Worth Less

Psalm 51: 10-17   Luke 18: 9-14

The Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart

I have a fill-in-the-blank prayer for you this morning. 

How would you complete this prayer...

“God, I thank you that I am not like those other people.  I may not be perfect, but at least I’m not like others I could mention – others like ...”

Who might you name,... in your family?  at work?  At school?  in this church?

 (Now, I’m not asking you to say these out loud. But fill in the blank..in your heart in this prayer... “Thank you, God, that I’m not like .... _____)

That’s the great thing about being part of a family or a family of faith or the human family.  There is always someone we can name or blame to make us feel a little better about ourselves.

“God, I thank you that I am not like those other people.”

Why is it that if we can point to someone we believe has done a greater injustice, made a greater mistake, gained more weight, made more of a fool of themselves, we feel better about ourselves?

“Thank you, God, that Epworth is not like those other churches....!”

On Thursday evening, I was feeling badly about something I had done ... and something I had not done ... that day.  You know, one of those days when you suffer involuntary cringes everytime you remember what you did or didn’t do?  Thursday was such a day for me.  Then, that evening, during game two of the “World” Series, I watched as Colorado Rockies’ star player, Matt Holliday, who had had four hits in four at bats, got picked off at first base in his lame effort to steal second base... costing his team a chance to tie or take the lead.  When Matt Holliday made his major blunder on network television ... with millions of people watching... somehow, I kid you not, I felt a little better!

Now, I know that, normally, I keep my baseball loyalty to the Boston Red Sox a big secret, (!) ... but I ask your indulgence this week for one sermon.

In 2004, the Red Sox won the “World” Series for the first time in 86 years.  It was amazing, and fans (including me) talked about finally ending the “Curse of the Bambino.”  The story of the curse is that Boston had won five “World” Series in their early years, but then, in 1918 Boston traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees and from that year, they did not win another World Series until 2004.  (whereas the Yankees won – something like 25!)

However, there was at least one other, more relevant but unacknowledged curse that caused Boston to lose in many ways, for many generations ... racism.

In 1948, the Red Sox were the first team who offered a try out to Jackie Robinson... at Fenway Park.  But they didn’t sign him because the owners didn’t think he would “fit in” with their organization or facilities.  They also could have signed Willie Mays ... but failed to do so. 

It was persistent and pervasive racism that lost Boston a chance at a lineup that would have brought together Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Ted Williams. In fact, the Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate – over ten years after Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Oakland’s Pumpsie Green was Boston’s first African American player ... signed in 1959.  The treatment of those who were signed is also part of this unexamined curse. (Even today... some players of color have asked to include contract clauses stipulating no trades to Boston ...)  In more recent years, new owners have acknowledged, repented of and worked to address this shameful history. 

But while Sox fans have been busy defining ourselves against the Yankees, defending ourselves against the “curse,” we have not faced the sin of racism.

As a member of Red Sox nation.....as a pastor of the United Methodist Church...as a white citizen of the United States of America ... I need to face the history and reality of sin of the team, the church, the nation I love and in which I participate. 

I have to face my own sin without naming the sins or failures of others.

In 12 step programs there is a prayer that I pray over and over again, whenever I feel resentful or judgmental:

 “God, bless them.  Change me.”

When we hear the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, if our impulse, at any conscious or unconscious level is to think, or feel, or say “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee!” we miss the point of Jesus’ parable!

The startling thing about this parable for those who heard this story in Jesus’ day is that the Pharisee and the Tax Collector did exactly what was not expected of them!  Pharisees were devout and faithful.  Their religious practices helped assure the spiritual an even physical survival of the Jewish people under Roman Empire.  On the other hand, the tax collector, was an unfaithful collaborator who taxed every thing he or she touched for the coffers of the Empire, and who stole in order to survive. 

The unexpected Good News of this parable is that even faithful Pharisees fall to self-righteousness and that even Roman collaborators draw close to God in self-examination and honest prayer.

Jesus was speaking to the disciples when, “He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves... and regarded others with contempt.”

The story bears a challenge and a promise for followers of Christ.  The challenge is that even at our best, the impulse to justify ourselves and judge others is in us and with us.  The promise is that even at our worst, God’s grace-full love reaches out to us with transforming forgiveness and acceptance.

I have a second fill in the blank prayer:

“God, have mercy on me.  Help me.”

Actually, there is no blank in that prayer.  It is whole.

“God, have mercy on me.  Help me.”

When we stop listing or praying our resume before God, when we stop comparing and cataloguing the faults of others; when we stop seeing others as worth less than ourselves, when we trust God with all of who we really are, we are free for passion, compassion, and abundant life. 

Sin is missing the mark as persons and peoples.  Grace breaks in on us again and again and again when we face our brokenness, offer it to God, and trust that God, who is Love, will hold us, and sustain us, challenge and change us and make us whole once and always.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.