The scriptures for today invite us to consider a subject we
may have ambivalent feelings about: Humility.
Mic. 6.8 !God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
! ! and what does the LORD require of you
! but to do justice, and to love kindness,
! ! and to walk humbly with your God?
Five or six years ago, I had to go to physical therapy to try
to loosen up my shoulder. The muscles had become so
tensed up I could hardly move my arm. The therapist said
we are going to fix your shoulder, but you may experience
some pain as we massage it, exercise it and stretch some of
the muscles to loosen it up. The therapist did help my
shoulder to heal, but she was right, there were some
painful stretching moments. And even now after exercise I
have to firmly stretch my arms to keep the shoulder
flexible.
Practicing humility is like that. It requires painful stretching.
It challenges the way things are.
Jesus captures that unpleasant challenging tone in his
teaching which we read today. He enjoins us to be poor in
spirit and to be meek. That is his way of telling us that God
wants us to be humble.
It’s hard for anyone to be humble. The dictionary defines
humility as having a modest or low estimate of one’s own
importance. It is, I think, especially challenging for
Americans. We don’t want to be humble. We want to be the
best. On this Superbowl weekend we see the opposite of
humility. When a player scores a touchdown he does all
sorts of antics to display his hubris slamming the ball,
pounding his chest and hooting in pride.
There may be a place for this unrestrained exuberance on a
playing field. But we have seen how ugly this arrogance can
be. Francie spoke about it last week when she mentioned
the way public rhetoric can be divisive and caustic
suggesting to unbalanced people to do horrendous acts as
one did in Tuscon Arizona a few weeks ago. She said this
arrogance can do bad things in the church also. For
instance, we anathematize others who do not believe just
as we do. We have divided the church into factions.
So what is the payoff for humility? In the biblical perspective
humility allows us to take God more seriously and ourselves
less seriously. When we take ourselves too seriously, we get
all puffed up with our point of view, with our agenda. We
can’t hear others. We have little room to be open to God’s
surprises and God’s possibilities.
When we are swollen up and rigid with self, we have a hard
time laughing at ourselves. A good sense of humor is a
barometer of humility.
When we take ourselves less seriously and God more
seriously, we will be open to the way God cares for us even
in the darkest places. We need not sulk alone or cower in
dread, we will be looking for the companion who knows the
way of the cross.
When we take ourselves less seriously and God more
seriously, we are less likely to make an idol of our religious
preconceptions. As if we know it all. When we are poor in
spirit, we are open to the huge mystery of God. We stand
before God poor in spirit but rich in awe.
When we tale ourselves less seriously and God more
seriously, we plan for the future in a broader way. I have
been a planner. I enjoy it. I have succeed by doing it. But the
experience of these past 2 or 3 years as a member of St.
James have humbled me.
I used to plan this way. I would confer with stake holders in
an enterprise -- often an aspect of a ministry or mission of
the church. We would state the goal and steps to reach the
goal, and then we would ask God to bless our goal.
Now in the process we at St. James are in, we are trying to
take God more seriously—to see the goal as God’s goal. We
have to stretch to be humble and open to God because the
situation is in flux, the components are changing, and the
opportunities are opening up in wonderful ways.
We have been blessed to have Crissy Farm in this interim
period, but we see the limitations here and we know we will
need to press on. We have been blessed to have St.
George’s congregation join us on this journey as they are
going through their exodus. We have begun to explore the
future mission of the Episcopal Church in the South
Berkshire deanery, and we ask what strategy does God want
us to undertake in the next five years. We will be
celebrating the 250th anniversary of St. James next year. We
are presently making plans for that. It will be a wonderful
opportunity to look at our past and ask how St. James will
fit into God’s mission in the future.
Then last Wednesday evening the Men’s group had the
privilege of hearing from Fred Harris how the plans for St.
James Place are progressing. Fred gave us a very impressive
and encouraging report of their vision and the outline of
the steps they will take to meet their goals. St. James Place
will renovate the buildings and provide opportunities for
many non profit organizations to use this inviting space.
I won’t say more because my hope is that Sally and Fred will
give our congregation as a whole the opportunity to hear of
their vision and the progress they are making.
One thing I will say is that in the face of all the challenges
and opportunities God is opening up for us, God wants us
to be humble and see the future as God’s future and that he
will guide us into the future. God will guide us as long as
we love kindness and justice. That is that we respect each
other and our various view points. Recognize that each of
us is doing the best we can to do God’s will. That by
conversing with one another and giving each other respect
and kindness we will make more room and comfort for new
possibilities to emerge.
Lastly when we take ourselves less seriously and God more
seriously we are open to the dimensions of kindness and
justice. When we walk humbly with God and allow ourselves
to be shaped by God’s desires and will, we love as God
does. We begin to see more vividly the needs of others. We
see those whom society has demeaned and marginalized --
women, blacks, Latinos, gays and lesbians, the mentally ill,
the addicted, the poor--in humility we ask what would
Jesus have us do to stand with them.
One of the acts of kindness and justice we take as a
congregation is the support of Gideon’s Garden. It is a
humble act undertaken largely by the youth using simple,
straight forward work in the soil with seeds, water and
manure. The fruits of the labor go to help those in need
through the People’s Pantry and Breaking Bread Kitchen. Yet
this humble effort is a model for all of us to remind us how
God wants us to do justice, and to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with our God.
And don’t forget to stretch.
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