Loading...Sermon May 29, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Second Sunday after Pentecost Track 2
…when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you. I Kings 8:42-43
Please be seated.
Forty Five years ago this month, John Lennon wrote and started recording the popular song, Imagine. The song was inspired by some poetry written by Yoko Ono, his wife, and a Christian prayer book given to them by Dick Gregory.
One of the verses goes:
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You, ..
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
In a 1980 interview with magazine writer Dick Sheff, Lennon explained that “The concept of positive prayer ... If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion—not without religion but without this my God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing—then it can be true ... “
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_(John_Lennon_song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTESheff1981212.E2.80.9313-2
I often thought this notion was a little confusing…imagining there are no borders… It’s a nice thing, maybe, but doesn’t seem very practical or doable.
However, this past week upon going through old email, I found one from Glenn Holliman recommending a new book, Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization by Dr. Parag Khanna. An interview with Dr. Khanna appeared in The Washington Post at the end of April. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/29/six-maps-that-will-make-you-rethink-the-world/
Dr. Khanna suggests that our political/national boundaries upon which our governments are based, no longer work. They really don’t reflect how we live and work together in this day and age. Dr. Khanna says we should have maps that show how we’re connected to each other through high-speed railways, broadband cables and shipping routes. He says the real centers of our life together and thus our governments, should be the mega-cities that house most of the world’s people and economic growth.
Dr. Khanna essentially says that the borders we’ve known are disappearing, maybe not in legal ways, but in the ways we live our lives
Imagine there’s no countries….
This disappearance of borders runs throughout our readings today. King Solomon and the Israelites have just built a magnificent temple to worship God. At the dedication of the temple, the King has many prayers to God about a variety of issues within the life of the people. Then there’s this unexpected prayer for the foreigner. King Solomon asks that if and when people from other lands and cultures come to the temple, that God should hear their prayer and answer their prayer. This is a shift from the understanding that God is the God of the people of Israel only. King Solomon acknowledges that the God the people of Israel worships is the God for all people.
In our Gospel today, Jesus heals the slave of the foreigner, a Roman centurion. God is for all people. Jesus love and teachings are for all people. And in our denomination, even though all is tenuous at times, we are part of The Anglican Communion. “The 1930 Lambeth Conference described the Anglican Communion as a 'fellowship, within the one holy catholic and apostolic church, of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces or regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury.'" -//www.anglicancommunion.org/identity/about.aspx
The Communion has an estimated 185 million individual members in 165 countries. Imagine there’s no countries….
Dr. Khanna insists that our future health as people on earth depends upon the connectivity we have with each other, rather than on the political and geographic borders that currently exist. King Solomon asked God to hear and to answer the prayers of the foreigner, making it clear that God was the God of all creation. Jesus Christ healed the centurion’s slave, making it clear that the love of Christ was and is for all people.
This weekend we observe Memorial Day. The commemoration began after The Civil War to remember those who died during the war by strewing flowers upon their graves. In fact, this is still done in Gettysburg at the national cemetery there. We’re taking time this weekend to remember all who have served in the military, especially those who died as a result of combat.
Ultimately, I believe, wars are a result of our failure as humans to love as Christ taught us. While we honor those who have served and those who have served and died, we also pray mightily that like King Solomon’s inclusion of the foreigner and like Jesus Christ’s inclusion of the foreigner, wars may cease and we may all live in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Amen
