This Week's Sermons

Sermons for the Month
Parking Lights
DATE: April 25, 1999
SERVICE: Easter IV
TEXT: 1 Peter 2:19-25
"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

Dear Tom and Ray ... Is there a part in a car that has not evolved over time but continues to exist even though we don't need it anymore? -Signed, Linda.
Tom: Great question, Linda! The "part" that comes to mind is the parking lights.
Ray: Right. In the old, old days, when my brother still had a few brain cells left, cars were not that common. So when you parked yours at the side of the road, you left your "parking lights" on. That way, when Ichabod Crane came whizzing by in his buggy he wouldn't smash into you.
Tom: But now that we all expect cars to be parked on every street, and we have reflectors to make them more visible, parking lights are hardly necessary (Click & Clack, "Auto Evolution," The Washington Post, May 8, 1998).
Tom and Ray, the wisecracking "Car Talk" mechanics, make a good point about the lack of evolution in cars - all vehicles still have parking lights, although the lights are practically useless. They are a "vestigial trait," a remnant of an earlier model that still exists, although it no longer performs a necessary function. The human body contains these traits as well: Think of the appendix, an organ that once had a job, but is now unemployed. The only time we become aware of the appendix is when it gets infected, and needs to be cut out. Otherwise, it just rides along in the abdomen, doing nothing, and we happily ignore it.
Could the same be true for Christians? Do we have parking lights and appendixes in the members of the body of Christ? Is there some part of us that should have evolved from our old, sinful natures, but has not done so?
The answer is "Yes." Today's reading talks about one of them. Christians still retain many of our violent tendencies, although Christ calls us to evolve into peacemakers. Even subtle acts of "nonviolent" revenge are rooted in violence. Violence is a vestigial trait that we are challenged to eliminate.
We continue this morning reading from 1 Peter, as we have for the last few weeks. 1 Peter was written to early Christians who wondered, "Now that I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, are there changes I should consider in how I live and behave?" The author writes, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps," says the first letter of Peter (2:21). "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten" (2:23). The message here is not that we should invite abuse upon ourselves, but rather that we should never return abuse for abuse, evil for evil. Our call is to follow in Christ's steps, and change into Christians who avoid violence at all costs.
The problem is that we have inherited a parking light--a left-over from our former life before Christ--that flashes the message, "Don't get mad - get even." The message of the world is that revenge is sweet, and turnabout is fair play. If a friend cheats you, you cheat back. If someone hits you with a stick, you hit back with a bigger stick. If a person does you harm, you sue him. If a criminal breaks a law, the court system locks her up and throws away the key. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, abuse for abuse, suffering for suffering. This is the way of the world, and while it sometimes has the positive effect of keeping hard-core criminals off the streets, I can assure you from my years while in Mansfield visiting inmates of the Mansfield Reformatory, it doesn't do much to make us better people.
Our God has another way: one that may seem odd, but is ultimately more satisfying. The Lord calls us to let go of the violent ways of the world and grab hold of the nonviolent ways of the kingdom of God; to remove our parking lights and appendixes, and replace them with characteristics that won't flash useless messages or cause us internal pain.
Whenever we try to get even, or strike back with violence, we discover that revenge really isn't so sweet, and we hurt ourselves as much as our intended victims. But if we resist these tendencies and replace them with Christlike characteristics, we discover that it actually feels better to stand tall than to strike back.
My heart always goes out to family members who lose a relative through violence. I try to understand their grief and pain. My heart, however, is always troubled when I hear them wanting the state to give them the same thing the criminal wanted of their loved one--death. I am troubled when I see pictures of clapping, smiling, high-fiving people thanking God for someone's death.
But how do you eliminate vestigial violence, and replace it with something new and nonviolent? How do you reverse this tendency in yourself? First you pray, then you practice, then you put it to work in the community. So lets start out with a prayer….
Dear God, we thank you for the model for living you gave to us in your son Jesus. When we pray that your will be done, walk us through those times when we are tempted to get even, just as you probably tempted to do the same. Help us to show love as you did for those who do not love. AMEN
1. You pray - as is said in the Lord's Prayer - that God's will be done, "on earth as it is in heaven." Nonviolence is not part of the earthly political agenda; it is, however, at the heart of God's heavenly kingdom order; it is at the core of the new reality that we followers of Jesus are called to use as the basis for our earthly lives. When followers make the decision to model their lives after Jesus, they become His disciples. Disciples of Jesus are those who make the commitment to train in letting go of the ways of the world and "rely on God's definition of the direction and meaning of the world - that is, the kingdom of God" (Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989], 88-89). Needless to say, most members of Christian churches are followers still struggling with the decision to become Jesus' Disciples. As disciples, we are to pray that we let go of our violent vestigial traits, and discover new traits that are in line with the kingdom of God.
2. You practice nonviolence wherever you can: at home, at work, in the community, at church. You practice it in whatever way you can: with children, spouses, store clerks, co-workers and the person sitting next to you in the pew. "Repeated practice is one of the most basic principles of most spiritual and meditative paths," writes Richard Carlson, Ph.D. "In other words, whatever you practice most is what you will become. If you are in the habit of being uptight whenever life isn't quite right, repeatedly reacting to criticism by defending yourself, insisting on being right, allowing your thinking to snowball in response to adversity, or acting like life is an emergency, then, unfortunately, your life will be a reflection of this type of practice ....
"Likewise, however, you can choose to bring forth in yourself qualities of compassion, patience, kindness, humility and peace - again, through what you practice. I guess it's safe to say that practice makes perfect" (Richard Carlson, "Remember that You Become What You Practice Most," Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and It's All Small Stuff [New York: Hyperion, 1997], 171). You become a nonviolent person most successfully by practice - by practicing nonviolence wherever you can, in whatever way you can, as often as you can.
3. You put it to work in the community. "Once in a while," reflects James P. Wind of the Alban Institute, "a church or synagogue becomes a visible front line in the battle against violence. The burning of a number of black churches in the past few years is one recent example. But the reality is that every day, every congregation in this country and around the world is on the front line in the battle against deep-seated human hatred and violence. As we worship, meet, share meals, teach children, and perform all the other activities that create congregations, we encounter the deep resentments, angers, fears and hostilities that can cumulatively lead to the kinds of eruptions that leave our schoolyards, highways, governmental buildings and homes bloodstained and grief-filled. We may never know how much difference our congregational life together has made for good or ill in this awful contest. But we must know that we are on the front line, that we are not and cannot be bystanders in the battle against violence. We must constantly ask how we can deal more faithfully and effectively with these powerful forces" (James P. Wind, "On the Front Lines against Violence," CONGREGATIONS: The Alban Journal, September-October 1998, 3).
It was announced a couple of weeks ago in the Light Service, that our Hospice Soup Ministry initiated by Ken Nouse was in line for an award from the J.C. Penny Company. I am thrilled to say that we won. Faith Lutheran Church was publicly recognized last week for our role in helping families at a time of great sadness. This crystal is a testament to the fact that nonviolence can be a powerful force in the healing of our world, if we put it to work in the community around us.
So what would Tom and Ray say to all this? How would they respond if asked, "Is there a part in the church that has not evolved over time?"
Probably: "Don't ask us! We're the 'Car Talk' guys!"
But pretend for one second that they're the "Church Talk" guys. They might say, "Great question, Church! The answer is violence. Aggression, selfishness, me-tooism are vestigial traits - the parking lights and appendixes - of the Christian community. It needs to be removed from the heart, the home, the church, the nation and the world, and replaced by a determination never to return abuse for abuse, evil for evil. Peace can evolve - if you pray for it, practice it, and put it to work in the community around you - and when you acquire it, you'll find yourself much closer to the kingdom of God."
"But," you say, "I do not have any of those residual traits of aggression hanging on from my old nature. I am a new person in Christ."
Excuse me? Before you break your arm patting yourself on the back, think about it!
• What about the bumper sticker on your pickup: "As a matter of fact, I do own the road!"?
• How come the horn on your car is broken?
• Why can't you stand in line at the grocery store without glaring at the elderly person who waits for a total, and then carefully picks out the correct bills and change from her coin purse?
• Why are you elbowing and shoving to get through the turnstile, even though you have an assigned seat?
• Why are you yelling at your children and your spouse? God has two words for us: "Chill Out!"
Chill out, and, in the words of our text, "return to the shepherd and guardian of your souls" (2:25).
AMEN