desert, or the temptation of the devil. 

I’m a nerd for words, so I need to point out that the origin of the English word ‘quarantine’ comes from the Latin word for “40” (quadraginta) and originally referred to Jesus’ 40 days in the desert before the word was used to mean the practice of imposing isolation to prevent illness. (The first definition in the Oxford English Dictionary for quarantine is “the place where Jesus fasted for forty days”).

In addition to the word “quarantine”, Jesus’s 40 days in the desert also inspired the practice of Lent, the 40 day period starting on Ash Wednesday that leads to Easter morning (technically it’s 46 days, but the Sundays don’t count.) Christians in the year 325 started observing a 40-day fast to celebrate the season of Lent, and in the early centuries, fasting rules were strict. One meal a day was allowed in the evening, but meat, fish, eggs, and butter were forbidden. Most modern day Christians no longer adhere to this strict interpretation of fasting, some only fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, some observe a meatless fast on Fridays during Lent, and some choose to give up specific pleasures or cravings, or things that tempt us, such as chocolate, alcohol, television, sugar, or even social media during Lent.

Giving up something during Lent can be a way to foster simplicity and self-control; you can use your cravings or desires or temptations for the items you have given up as a reminder to pray and to refocus on spiritual matters and align yourself with God’s will. But I wonder whether that is what actually happens during Lent. I wonder whether the act of “giving something up” has become an empty ritual, just 40 days of a minor inconvenience that does nothing to enhance one’s spiritual experience. Has giving up something for lent just become a thing to do with no deeper meaning?  

The Prophet Isaiah also wondered this after witnessing how the people of Israel fasted. He said: 

“On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast God desires, only a day for people to humble themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

Is not this the kind of fasting God desires:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Isaiah saw that the people were fasting for no other reason than that they were told to, and it was the thing to do. Everyone else was doing it, so they did too. There was no deeper meaning behind it. Fasting didn’t change their behavior; they were still arguing and fighting and being cruel to their workers and fellow humans even while they were fasting. Isaiah wanted the people to know that God does not want us to fast just for the sake of fasting, just because it’s tradition or it’s the thing to do or because everyone else is doing it. The point of fasting is to get closer to God, to make the relationship between us and God become stronger and deeper, the point of fasting is to deeply change us. 

So Isaiah gave a new definition, a new understanding, of the practice of fasting. Isaiah said that a genuine fast, a true fast, the fast that God desires, is a fast that loosens the bonds of injustice, let’s the oppressed go free, feeds the hungry, brings the homeless poor into your house. This is the kind of fasting that will change us, that will grow our relationship with God. It is not necessarily giving something up, but about taking something on. But really when you think about it, in taking something on, you ARE essentially giving something up. For example, if you take on sharing your bread with the hungry, you are giving up your bread. If you take on volunteering, you are giving up some of your time. But ultimately, whatever we do, however we choose to fast, if the fasting doesn’t essentially change you, there is no point in doing it. Because the kind of fasting God desires is a meaningful fast meant to change us. 

On this first week of Lent with forty (ish) days stretching out before us, it might be of value to spend time setting our intentions for the season. And I invite you, if you so choose, to try a new kind of fasting this year, consider the perspective that you are taking something on rather than giving something up. There are many, many examples of this. Our responsive reading this morning suggested taking on things like practicing prayer, compassion, gentleness, patience, hope, optimism. You can take on volunteering, doing acts of kindness, having a thankful attitude. You can tip your servers well, return your grocery cart, post only positive comments on social media. There are so many things you can take on that might actually change you during these forty days and forty nights of Lent.

Forty days and forty nights to walk closer with God.

Forty days and forty nights to trust in God in the wilderness.

Forty days and forty nights to reflect, to repent and to reorient our lives towards doing the will of God in the world.

Forty days and forty nights to gaze at the stars and feel the ground beneath our feet as we connect with the wonder of Creation.

Forty days and forty nights to make a change.