Let the Dead Bury Their Dead?

 Luke 9: 51-62 June 29, 2025

 

 “The son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

 “No one who puts his hand to the plow

and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

“Let the dead bury their dead"

These are some of many quotes from Jesus that

your grandma never had needle-pointed on a pillow.

 

Jesus is kind of cranky today. No explanation why really.

Maybe it was the Samaritan’s rejection of him and the disciples,

Maybe it was because the disciples went right to

violence when things didn’t go their way,

like so many followers after them would.

Maybe it was because people seemed luke-warm

in their discipleship and Jesus knew he didn’t have

a long time to get things done.

 

It’s clear that Jesus is kind of frustrated over people’s lack

of commitment to his message

and their lack of urgency when it comes to God’s call.

 

I always thought that the roughest of Jesus’ quotes from this one

was “let the dead bury their dead”.

That’s definitely not making the

tag line or mission statement of any churches. 

 

I always thought that it was kind of rude

of Jesus to say this to a man who’s

father had just died and was just about to go bury him.

You think Jesus would be more sympathetic.

Maybe even go the funeral.

 

But I have read that the phrase “go and bury my father”

is a euphemism that has lost a some significance over time.

The thing is, this man’s father isn’t dead yet.

 

It’s a turn of phrase that means he has to

take care of his father into his old age.

After that, then he would be happy to follow Jesus.

 

So it wasn’t that he was grieving and needed

to actually have his father’s funeral right then.

It was kind of just a cop out. He was just saying,

I’m too busy for you now, Jesus.

Come back later, Jesus. Much, much later.

 

But Jesus face is set towards Jerusalem.

He was getting ready to face the religious authorities.

He didn’t have time to wait.

He didn’t even have time to wait for the person

who just wanted to say goodbye to everyone.

Things were happening.

 

And even though Jesus will be with us forever now,

we still have that same kind of urgency when

it comes to following Jesus.

People are hurting, people are dying,

People are falling prey to false religions

masquerading as Christian.

Food is being taken away from food banks,

families are being torn apart by deportations.

People are scared and they’re hopeless.

Jesus can’t wait for a couple of years.

 

And yet we still put Jesus off like that guy.

I know I’m always doing it.

We’ve all said, “Oh I’d love to do that.

I can see that thing needs to be done,

but I’ll have to  do it later.”

When this project is over,

when I have more time, when I’m retired,

when I’m not so busy doing other things, when I feel better.

When I don’t have other things to do.

 

We all have to set boundaries in our lives and

not take on too much in our lives. I respect that.

But I always seem to feel like there is some better time

in the future when I can do what needs to be done for God

but you know what? That time never seems to come.

 

We would really love to answer Jesus calls.

But life seems to get in the way.

And tomorrow, becomes the next day, becomes never.

 

And churches are usually bad examples for action.

As a whole body of people we often react to

God’s call in that same, slow, cautious way.

 

We keep saying we would do that ministry “if only”

If only we had more people,

if only we had more money,

if only we had more younger people,

If only we had better leadership,

If only we were in a better neighborhood, or a worse neighborhood.

If only we were different than we are right now . . .

 

If only we were like that church over there

then we could do what God wants us to do.

(Funny thing is, that church over there is saying,

“If only we were more like Christ Lutheran!”)

 

Jesus, we’d love to follow you,

we’d love to chase after the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

but call us later. Much later.

 

But Jesus says, No. There’s too much to do.

“let the dead bury their dead”:

Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is here now.

There is something happening now that can’t be put off,

we can’t wait until the perfect moment,

when we have whatever we think we need.

 

And besides that following Jesus way

and doing what God calls us to do

is what brings us life here and now.

It’s what gives us energy, and meaning, and purpose.

It organizes us and makes us into what God needs us to be.

 

Besides that, following Jesus is something that we can do

while we’re taking care of everything.

It is the way we take care of everything.

No need to wait to get our lives together.

Following Jesus puts our lives together.

Sometimes it turns everything upside down,

but still, it puts it together.

 

We follow Jesus in the way that we run our congregation,

in the way that we spend our money, lead worship,

conduct business,  deal with each other in meetings,

care for each other.

We follow Jesus in the way that we reflect the love of Christ,

embrace diversity, and serve Hilton Head.

It’s the way that we do everything that we do in the church.

And it’s the way that we live our personal lives as well,

the way we treat people,

the way that we interact our family and friends,

and the people we work with,

the way that we spend and give our own money,

the way we think, and vote, and engage the world.

The way that we live life every day is following Jesus.

We shouldn’t always need to stop what we’re doing to follow.

 

And whatever Jesus calls us to do,

we have to know that we can trust God.

We can trust that God has given us everything

or will give us everything we need

to do what God wants us to do.

Even if we fail, God will always bring

something new out of our efforts.

 

So, when we hear that call

we don’t need to wait for that ideal time and place.

or until everything is taken care of.

Don’t wait until summer is over, or until

you get your life straightened out a little more.

 

We can follow Jesus where he asks us to go now.

God will make the extra time in our lives,

God will prepare us for the task,

God will give us the strength and the wisdom,

God will give us what we need.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

 

So let’s put our hand to the plow and keep facing forward. 

Turning Jesus Away

 Luke 8:26-39

Healing of a Demon Possessed Man
Julia Stankova

June 22, 2025

 

So Jesus apparently goes into a boat

and travels to the other side of the sea of Galilee

to a place called Gerasenes.

And he comes across this guy who, it says,

was possessed by demons, many demons.

He walks around the cemetery naked.

 

It seems like this guy has been an ongoing problem

for the little town of Gerasenes.

When it got bad, it says that they

would chain him and have to guard him.

But at times the demons were so bad that

they would break the chains and

he would go out into the wilderness.

Only apparently to come back again

to the town and hang out naked

in the cemetery again.

 

Jesus meets this man because

the demons in him are drawn to Jesus

they know that Jesus has power over them,

and he is going to expel them from the man.

And they beg not to be put into the abyss.

(There is not really a robust theology about what

“the abyss” is but we all can imagine.)

They asked to be put into the herd of pigs instead.

 

And Jesus has mercy – even on the demons,

and he puts them into the pigs,

and the pigs throw themselves off the cliff.

 

 

The pig farmers are not happy about this at all,

which is understandable.

And they go tattle on Jesus to everyone else.

But even though the pigs have met a terrible end,

it seems like a small price to pay.

The rest of the town comes to Jesus

and they find that the Naked Cemetery Guy is doing great.

He is finally free.

He’s no longer possessed by demons,

he doesn’t need to be chained and guarded,

he won’t torment the town like he had been,

they don’t need to be afraid of what he will do next.

 

He is liberated. Gerasenes is liberated.

Some pigs don’t seem like a great loss,

now that everyone has been freed from these demons.

 

So you think that the town would be happy.

You think they would raise Jesus up on their

shoulders and thank the heck out of him.

Throw him a party or something. But no.

 

The town looked into the face of a miracle,

the face of renewal, transformation

and they reacted with fear.

They asked Jesus to leave.

It was probably more like a demand

in the form of a request.

 

I think this reaction really reflects our own tendencies.

We want miracles, we want the world to be different.

We pray for God’s will to be done.

And yet, when we come face to

face with God’s work, we react in fear.

 

Because miracles, transformation,

and renewal means change.

God’s will means change.  

It means altering our lives.

And that is uncomfortable.

 

Every week, millions of Christians have prayed

the Lord’s Prayer for over almost two thousand years.

We pray that God’s will be done, but

what if God’s will being done means

that I don’t have all I have now.

What if God’s will being done

means that can’t keep a luxury that I have,

or convenience, or a possession, or a relationship.

Or something else that I value, or take for granted,

or even something that I haven’t even thought twice about,

what if it needs to be taken away from me

in order for God’s will to be done on earth.

Are we ready to make even the smallest compromise?

I think we’d be surprised how few would be willing.

 

I mean we’ve been talking about the need for

workforce housing in Hilton Head intensely for the last three years,

and for a long time before that, I know.

But no one wants to make any sacrifice regarding it.

The town doesn’t want to bear any cost financially,

the citizens don’t want the housing to be built near them.

I get the feeling some people here don’t want the people

who work on this Island to actually live here with them.

 

We have long prayed for an end to racism in

our country. But what if that comes with a cost

to the privilege that white people have been

afforded over hundreds of years in this country?

I think that’s why we’re seeing so much resistance

to diversity, and to critical race theory, and

other things like that, because people have realized that

for the country and the world to get better on this front,

that there will be a cost to our privilege.

Not our rights, but our privilege.

 

We’ve traded thousands of lives and the

safety and peace of school children in this country

because we can’t tolerate any kind of reasonable gun control.

 

We pray for peace, but won’t allow for

understanding, compromise, or negotiations

because they’re seen as weakness.

 

When we say we want God’s will to be done

The truth is, we really want everything and everyone

out there to change, but everything

in our little bubble to stay the same.

 

Those people in Gerasenes probably

prayed for years that Naked Cemetery Guy

would stop running around tormenting the town.

But now that he’s well again, the townspeople

would actually have to deal with him.

Their relationship with him would have to change.

Maybe they were used to yelling at him,

or beating him, or making fun of him.

Maybe they blamed him for all their town’s problems.

All their meetings were probably about Naked Cemetery Guy

and what to do about Naked Cemetery Guy.

Now that he was well, things would be different.

It was easier to send Jesus away than to try and negotiate

what all that change means.

 

A seminary professor said:

“As the larger narrative of Jesus unfolds,

people’s fear proves to be a more difficult

and heartbreaking problem for God than the problem of evil.”

 

We have come to maintain a successful balance of

tolerance and management of the demonic forces in our society.

Forces like war, violence, racism, hatred, exploitation,

contempt, greed, consumerism, isolation.

Sometimes these demons give us the ability to not

focus on our own issues and just complain about

everyone else’s problems.

 

And sometimes we have made silent deals

with the devil so to speak.

Sometimes we actually benefit from these demons

in some subtle and not so subtle ways.

I mean, at least the man guarding the

Naked Cemetery Guy had a good job.

Now he’s lost that.

Thanks, Jesus.

 

When the power of God came to their community

it disturbed the way of life they had come to accept.

Even when it’s for good,

power that can’t be calculated or managed is frightening.

 

What will Jesus do next?

  

The thing that Jesus says most to the disciples

is not peace, salvation, even forgiveness,

it’s “don’t be afraid”.

Not just don’t be afraid of demons and evil

and sin and bad people who want to harm you.

But don’t be afraid of the power of God

and the good things.

Don’t be afraid of liberation,

don’t be afraid of transformation,

don’t be afraid of change,

don’t be afraid of sacrifice.

Take up your cross and follow.

 

Someone who is very smart said:

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.”

 

And when Jesus comes up to our

shores to liberate us, we might just be inclined

to turn away too and let the demons continue.

We might be inclined a lot of times to give into our fear

and to ask Jesus to leave and leave us the way we are.

 

But Jesus did not leave Gerasene the way it was.

And the good news is that Jesus

will not leave us the way we are.

Jesus will not let this world be held captive

by those demons forever,

Even if we ourselves think that it is

the best thing to do.

Jesus intention is to free us all.

Jesus will work through our churches,

through our people,

and through other people in the world,

through our hands, and our feet, and our mouths

to engage and drive those demons out.

 

Jesus’s objective is to liberate

the whole world from our demons.

To set us free to love God, and to love one another.

 

We might resist. We might fight and

refuse to give up our present life.

We might cling to our lives as they are.

 

But Jesus is not willing to give up on any of us.

Jesus will keep coming up on our shore,

encountering our demons,

and breaking us out of the chains and shackles

that hold us down.

 

And one day, all of creation will be

like that man in Gerasenes:

Everyone Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

clothed in Christ’s love,

everyone in their right minds.

 

Everyone able to return home

and declare how much God has done for them.

A Total Lack of Clarity

John 14:23-29 May 25, 2025 Easter 6



What we’re reading today and have been the last couple of weeks

is a small part of monologue by Jesus to the disciples,

at the last supper. It’s called the farewell discourse,

it’s Jesus telling the disciples about what will happen

and what they should do after Jesus dies

and when they continue the ministry without him.



Now when someone is about to leave,

for any length of time, there are usually some specific things

we tend to share, like where the important papers are,

emergency numbers, when to take the garbage out.

You know, practical things.



But none of the things in Jesus farewell discourse are practical.

Jesus speaks for three chapters and most of it is metaphors.

He talks about vines and branches, a lot of glorifying,

houses and rooms, and all sorts of other unclear metaphors.

John’s complicated sentence structures

and poetic language doesn’t help understanding either.



Jesus last Supper would seem like a perfect time to tell everyone

exactly what would be happening, and exactly what

to do, how to organize, what are the priorities for Jesus,

but there just seem to be no clear and simple answers

here in his last monologue to his chosen ones.

It’s very unclear.



For people who want clear and simple answers

in their religion, Jesus farewell discourse in John

can be enormously frustrating.



But sometimes I wonder if this is exactly how Jesus wanted it:

unclear.



Some people think that clarity is what religion is all about,

some think that if you admit you’re unclear on things,

then you don’t have faith.



Christians have spent a lot of the last two thousand years

trying to get everything correct.

Trying to set out the perfect doctrine and rules.

Even Lutherans have felt like we’ve got the whole thing

all sealed up in a book and we have a special kind of clarity.



But then our world changes, our culture changes, our

understandings change, the questions we ask change,

and what we thought was absolutely clear is not completely clear any more.

Some people take this as weakness, but is it?



Even something basic, like doctrine around baptism,

That has changed in the ELCA in the last 20-30 years.

They used to teach in the Lutheran church that

everyone who wasn’t baptized was basically condemned to hell.

But as time has gone on, people have realized that this

is contrary to the doctrine of justification by grace,

and it just doesn’t jive with the merciful and loving God

that we find in Jesus and in the scriptures.



Even when I was in seminary just 20 years ago

people who said that they didn’t think that the unbaptized

were going to hell were kind of seen as and radicals,

but now it’s pretty much the norm in the ELCA.



Were people bad for thinking differently back then?

No. We just have more clarity now.

And in 20 years, there will be something that

we believe now that we will have to change because we

will have a little more clarity.



Some people hate this feeling of unclarity.

To some people it feels like shifting sands.

Some people say that changing what we believe

or watering down our beliefs and convictions.



But what if this is just how Jesus wanted it?

For us to be flexible enough to adapt to a changing world?

What if Jesus wants us to have less clarity not more.

What if Jesus wants us to be able to admit

that we’ve rethought it and weighed in new understanding

and now we’ve changed our mind?

Or maybe that sometimes we don’t know what the answer is,

and we don’t know what to do, or how to do it

and that we don’t know exactly what God wants at all times.



Maybe Jesus wants less absolute clarity from

his followers and not more.

I was reading something about a man named John Wycliffe.

He was a Catholic priest in the 1300’s — 200 years before Luther,

He translated the bible into the vernacular,

words that regular people could understand

it’s called the Wycliffe Bible which you can still read today.

He spoke out against the Pope and the

extravagant lives of the clergy and the churches,

the authority of scripture, and the understanding of the Eucharist.

He died of natural causes, but one hundred years

after he died— so in like 1400 – he was declared a heretic,

by the Roman Catholic church, and his body was dug up and

his bones burned and the ashes thrown into a river.

Say what you will, but that is absolute clarity.



Those people who had his bones dug up

were very clear about what God’s mind was,

and what Jesus wanted, and they believed that John Wycliffe

was so far away from it, that they wanted his hundred

year dead body burned and thrown in the river.

That was clarity.



And that kind of clarity doesn’t seem holy or faithful to me.

It seems like it doesn’t allow for the Holy Spirit to

enter in and change hearts, and minds, and actions.


When you think about it,

clarity is really the thing that leads to

so much violence and so much of our embarrassing past.

The inquisition, the crusades, the destruction of Native

American populations, Slavery, the Holocaust, segregation,

everyone was so clear on these things. So convicted that

they killed people and started long, bloody wars about them.

Everyone at every time was sure they knew what God wanted

and what the right order of things was.



Clarity is still a problem today.

Religious intolerance, wars and persecution.

Christians in this country and elsewhere are still sticking with

racism, homophobia, misogyny, they’re trying to silence people

who have other thoughts through exclusion, slander and violence

because they have clarity about what they think God wants.

Churches that preach so much hate and condemnation

against LGBT people do it with absolute clarity.

Project 2025, which comes out of a Christian/political think-tank,

is a plan of clarity.



All of these convictions in our world that hurt so many people,

are born out of a sense of clarity.

Absolute clarity about what God wants, what Jesus stood for,

and what they believe the Holy Spirit is leading us to.



Maybe the problem is not the changing culture,

but the church’s stubborn need for absolute clarity?

Maybe “unclear” is just how Jesus wants it.



The one clear thing that Jesus says in his farewell discourse

is what we read today, Jesus promises that God would

send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.

Jesus promises the Spirit is coming and would

be with them and teach them.


But the best we can do to describe the Holy Spirit

is to use metaphors. We know the Spirit as a dove,

a beam of light, the breath that moved over the waters,

Wisdom that dances in the entrance gates, the wind.


I think that wind is a good metaphor.

You can’t see where it came from or where it’s going

but still you can feel it. You know it’s been there.

But you can’t control it.



We like to think we can control the Spirit sometimes,

but like trying to contain the wind it’s a futile attempt

I think that’s why maybe the church has lost its impact

in the last few decades.

We’ve tried to put the Spirit in a neat little package.

We’ve tried to domesticate it and make it predictable.

We’ve tried to institutionalize it. Make its ways clear.

But the Spirit doesn’t work that way.



Early on here on Hilton Head, I was asked to do a boat blessing

at the marina. They laid out the plans with me.

There was going to be a parade of boats and I was going to bless them

through a bullhorn as they went by. It was planned for months.

But the day came and it was too windy to do anything,

so we just stood on the dock and did the boat blessing

from there and then we had lunch.

Everyone took it in stride though.



Because the sailors knew you can’t tell the wind

to blow one way or another, you can’t tell it to stop blowing long

enough for us to complete our plans.

The only thing you do is just figure out which way the wind

is blowing and how fast, and YOU adjust your world to IT,

instead of the other way around.



So Jesus clearly promised us the wind.

a complete lack of clarity at most times.

And a Spirit to guide us through it.

We’ve been reading parts of the end of Revelation.

Another of John’s writings.

In it we get visions of a life to come.

A new heaven and a new earth.

A place of eternal daylight where the crystal clear river

of the water of life flows. Where every tear is wiped away,

where death and dying will be no more.

Where mourning and crying will be no more.

It’s a vision that one day, earth will be like heaven,

and we all will all resort to love and understanding

instead of intolerance and contempt.

That we will one day live in peace together.

One day there will be no place for war or violence.

It will be a place where every person is housed and fed.

Where there will be no place for racism, and hatred.

One day, we will all follow Jesus words

of love and grace and forgiveness and not

even give it a second thought.



And maybe it’s okay that I cannot clearly see

the way to that place right now.

Maybe it’s okay that we don’t understand

our way out of this mess that we’re currently in,

and that it’s not clear how we will ever get to that vision

of God’s peaceful kingdom.



Maybe we just have to and give up our will, our clarity,

and our preconceived notions.

Maybe we have to just throw up our hands and say,

we don’t know what we’re doing.

but we trust that God is going to get us there somehow.



Maybe the most holy and faithful

thing we can say is “I don’t know.”

And then actually let the Holy Spirit guide us.



Maybe this is just how Jesus wants it.

Love One Another

 John 13 31-35

Easter 5  5-18-25

 

There was a history of my seminary,

Philadelphia seminary, and other seminaries

playing a flag football game against each other

at Gettysburg Seminary.

Each team would get t shirts for the game.

 

Our team, got them in purple with white writing.

And when we got there we realized,

the other team had the same exact shirt.

Purple with white writing.

It was a very confusing game.

We could never figure out who was who.

 

Likewise, it’s hard to identify Christians in the world.

We don’t wear particular clothes, or eat certain foods,

We don’t only interact with certain people,

We aren’t really commanded to do much that is outwardly different.

Christians basically blend in with everyone else.

I think we’re meant to do just that.

But how do people identify us and distinguish ourselves from others?

 

Jesus tells his disciples that we will be known by our love.

By the way we love one another.

So we won’t be known for

going to church on Sunday morning,

or wearing a cross around our necks

or praying before meals, or thumping our bibles.

We will be known for our love.

That will make us distinct.

 

Love one another as I have loved you, Jesus said.

This is what will make us famous and well-know.

This is what people will talk about.

 

Jesus gave this command during his last supper.

Right before this, he told them that one of his

disciples was going to betray him.

And right after this he tells Peter

that he would deny even knowing him.

It must have been a very painful meal for Jesus in many ways.

And yet in this same dinner, he washes the feet of the disciples.

All of them, including Judas, in act of humble service

to his students and followers and betrayers and deniers.

 

That is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about

The self sacrificing, self-denying kind of love.

The kind of love that isn’t stopped by pride

the kind of love that includes all, even those not worthy of it.

 

Jesus tells the disciples to love one another,

He addresses this to the disciples specifically.

But Jesus is talking about the kind of love that crosses

boundaries, and a love that doesn’t make more boundaries.

This is Jesus last request, this is Jesus’ new commandment:

Love.

 

This has surely been a struggle for Jesus’ church

both inside and out.

Sometimes the church is better known for its

judgement and condemnation of others,

which some Christians confusingly say is “love”.

Sometimes the church is better known for

it’s infighting and squabbling with one another.

Sometimes the church is better known for its

abuse and brutality towards others.

I would say that these days,  

Love is not the first thing that most people think of 

when they think of those who follow Christ.

 

If you read anything about the very beginning

of the Christian church, the startling thing is how fast it grew.

Christianity wasn’t very organized, it wasn’t a unified institution.

Worshipping Jesus was not part of the main-stream,

it was not the government authorized religion,

it was sometimes even dangerous for most people to be a part of it.

But even under oppression and threats, the church grew big and fast.

And many scholars have said that the reason is

because it was the different way that Christians treated people –

inside and outside their community.

 

At the time, the world was arranged in

strict hierarchy that was supported by Roman religion.

The rich were higher than the poor,

the men were higher than the women,

the masters were higher than the slaves

It was all ordained by the gods,

And people acted and were treated accordingly.

 

But Christians tried to treat everyone the same.

Everyone got the same respect and dignity,

everyone was given responsibilities,

women and slaves were leaders.

everyone was treated with the same kind of love as everyone else.

 

And they showed that love to others too.

they fed the poor with the collection they got during church.

They gave food and company to those who were imprisoned.

They visited the sick and helped them too.

They treated the forgotten people with dignity and kindness.

They shared their love inside the community and outside.

This was radical to the Roman world.

 

Their growth wasn’t about having great worship services

it wasn’t about good music, or preaching, or children’s programs. 

It was what happened when they got outside

of that worship service that made the difference.

It was what happened the rest of the week that inspired others.

 

The things that define us as Christians

aren’t the things we do in here,

it’s the things we do out there.

The way Christians behave towards others.

 

Someone said on the internet that sometimes

the best evangelism we can do is just tell

someone you’re a Christian and then not act like a jerk.

That’s a pretty low bar for us to walk over.

But considering the reputation of Christians today,

that might be enough.

 

But sometimes we Christians can do extraordinarily kind things.

Paying for another person’s groceries

when they’re in trouble at a check out.

Mowing a neighbor’s lawn because they need help.

Helping homeless people, helping refugees,

having unconditional acceptance

of those who are different or marginalized.

Loving one another through our pain and joy and sadness.

Generosity with our money.

Feeding people who need it. Building houses.

 

This is what Christians should be known for.

Not for condemnation of anyone who thinks differently,

not for throwing the first bomb in the culture wars.

But for reaching out to serve, washing each other’s feet.

We should be set apart by our love for one another.

 

Tony Campolo was a popular Methodist pastor and author.

and speaker. He just died this past year.

He tells a wonderful story.

And I feel sure I’ve told this story before, because I love it.

And you can tell good stories more than once.

 

He was pastor, and before he was a famous author,

he got a PhD in sociology.

He was presenting a paper in Honolulu.

He flew there from the East Coast and it was time to go to sleep

in Honolulu but he couldn’t because of the jet lag.

So was sitting in a coffee shop at about 3:30am.

it was the only place open, and it was pretty grungy.

 

There were only a few people in the place

and a group of prostitutes came in.

He was sitting at the counter and they all

kind of sat around him.

 

He was basically in the middle of the conversation

and the one who’s name was Agnes said that it

was her birthday tomorrow. She was going to be 39.

One of her friends said sarcastically,

“What do you want me to do, throw you a party?”

 

She said, "Why do you have to be so mean?

I was just telling you it was my birthday.

I don't want anything from you.

I mean, why should you give me a birthday party?

I've never had a birthday party in my whole life.

Why should I have one now?"

 

After she left the place with her friend,

Tony asked the owner of the place

if she was in there every night

and he said yes, right at 3:30 they always came in.

  

Tony suggested to the owner that maybe they could throw

her a party since it was her birthday.

The owner thought it was a great idea.

Agnes was a nice person and he would love to be a part.

Tony said he would get the decorations,

the owner said that he would make the cake.

 

The next night they decorated the place and

by 3:15, and they had invited the other prostitutes in the area

and other people who knew her.

At 3:30 Agnes and her friends came in.

Everyone yelled out surprise and sang Happy Birthday.

She looked completely flabbergasted.

And then the owner of the diner gave her the cake

it said “Happy Birthday Agnes” on it. It had candles on it.

And she started crying at the sight of it.

Everyone told her to blow out the candles.

She blew out the candles

and then the owner gave her a knife

and told her to cut the cake.

 

She said to the owner,

“Harry, if it’s all right with you,

I don’t want to cut the cake right now.”

He told her it was okay.

She said, “Is it okay if we just keep the cake a little while,

I just live a couple of doors down, would it be okay

if I just took the cake to my apartment and I’ll be back?”

She left the diner holding the cake like the Holy Grail.

There was kind of a stunned silence at this point.

and no one knew what to do.

So, Tony suggested that they pray.

So they did.

 

He said, “looking back on it now, it seems more than strange 

for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a 

bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning.

But then it just felt like the right thing to do.”

 

When he finished, Harry leaned over the counter

and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said,

"Hey! You never told me you were a preacher.

What kind of church do you belong to?"

Tony said, “In one of those moments when just the right words came, 

I answered, ‘I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for

prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.’"

 

Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered,

"No you don't. There's no church like that.

If there was, I'd join it. I'd join a church like that!"

 

How many small opportunities for love and kindness

has the Christian church missed over the last 2000 years

because we were too busy worrying about money,

or complaining about music, or scolding people,

or just being an institution?

 

Jesus gave us a new commandment,

a simple and clear commandment.

That we love one another as he loved us.

This is the way that everyone will know us.

If we have love for one another.