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March 11, 2007 Rev. Steve Gehlert Willy was eight years old. All he could remember was war. His father had gone off to fight when he was two. He'd come home on leave a few times over the next couple of years, and then he'd been sent to the Russian front, and Willy never saw him again. The British had started bombing Berlin, where Willy lived when he was four. The Americans had joined in a year later. The Americans bombed by day; the British by night, at first just a few times a month, and then, more and more often. So the city was already a wreck when the Russians got close enough to bombard it. The last battle made it worse, with fighting was street-to-street, house to house, as Nazi fanatics forced boys of 13 and 14 to fight, and shot deserters who tried to get away. The Russians, eager for revenge for the 20,000,000 of their people who'd been killed by the Germans, showed little mercy. Once they'd taken the city; they shot anyone they suspected of being a Nazi, and they robbed and raped at will. After a few months of terror, the Russians desire for vengance began to lessen, and there began to be some order. Things improved a bit more, when the Americans, British, and French arrived. At least, there was no longer the constant fear of being killed by a bomb, or later by an angry Russian soldier. But still conditions were terrible. Winter had come. People were cold. There was no fuel. So they'd taken to cutting down the trees in the city parks, and tearing up wooden fences for fuel. Even with that; many apartments had bomb damage; walls or windows open to the cold. But the hunger was the worst. Germany had fallen in May. Few crops had been planted anywhere in the country that spring, so their was little to harvest in the fall. Even if there had been, the rail system was such a shambles little could have been shipped in. People were hungry, on the verge of starvation. People scrounged for food wherever they could, even trash cans. They ate whatever they could; few pets or horses survived that winter. Many would die that winter. Willy looks back on that time with great sadness. Not only because of the cold and hunger, but also because of what it meant for his mother. His mother, like thousands of other Berliner mothers, knew that the allied soldiers had access to food, food that beyond the meager rations that barely kept her children alive, kept them gaunt and constantly hungry. She knew that some of the allied soldiers would trade food for sex. So, when things got especially bad, she'd leave him and his younger brother and sister alone and go out at night and come back with food. He'd justed turned nine, but he knew what was going on. The horror of war made him learn two things very early. First whoever holds the food has power. Second, that food always comes with a price. Whoever holds the food has the power. That's why food always comes at a price. That's why Isaiah's invitation is so startling. "Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway – buy and eat! Come, buy your wine and milk. Buy without money – everything's free. Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest." How amazing! The one who has the real food wants to give it away! How amazing that God, the one with the real food, wants to give it to those who don't deserve it – to the exiles in Babylon, who were in exile because they'd refused to live as God's people, because, in fact, they'd lived as God's enemies. Why would God extend such an offer to those who'd been arrogant, selfish, unjust? It makes no sense in human terms. With us, whoever has the food, the stuff, whatever it is that we think we need to live - looks, status, place, influence, has the power, right? With us, whoever doesn't have it, whatever it is, that we think we need to give us worth, a group to hang with, security, hope for the future, has to pay a price to get it, right? Control of the food, the stuff, let's you make them pay, make them grovel, humilate them, degrade them, if they want to eat. So, why does God do this, offer food free, at no cost, to people who'd behaved like enemies? Because God is God and not us. No matter how disappointed and angry as God gets with us, God never stops loving us. God may allow us to go our own way and suffer the consequences of our sin but God never gives up on us. God always hopes that we'll turn back to the love that's always there. That's what this is an invitation to do - to come back and receive what they really need for life, free without cost. All they needed to do was come and get it. Why didn't they? Why would they hesitate? Well, because the Bablylonians who held them captive made an offer, too. And the Babylonians were rich, sophisticated, powerful. The Babylonians, literally had the food, and all that implied about power, belonging, worth, and security. What they had was very visible, right in the exiles faces every day. And from their power position they made an offer, "You can have some of this - food, a way to belong, wealth, awesome power, the security that you want so bad - you can have it all - for a price. You can have it - at such a little price - just forget your God and your God's ways, and become like us. Just forget your kosher food and eat the rich food of our empire. Forget your sabbath and make every day like another. Forget your God's ways of justice, and seek after wealth and power and security, like we do. Look where it's got us!. When you're hungry, or your children are hungry, such offers are very tempting, just like they were for Willy's mother. It's very easy to sell yourself, to prostitute yourself, in order to get whatever "food" it is that you think you need, from the only powers you can imagine controlling it. The hunger doesn't have to be physical. We can have plenty in our belly's and still be hungry, for worth, affirmation, a place, security. And there are those that we think control such things, those who we think are the ones who hold the keys to worth, affirmation, a place, belonging, security - the company, the "in group," the team, the image, the whatever. So we let them make their offers to us. "Just learn to be cool like us, to put down, to keep out. Just learn to want like us, to desire, and strive, for more and more." Just learn to forget the sabbath, so you can give yourself to what we tell you is more important than dedicating the day to God. Just learn to lie and manipulate like we do, so that getting what you want can be more important than honesty and trust. And, just like what the Babylonians offered, what the peer group, the team, the company, the merchandisers of status, offer is so alluring that we sell ourselves, prostitute ourselves to get what they offer - some recognition, a place to belong, a job to hold on to, the satisfaction of getting what we want, lots of goodies. But the price is always more than we imagine. The price is that we must sell ourselves, give up true selves as God's children, in order to get the food, the stuff, they offer. We have to become like them. We have to go along with the values of the company that tells us to be dishonest, or buy things that are so cheap because workers are exploited, or be affirmed only because we have a certain style or mask, or belong only if we conform with those who are in and join them in putting down those who aren't, or get what we want only because we lie, manipulate, or exploit others to get it. There are so many ways to sell yourself, and those who hold the food, the stuff, offer so many reasons to do it. But what God wants us to know, what Isaiah was crying out to those exiles, on the verge of being seduced by Babyonian culture is - "You don't have to do it! You don't have to sell yourself for anything! You don't have to give up who you are and try to become someone else in order to have food, worth, affirmation, a place, belonging, or security. You don't have to, because those things can't be bought, anyway. Whatever you have to sell yourself to get is only "junk food" anyway; it can't really feed us or statisfy our hunger. It's like a Twinkie, nice and sweet for a minute, but does nothing to nourish you, soon leaves you hungry, and probably rots your gut. Real food can only be given as a gift. And that's what God does - gives. Gives what truly nourishes, strengthens for life. There are two things I hope you'll remember from Isaiah's words! First - what you need is free! It's a gift that God wants to give you - because God wants us all to have what we need. God wants to give us worth, free, as a gift - because we're God's beloved children, precious and cherished. God wants to give us a place, where we really belong, free, as gift - because God wants us as a family. God wants to give us security, free, as a gift - because God wants us to know that we can trust God's promise, that we can have all those good things, and more, free as a gift - simply because we're so totally, undeservedly loved, no matter what. Second - God wants to give these gifts to everybody. That means we have to do more that accept all these good gifts, we also have to share them. Accept them AND share them! God extends the invitation to come, eat, be filled, to satisfy every need, physical, emotional, and spiritual, not to just me, not to just you, but to all people. God invites us to a feast, and the thing about feasts is that there is plenty, more than enough; they're meant to be shared. At this feast there's more than enough for everyone. Nothing's going to run out, ever. But those who come to the feast have to be willing to share it, share it with those they've excluded or put down before. It means that everything we've learned about trying to sell ourselves to get what we want and need, all that stuff about putting down and keeping out, schmoozing and charming, lying and deceiving, has to be thrown away. We have to become sharers and givers, just like God. That's what the church is called to do, stop selling ourselves for junk food, and share the feast of God's goodness with everybody. That's what YF, or camp, or a retreat, or a mission trip, or a choir, or an adult class, or a service group, is called to do, share a feast of God's goodness and love, invite everyone to be fed by the wonderful, abundant, free, food. We have to share in the receiving and in the giving, share with God in giving the worth, and purpose, belonging, and security, God offers. We're how God does it. Sometimes we struggle with that. We struggle because it's so hard for us to think that "the food" is free, that God's already given us everything we need, free as a gift. We think we have to pay a price, sell ourselves somehow to get it. We've been told for so long, "Can anything be worth having if you don't have to sell yourself to get it?" Or, "can a group be worth being a part of if anybody can be in it, if it doesn't put people down or keep people out? How can you be worth anything, how can you be cool if you don't get to do that to somebody?" We struggle with that sometimes in YF. A kid or two, will be so concerned about being "in" at school, being "cool," being whatever it takes to show that they're special, or be so pushed by their parents to do everything, to show that they're somebody by all that they do, how popular they are, or all that they have, that they can't give up trying to show that they're in, that they're "cool," or whatever. They'll put other's down, show a little haughtiness, distain. You know, make little comments, show that they're not impressed by anyone or anything but themselves. Talk, whisper, snicker, ridicule. Do what they can to make everyone concerned about what they think, about getting their affirmation. Do what they can to lift themselves, to assert themselves as the one who's "got the food," the stuff, the whatever, that everyone else has to sell themselves to, to have anything. Or they'll lie, thinking they can create situations where they'll end up getting what they want. I remember wondering once whether I wanted to be in a group that worked that way. I went to a college where the Greek system was powerful. So, I went through rush; checked out 5 fraternities. I remember, after a couple of nights the guys that no one was interested in were left in the frat house backyards, dumped there, with no one to talk to. I mean, if you want to be something people are going to want to get into, you've got to be able to put people down, to keep people out, right? That's not how we are, that's not who we are, because that's not how God is. In God's family the food, all the blessings are offered free, as a gift, to everyone! So the whispers, snickers, put downs, and lies aren't tolerated, at YF, mission trips, or camp. So, the "cool ones," who work so hard to be "in" at school, who cultivate all kinds of ways to lift themselves up and put others down, are shown that though they are welcomed and loved, they don't count for anymore here, than the most "uncool" outsider, who's only place to belong is this group. Then they have a choice. They can see that the love God gives free, as a gift, is real food, is so much better than the "junk food" they've sold themselves to get. Or, they can decide that climbing, being in, having power, putting down, matters more than love and sharing. They can decide that this group includes too many hopelessly uncool kids, and decide they don't want to bother with it. They can't get what they're after there. They love "junk food" too much. In fact, I think, they're embarrassed by the whole thing. So, they drift away, or turn away, and give themselves, sell themselves for this kind of "junk food" or that. Whether we're 15 or 50, we have to choose. Whether we're at church, in YF, a choir, or an adult class, whether we're at school or at work, with friends or family, we have to choose. May we hear Isaiah's invitation to the exiles in Babylon as meant for us. You don't have to sell yourself to the world's powers, at church, school, work, or on the team. I'll give you all you need to live, to really be somebody, free, as a gift. Come and get it! Come, and share the feast of my goodness and love! |
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