Month: October 2024

See.

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“When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world reveals its wonders to us. There are people who see only dullness in the world and that is because their eyes have already been dulled. So much depends on how we look at things. The quality of our looking determines what we come to see.” 

― John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

“Take time to see the quiet miracles that

seek no attention” 

― John O’Donohue

To see eyes looking back at you,
as eyes should see you at last,

seeing you, as you always wanted to be seen,
seeing you, as you yourself
had always wanted to see the world.

— David Whyte

Mark 10:46-52

46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher,let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

When I was a kid, we used to take trips to Mammoth Cave in KY.   I remember a couple of the tours of the cave.  It was always fun to see the stalagtites and stalagmites coming from the floor and ceiling.  Of course, on every tour, at some point in the cave, the tour guide would have everyone stand in the center of a large cavern, and then turn off the lights.  Of course, it was disorienting, you couldn’t see a thing!  Not even your hand being put right in front of you.  

Years later, I would go spelunking, or cave exploring, in a few small caves.  Friends of mine would crawl through some places and we’d have headlamps.  If those headlamps went dead or we broke them, we had the benefit of having back-up lights or are friends to help us out.

Our main character in our gospel passage knows what it’s like to not be able to see in the dark.  Bartimaeus, or Bart, is a blind beggar.  In 1st century culture, if you are blind, you don’t have many options.  You are pushed aside, not useful to society, not productive, and forced to make a living by begging, by leading on the hospitality of others.

Now, Bartimaeus has a name, has an identity.  He’s the son of Timaeus.  He has had relationships, he is a part of a family.  But, his blindness has left him isolated, alone, left out.  Could you imagine the hurt that he felt, the desperation.  

We know from this passage that he hasn’t been blind all of his life, maybe he remembers what it’s like to see things or to experience the love of a family.  But, now he’s left to beg, without much of a future and no friends.  

When I was in a cave with family as a child or with friends later, I wasn’t alone in the dark.  I had others around me that I could lean in on.  Bartimeaus doesn’t have that luxury.

Put yourself in Bart’s shoes.

When Jesus comes walking down the road, leaving Jericho, surrounded by a large crowd.  Bartimaeus senses the excitement of the crowd, when he hears its Jesus, he shouts out, have mercy on me Son of David!  He’s using Son of David in order to get Jesus to notice that he’s connected to him, to show him mercy.  I have to admit, I respect Bart!  He had some moxie, he was desperate, but he was also filled with hope one last time.  

Well, the disciples have places to go, they don’t have time for this guy, they try to get him to quiet down, they cannot imagine that this moment is filled with meaning and drama, they are not thinking of possibilities, only convenience, the next meeting, and not wanting to be bothered…but Jesus hears him.  He calls Bart to him and asks, what do you want me to do?  Bart springs up, comes to him and says, my teacher, again an address of honor, help me to see again.  Jesus says that his faith has made him whole, that he is healed.  

His sight returns, and, he follows Jesus.

Friends, as I read the gospel lesson, I’m not sure who the blind persons were in this story.   Sure, Bart was physically blind, but the disciples had eyes to see, yet they couldn’t see the possibility of the moment.  They were with Jesus, identified with Jesus, but they were focused on their agenda and not the person right in front of them.  Maybe they were wowed by the large crowds and felt like the numbers were more important than the folks right in front of them, they looked to the crowds and not to the persons.

Folks in this story could not “see” one another!  Yet, Jesus saw them and saw the blind man…really saw them…and that enabled the blind man to not only have his physical sight, but to “see” Jesus.  Isn’t it a gift when we can be present with someone and they see us, they don’t see things on the surface, but the real in us!  What a gift!

The great Jewish scholar of the 20th century, Martin Buber, would say that we strive to live in an “I/Thou” relationship.  The “thou” is the divine within you and in others and all creation.  We slow down, meditate, contemplate, to cultivate a readiness to “see” the “thou” in ourselves and others.  Often we simply have an “I/It” relationship where we simply observe or objectify someone or something else.  And, that’s OK, but we strive for a deeper seeing.  

It’s also interesting to note that this man was spontaneous, he didn’t overthink the moment, he seized it.  In comparison, the disciples were filled with fear, silence, hesitation, opposition…they were contrarians to the man’s faithfulness.  

Friends, this is the kind of faith that God is calling us towards, the faith of Bartimaeus.  We are called to be in the moment, to seize it.  We have opportunities in our lives, daily, to live in hope and expectation.  God wants to deliver us out of the darkness and into the light.  Darkness, for a season, is a good thing…it may give us rest, perspective, and growth.  When seeds are planted in the ground, it is dark…with nourishment from the soil, water, etc. those seeds push through the resistance, grow strong and move towards the sun, towards light, which also gives growth to blossom.  God wants to restore our relationships, to restore our sense of community, to restore us…to blossom and be all that we were intended to be…  God wants us to “see” ourselves, to “see” others, and to know that God always sees us, the real us, and loves us!

And, God’s called us to notice the blind beggars, or those in our pews and in our neighborhoods that we often look over.  

It seems as a church, that we also are like the disciples in that we get caught up in the “busyness” of this upcoming season…and with change happening in our lives and in our congregation, it can be overwhelming.  But, know that you are not alone, you have friends around you to help you, you do not have to be fearful or hesitant, you can live faithfully in exuberance with a God who is calling YOU to write a new story for your church that can bring hope and healing to your neighbors, and to one another.  

May it be so.

Greatness.

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

You have traveled too fast over false ground;

Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up

To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain

When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,

Taking time to open the well of color

That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

– JOHN O’DONOHUE

Mark 10:35-45

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

We all have a desire at times to be great in something.  We would like to think that there is something out there that we can excel at.  I know for me that I sometimes have this achievement mindset.  It’s OK to be an achiever, to want to work towards a goal, to get things done, but sometimes that can cloud your thinking.

A good example of that is right before I got engaged to Debbie.  I was pumped that after so many years of wanting to see my relationship with Debbie move towards a goal, it was finally coming together.  I bought a ring and I had a vision of what our marriage could be like.  

I then got together with my friend Chuck Scott.  In a former life, I was on staff with Young Life, there are all sorts of thoughts about Young Life and I’ve continued to evolve.  But, for a season I was a Young Life church partner and thought I could do great things with it…and for a season, there was some amazing things that happened and I’m grateful.  All of life is gift!

Now, back to Chuck.  Chuck is a great guy, former NFL player, amazing family, and a national leader for Young Life.  He’s also someone whose opinion I highly appreciated and.  His dad, Charlie, was one of the original Young Life staff persons from the 1950’s and was one of my mentors.  I went to him to ask him about what he thought about me asking Debbie to marry him.  He thought very highly of Debbie, he tried to hire her in his Young Life area a couple of times, and I knew that he loved me as a friend.  

His response, wait…do you understand what you are getting into…he even said don’t get married to Debbie.  He tried to talk me out of it.  He said marriage was hard, that I wanted this so bad that I wasn’t thinking straight, I needed to count the cost, and that even though I had this friendship with Debbie for close to a decade, I needed to take a timeout and think and pray.  He was right in many ways, and he helped me to gain some perspective.

I still ended up asking Deb to marry me, and his dad, Charlie, co-officiated our wedding.  

Out of that season of life, there have been some moments of greatness, and some moments of darkness.  There have been failures, lots of them.  Yet, the relationship and growth I’ve received from Deb as a partner has been overwhelming.  Our story is still being written and I’m grateful as we continue to say “yes”.  

In much the same way, I had folks try to talk me out of going into the ministry.  I know that I had some personal visions that involved changing the world in big ways.  I wanted to see great things happen.  But, others cautioned me.  My dad even told me after I graduated from UK and told him that I was going into the ministry that I was making a mistake.  His exact first words:  “I just paid for 4 years of college for you to do what?”.  

Again, it may not have been the right wording or the right motivation, but it did cause me to ask some questions.

I still went into the ministry, obviously, as I stand here today.  And, again, out of that commitment, there have been some moments of greatness, and some moments of darkness.  There have been failures, lots of them.  Yet, the relationships that have been formed, my life and others lives have been changed…and the same is happening here at Westwood First in our lives together.  Our story is still being written and I’m grateful.  

As we jump into this passage, let’s remember that we are seeing the disciples live’s stories being written…Jesus is calling them away from a fantasy to something deeper, something better for them…Jesus is inviting them into the present moment, not for some pie-in-the-sky transactional relationship, but to let go of their desire to live into a narrative that want to create, a narrative that their culture may have conditioned them for, towards a narrative of loving themselves, others, and seeing that God wants them, and us, to grow into what Thomas Merton, the great catholic monk philosopher would say, our true Selves.  

Our gospel lesson tells us about the disciples having some wrong motivations for being followers of Jesus.  They are focused on this idea of being great and having special places.  They had waited for so long for a messiah and had high expectations, some fantasies.  James and John have some moxie and ask Jesus to sit on the right and left.  The other disciples are mad at them, but they are wondering the same thing.  

Jesus gives them a response, one he defers to the Father…really, he’s deferring to the community that he’s in of the Trinity.  A community of three in one that is so tight that things are created, saved, and sustained through deep, good relationship.  A relationship of yielding to one another…of emptying into one another…a circle that we, humanity and creation, are also a part of.  

And, he says if you want to be first, you’ve got to be last and the last will be first.  He flips the understanding that is in the world.  A world that we’ve created and where “winning” at all costs is most important.

Jesus welcomes their commitment, but asks some hard questions, are you willing to struggle, to experience hardship, to truly live into his baptism?  They are committed, the have experienced a call, but he’s causing them to pause and think deeply about that calling and commitment as my friends have done for me.  

Rob Bell, an author, speaker, and former pastor, shares this about our commitment and calling to live life as we live in Christ, really as fully alive humans:  

We are going to suffer.

And it is going to shape us.

Somehow.

We will become bitter or better, closed or open.

more ignorant or more aware. more or less tuned in to the thousands of gifts we are surrounded with every single moment of every single dry.

Jesus is inviting his disciples, his friends, into a life that isn’t defined by greatness in worldly standards.   He is calling them into a deeper, more beautiful life that is full and expansive.  

We are called to ask ourselves some of the same questions.  Are we willing to suffer, are we willing to die, and are we willing to live life to the fullest and experience resurrection in Jesus’ baptism that symbolizes the old life dying and the new life beginning?  Are we willing to live into that as persons and as people of faith gathered at Westwood First?  Are we willing to let go of all that we hold on to so tightly in order to experience the beauty of God’s Presence in our lives. 

St. Augustine wrote in City of God:  “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are always too full to receive them.”  Jesus came to love and calls us into a life filled with meaning and goodness, but we have to let go of the things that we think bring greatness.  If we are willing to serve others and to live intentionally in Christ, then the story that is emerging out of Westwood First will be filled with hope for the world around us and in us…and we will see something greater happen than than our fantasies, especially as we live in the present moment, greater than we could have ever imagined.  May it be so!

Letting Go.

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Mark 10:17-31

The Rich Man

17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

 As a kid, I wanted to do the right thing.  I found out early that if I say the right things, live the right way, do the right things, then I’d have some approval.  

That’s how I lived life pretty much.  I was a good kid.  

I was also raised in the church, so I thought that doing the right things and believing the right ways, pleased God.  

However, I also wanted to find a way to express myself, to gain the attention of others.  So, I grew my hair long, and played bagpipes.  But, still, did the things that I thought I should.  I kept the commandments so to speak.

My senior year, things started to fall apart inside of me…and outside of me.  I began to have deeper questions about life, relationships.  It came to a head on a Campus Life ski weekend.  I took a risk, shared with my adult leaders that I was struggling, I did all the right things but still felt lonely.  I was asking, in essence, what could I do to enter the kingdom of God, to be in God’s Presence, to feel God’s favor…because, I was doing the stuff, but not feeling approval.

My club leaders began to share with me that it was more about relationship.  That God’s Presence was there, but it couldn’t be earned, just lived in.  That relationship was filled with grace and love, that love and grace eventually began to have a transformative effect on me as I grew in my awareness of God’s Presence.  It also pulled me towards a calling to be and do who I am and what I do.  

Our gospel lesson this morning is similar.  The rich young ruler came to Jesus, asking what to do to enter the Kingdom of God.  He first calls Jesus “good”.  Jesus pushes back, and says why call me Good, only God is good…in essence, saying that goodness is about God and we live in that goodness.  

Jesus goes on to say, obey the commandments.  The young rich ruler, says that he has, since his youth.  Jesus looks at him with love the scripture says.  He loved this kid, not because of what he had done, but simply because of him being him.  Plus, the kid was honest.  Jesus then says that he lacks one thing, sell all that he had, give to the poor, and follow him.  A disciple could not have the distractions of patronage and financial obligations that came with being a man of wealth, they needed to be willing to be committed and setting aside all of the trappings of status and self importance.  Even though this young ruler was pious and devout, he was unwilling to surrender and allow God’s love to run its course in his life.

This was hard…it’s really hard to give up anything that we hold on to that we draw our identity from, wealth, our roles that we play, the persons that we project to be to others.  Yet, Jesus is telling him that true wealth, true identity, is measured by how well we love others and experience God through relationships, especially with those on the margins, those that are seeking community, yet have been left out.  

The rich young ruler leaves Jesus heartbroken, he can’t let go of what he has or who has become or perceives himself to be…the disciples are perplexed, they don’t know what to say, they focus on the material wealth and ask more questions.  Jesus says that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than to get into heaven.  It’s often said that Jesus is referring to merchants coming to a city gate at night.  They can’t get into a walled city then because the gates are closed, but there are smaller doors that the can get into called the “eye of the needle”.  They have to take everything off the camel, all of their goods, in order to enter.  Most scholars would say that’s not the case at all, Jesus is literally talking about a life size camel and a real needle.  It’s impossible.  

In essence, we can’t take “stuff” with us, material stuff or the personal baggage of image that we’ve created….and image that does not remind us that we are made in the image of God. We have to be willing to share our material stuff as well as our personal lives with others…in essence, to be willing to not hold on to stuff, to give it away, as well as to not hold on too tightly the realities that we’ve created, but to be willing to give ourselves away, to let God’s love probe deeper into our lives, and to be shaped by that love.  

When the disciples still question and ask, how can anyone get into God’s Presence, into heaven?  Jesus says that with God all things are possible.  What seems impossible with all that we know and understand, with God, there is possibility.  God wants to spark our imagination, give us hope, but it takes a commitment and a desire from us to risk everything.  

I believe that Jesus was telling this young man, just like my club leaders told me 40 years ago, let go of my desire to seek God’s approval by things that I have or do, but to know that I have God’s approval already, that God looks at me like Jesus does to the rich young ruler, with love.  My response is hopefully not to shy away, but to rise to the invitation to enter into trusting God with all that I have and to imagine the possibilities that God can open within me and outside of me.  

The disciples state that they’ve left everything to follow you Jesus.  Jesus responds that they will be rewarded with even more relationships and with eternal life…which starts now.

Friends, I find this to be so true.  Meister Eckhart says that we need to “let go”…he even takes it further and says that we need to “let go of letting go”.  As we do that, as we empty ourselves, we move from nothingness, being empty, to something, seeing life as a gift, and to everything, being filled with the Presence of God which is in all things and all people.  My goodness, I am blessed, you are blessed.  We have relationships!  Are we willing to walk into God’s vision for us as a church, as a community, and away from our visions of what church should be?  If we are willing, if we let go to follow Jesus’ way of love and relationship with others and with those on the margins, then we will experience God’s Presence, God’s kingdom in even more beautiful ways! 

One.

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

We seldom notice how each day is a holy place

Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,

Transforming our broken fragments

Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Somewhere in us a dignity presides

That is more gracious than the smallness

That fuels us with fear and force,

A dignity that trusts the form a day takes. 

So at the end of this day, we give thanks

For being betrothed to the unknown

And for the secret work

Through which the mind of the day

And wisdom of the soul become one. 

– John O’Donohue

Mark 10:2-16

2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,[a]8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Debbie and I have a unique story of how we moved towards marriage and how our marriage has turned out over the years.  Of course, everyone has a unique story in their lives as well.  It’s crazy at times though to think about it.  

Debbie and I met at the University of Kentucky.  We dated off and on, more off than on, actually.  But we did become great friends.  

Eventually, about 8-9 years after we first met, things changed between us and we had a growing sense that we’d be getting married. And, we did.  It’s been an adventure…and lots of misadventures, over the years…and, honestly, our story has had moments of wondering what we were thinking 27 years ago and even wondering where we are going.  It’s had some really hard things to walk through…as well as some really good things.  

In our gospel text, the folks questioning Jesus were not trying to be funny.  They were trying to put Jesus in a box with this question of marriage and divorce.  It was political given that the Jewish king, Herod, had just married his brother’s wife after she divorced him.  It really had much more to do with getting Jesus in trouble with the authorities than proving a moral argument.  

At the time, Mosaic law had allowed a woman or a man to divorce their spouse easily.  In a patriarchal society though, that would be tough on a woman, as they would generally not have a way to support themselves and their children, if they had any.  And, the man could initiate a divorce, but not the woman.

Plus, Jesus, as he often did, takes this discussion into a deeper place of understanding.  Marriage and divorce were defined radically different in the 1st century, and it is hard for us to put ourselves in the context of 2000 years ago, but we can get the trajectory of what Jesus is saying in this passage. That persons can be called together for a season and that everyone is of value, regardless of marital status.  And, he also takes Jewish law at the time and says that both persons are subject to their understanding of adultery.  Which, again, is different today than 2000 years ago.  The Bible has lots of different definitions of adultery, and we are not going to get into all of them today, but in Jewish understanding, it could be defined as idolatry…placing something that you want over your made in the image of God Self.  Let that sink in for a bit, God is calling us away from any attachment that divides us and keeps us away from the God who resides within us and around us…as scripture says elsewhere, God is a jealous God and wants us to be fully alive and whole…

And, also remember that in the Gospel of both Mark and Luke in other passages, Jesus states that there is no marriage in heaven…that it’s not necessary as we are in a deeper union, a deeper “oneness” if you will, will all people and creation.  

Jesus goes on to say that God pulls and shapes and molds folks together, and that what God calls together, we are to honor it.  Again, taking a deeper trajectory towards God’s desire for us to be one and to honor that there are seasons of life where we are called together.

God also gives us grace and calls things into being out of what may have felt like death.  Whether those of us here today are in a relationship or not, we have probably experienced a death in a relationship at some point, either metaphorically or physically.   And, again, it’s good to remember that no matter what our stories are, that in life, there is birth, death, and rebirth…resurrection of some sort.  There is a cycle of growth in our faith tradition that leads to wholeness no matter what our relationship status is.  

Jesus is speaking more to the matter of one’s heart, Moses, or Jewish Law, gave concessions for divorce because of a hardness of heart, and unwillingness to grow, to change, and to be in covenant relationships with one another.  

All of life is gift, and those that come and go in our lives are gifts…and, when we are with others, we know that those relationships can be sources of joy as well as hard and trying.  Yet, it’s still gift.  

Our gospel lesson goes on to share a story about children wanting to come to Jesus.  But, the disciples were on some sort of exclusive power play.  They didn’t want to be inconvenienced so they rebuked the children.  Jesus was indignant, mad, frustrated.  He in turn rebuked the disciples and told the children to come to him.  

As we’ve said today and in previous weeks, children were non-persons,  they were on the margins, yet Jesus says that the kingdom of God, God’s Presence, is with them!  Jesus is saying explicitly to his audience and to us today, if you want to enter the Kingdom, if you want to experience God’s Presence, you must welcome those on the margins.  And, we must be willing to identify with those on the margins.  Jesus is not giving some romantic notion that we must become like little children in all of their innocence, Jesus is saying we must be willing to have our identities shaped by those on the margins and our relationship with them.  We must be so committed to those on the margins, that we are one with them, that we are identified with them.  And, that we have a trust beyond circumstances that we’ve talked about…and that begins in being like children before we put on the egos that we created to make it in this world.  

This passage says so much to us as image bearers of God, we must be willing to stand with the homeless, the refugee, the immigrant, the foreigner, those who are different in any shape, color, orientation, or background from us.  Jesus has this object lesson with children to tell us throughout time, that God does not show favoritism and that God’s church, God’s body, must not as well.  God is calling us to be one with God’s self, and God’s self is one with all of humanity.  It’s fitting that we have this passage today on oneness with all, even those on the margins, those different from us, as we perform this sacred moment or sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, reminding us of the relational commitment that God has made to us in creating, saving, and sustaining us.  This same God who calls us into responding to that commitment to us by recognizing and  living in God’s oneness with us.