What's in a Name?

10^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 28, 2013

Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85

What’s in a Name?

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  Can you name that play?  [Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare]  So, what’s in a name?  We have learned this week that there’s a lot in a name.  How many of you listened to the media speculation over the name of the new baby prince?  Or the reminder that it typically takes England’s royal family a little while, like days or weeks, to announce a baby’s name?  Thank goodness it only took William and Kate two days to decide on George Alexander Louis.  What’s in a name?  There are six King George’s in that name, the last one being Queen Elizabeth’s father; Alexander is a variation of Queen Elizabeth’s middle name, Alexandra; and Louis is for Prince Philip’s father, Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India and Admiral of the Fleet.  This baby boy has a lot to live up to.  However, if you followed any of the hoopla, you may know that while George and James were the top two expected names, apparently at betting agencies there were “jokesters placing bets on Psy and North” who would have received a payout of 5,000 to 1 or in Ireland, “unlikely choices including Rumpelstiltskin, Joffrey, Charming and Kong brought up the rear with odds of 500 to 1.”[1]  Prince Kong of Cambridge; how’s that for a name?  And this certainly isn’t limited to countries across the pond.  American celebrities are known for giving their babies unusual names, like Apple, or Blue Ivy, or North. 

And this phenomenon isn’t even limited to recent history.  Did you hear what Hosea and Gomer called their kids in our text this morning?  Their firstborn is a son and God tells Hosea to name him Jezreel, “for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu [the king], for the blood of Jezreel,” an outrageously bloody battlefield.[2]  That’s like calling your kid Gettysburg or Antietam.  Then there’s the second kid, a daughter, and God says, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.”[3]  Lo-ruhamah means ‘not pitied.’  What a name for a little girl!  Hosea and Gomer have a third kid, another son, and he is named Lo-ammi, which means ‘not my people.’  God says it’s because “you are not my people and I am not your God.”[4]  Wow.  A bloody battlefield, Not Pitied, and Not My People.  I think I’d rather be called Moon Unit or Diva Muffin; those are musician Frank Zappa’s daughters, by the way.

Yet, thank God for verse 10.  Let’s read the final verse again.  “Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’”  Thank God that these kids’ names are not the end of the story.  There is hope.  There will be redemption. 

However, before we get there, let’s go back to the beginning of the story.  “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.’”[5]  So the metaphor here is that Israel has been unfaithful to God just like an unfaithful spouse cheating on their partner.  Infidelity is one of the top reasons why a couple gets a divorce.  It is a broken marriage vow and it is way too prevalent today.  I can’t tell you how often I hear it cited as the reason why a couple got divorced.  And while affairs are romanticized by Hollywood in movies like “An Affair to Remember” or “The Bridges of Madison County,” or made into catchy pop tunes like Uncle Kracker’s “Follow Me,” beloved, if you are married, please remember that the covenant you pledged to your spouse is to be faithful to them.  We, as a people, have forgotten what faithfulness and integrity look like, at work, at school, in our family, and even at church. 

            Do you remember your membership vows when you joined the church?  You promised to faithfully participate in the life of the church in five ways.[6]  The first one is through your prayers.  Do you regularly pray for the church and for the prayer requests we share?  Do you pray regularly, period?  Second is by your presence and this is where our Gather, Grow, and Go vision comes in.  Are you regularly gathering here in worship Sunday morning?  Do you also regularly grow as part of a small group or Sunday school class?   And do you regularly go and serve your neighbor in some capacity or other?  The third vow is gifts.  It’s almost the fall, which means we’re getting ready to do our 2014 budget.  Do you regularly give to the church?  The amount is between you and God, but whatever amount you and God have agreed on, do you give it faithfully?  Fourth is service, which we touched on with the Go portion of Gather, Grow, and Go.  Service to the church through one of our committees or working with our children and youth or fixing what’s broken or just plain doing what needs doing around here, and service in the community, service that happens off-campus; both are important and both should be done on a regular basis.  Finally, the last vow is witness.  Whether you seek out opportunities or not, when presented with the opportunity, do you witness to your faith in Jesus Christ and the difference he makes in your life?  Do you know your story, that when someone asks you to do something on a Sunday morning, and you say no, you have church, you can then explain to them why church is so important to you and the difference a faith community makes in your life? 

Are you keeping your membership vows to the church?  For those of you who are married, are you keeping your marriage vows, to honor one other, to cherish one other?  For everyone, do you keep your promises?  Are you known as someone of their word?  Or do you change your mind when something better comes along?  Faithfulness means that you keep your word, your promise, your vows, your side of the covenant. 

I want to stress that this abandonment of God by Israel is temporary; that this is not Israel’s typical behavior.  The purpose of Hosea’s story was to shock Israel and call them to be their best selves.[7]  Israel is not usually unfaithful.  Israel, God’s people, is usually faithful to God.  That’s why it’s a shock to say “You are not my people and I am not your God.”  Israel has always been God’s people.  God has always been their God.  Israel is usually faithful and God is always faithful.  But there has been a breach of their covenant and God is calling them back.  Maybe it’s a little extreme, Israel certainly isn’t any more rebellious or stubborn than any other people, but each generation must experience God’s mercy for themselves and claim their own desire to continue in relationship with God for themselves.[8]  Everyone at Orange must decide that yes, God is calling this church to be here, at the corner of MLK and Homestead, and we will respond to the call.  We who are Orange must answer God’s call for ourselves and claim that we do want to continue in relationship with God today. 

This is part of what’s going on in the psalm we read.  The psalmist cries, “Restore us again,” which recognizes that God has done this before.  God has restored us and renewed us and revived us before.  The psalmist, and I think we, too, are asking God to do it again.  God has saved us before.  God has gotten us through tough times before.  God will do it again.  Our part to play is to be faithful.  Now before you start to say, “I don’t know if I can do that,” or “that’s not in my nature,” I have news for you: yes, it is.  You were created in the image of God, and God is faithful.  We strive to become more like Christ in our Christian walk, and Christ is faithful.  God created you beautifully and wonderfully and fearfully and faithfully in his image.  Before you were born, God loved you.  And God still loves you, unconditionally, and cherishes you, unconditionally.  Your nature is to be like God, which means you can be faithful, which means you can faithfully respond to his call on your life and we as a church can faithfully respond to God’s call on Orange.  It means that even if there is a season in which you turn away from God, in which you may deserve to be called “Not My People” or “Not Pitied,” God will not forsake you.  He will not abandon you and he will welcome you back with open arms, just like the father in the parable of the prodigal son.  It means that once again “in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’”  “Child of the Living God” is a name we all share, if we will accept it, and it’s a far better name even than George Alexander Louis.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.    

---

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/royal-baby-name_n_3606682.html

[2] Hosea 1:4

[3] Hosea 1:6

[4] Hosea 1:9

[5] Hosea 1:2, NIV

[6] United Methodist Hymnal, p. 38

[7] Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, Year C, p. 330

[8] Ibid., p. 331

Dancing

If you dance to the music, you'll find yourself... less afraid.  I have been scared to dance in front of others for a long time.  I remember my 6th grade dance, where almost no one was dancing, and I was made fun of for trying to dance.  Yet I went to all the dances in college - dorm dances, APO dances, the school-wide Welcome Back and Spring Fling dances.  I danced a lot in college, with my friends.  Now I dance at home, with my daughter.

Other times, though, my feet become cement blocks glued to the floor and my brain becomes like a deer caught in headlights.  I need to move, want to move, and don't dare move.  Something has got me trapped.  Some fear, and I can't move past it.  I'm afraid of being made fun of, of being ridiculed, of having attention called to me.  I don't want to rock the boat.  I don't want to be singled out.  I don't want to be criticized.  And so I don't do anything.  I don't want the eyes of the world on me, or what feels like the eyes of the world.

I was painfully shy growing up.  And as a grown-up, I've now served in three professions (teacher, missionary, pastor) where you can't be shy.  You have to speak up.  The attention is on you.  You are a public speaker.  You don't have a choice and you can't be shy.  I have come a long way.  I am less afraid than I used to be.

Saying No To the Needy

The first time I remember giving money to a person on the street was in Philadelphia.  There was regularly a guy sitting outside the Wawa next to my apartment building, but I regularly ignored him, which is essentially what I was trained to do when faced by people begging.  Once you make eye contact, it's a lot harder to ignore them.

But there was one night on my way home from a friend's apartment that a lady approached me asking for $14 for her to get home to New Jersey.  She had very detailed information on which trains she had to catch and so forth.  I happened to have exactly $14 in cash and so I gave it to her.  Was it a scam?  I have no idea.  Probably the unsafest part of it was opening my wallet at 9 or 10 p.m. on 42nd Street.

In Nicaragua, there are people begging everywhere.  On the street, on the bus, catching drivers at red lights in traffic.  On the road to the Honduran border there were kids filling in potholes and then asking for coins for doing so.  Daniel and Darling (who I was traveling with) kept cordobas in their car (worth at the time $0.06) to hand out to just such kids.  After we passed them, Daniel and Darling had me turn around to watch the kids undo their work so they could be "caught" filling the holes in again for the next car to go by.  I most encountered such kids at the On the Run gas station, where I went one day a week for an Americanized lunch and air conditioning after teaching at Peniel and before catching the bus to Santa Maria.  I started buying an extra snack or piece of fruit or something to hand to the kids on the way out.  (Yes, I realize, way over-priced compared to the local market.)

When I started going through intersections in Durham that regularly have people on them, I tried to keep granola bars in the car.  Unfortunately, folks don't always want food, and I'm reluctant to give money.  While I feel guiltier doing it, it's easiest just to avoid eye contact.

One of my duties this month is meeting with and determining who receives financial assistance out of the folks who come to OUMC's door asking for help.  At Unidos por Cristo, the guidelines were simple: yes if they're involved with the church, no if they're not.  UPC is relatively poor in terms of the financial wealth of its members and limiting it to church people worked well as a place to draw the line.  OUMC's policy is much more nuanced.  Thankfully, the financial secretary is also involved in the decision and together we talk through each request.  So far, in 17 days I've had to say no only twice.  One was a young lady from the Oxford House (see http://www.oxfordhousenc.org/ for more), and policy is only one person from there a month and we'd already helped someone.  The other was a very persistent lady to whom I'm afraid I bordered on rude in turning her down.

She came Sunday morning during worship to the church office and was asked to come back Monday morning.  But she wouldn't leave and so eventually she was directed over to the sanctuary, since that's where the pastor was.  After greeting the congregation at the door after the 11:00 service, I went and talked with her.  The bottom line, that I finally figured out last night, is that she was seeking shelter.  Instead, it was a very long conversation about her art and she left her request in writing on the back of one of her cards and I said I'd be in touch.  She came back Monday morning to the office asking again, although I didn't see her that day.  When I came in Tuesday morning she was sitting outside on the steps; the office staff didn't even know she was there since she didn't ring the bell or try to come in.  I told her that we had talked about it (which we staff did on Monday) and decided that we couldn't help her.  Folks looking for a place to stay we direct to the shelter.  I was sorry she didn't want to go there.  I was firm, and she left upset.  I'm afraid she will hold our refusal to help against the Church.  I pray she doesn't.

Poison Ivy and Rubber

I have been the pastor-in-charge of Orange for 12 days now.  Things are going well.  There have been no crises.  The worst part has been dealing with poison ivy for 10 of those days (and still counting).  And, actually, the steroids the doctor put me on have probably helped keep things going well, because I have way more energy than usual.  I bounce off the walls sometimes.

What these two weeks and the poison ivy have highlighted, however, is the vital importance of making boundaries and prioritizing in ministry.  Really, that's all any type of ministry is about, whether church or mission work or anything else - figuring out balance.  Now, I don't want anyone I visit to be offended or upset by this, I'm just sharing my thought process: What is the absolute latest time I can leave the hospital room and still be on time to the baby-sitter's?  I have to allow for elevators and hospital hallways and parking garages and traffic.  How do I balance being present for my church members and staying friends with my baby-sitter?

Last Friday morning I found out that a church member had been admitted to the hospital the previous night.  I had to judge the severity of that and balance it with the fact that my car was so overdue for an oil change that the dipstick was dry and that I really had to see a doctor for my poison ivy.  It turned out I was right, the church member was discharged early Friday afternoon.  But what if it had been more serious?  That day, I would've called back-up.  My car wasn't up for the drive and I physically wasn't in good shape myself to care for another.  (I know, as a mother of a ten month old, I'm always caring for another - and I had her with me that day, too - another factor: no childcare readily available.  I take her on some visits, but her presence would be inappropriate on others.)

We Christians are taught to put others ahead of ourselves, and we should.  But we in full-time ministry then carry that to care of others comes before care of self, and that's a problem.  Jesus said love others as you love yourself.  Love others and yourself equally.  Care for others and care for yourself.  You're no good if you're burned out.  You're no good if you've run yourself (or your car) into the ground.  Whether you call it prioritizing, setting boundaries, or a balancing act, it's gotta happen.  What do you do?  How do you figure out what comes first?  Probably depends on the day, on the church member, on the severity of your own needs.  If you keep your car maintained, if you plan ahead some, if you keep out of poison ivy, and you know when and who to call for back-up, you'll probably do ok.  Other days it snowballs, but then you gotta know what's allowed to give.  Probably not your health or your marriage or your family.  I'm reminded of "The Lesson of the 5 Balls" I read in Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson:

"Life is juggling five balls: family, friends, health, integrity, and work.  The work ball is made out of rubber; if you drop it, it will bounce.  But the other balls, family, friends, health, and integrity, are made out of glass.  If you drop one of them, it will be irrevocably scuffed and might even shatter."

I suspect the problem for many in ministry is that the work ball feels like it's also made out of glass.  We're talking about people's souls!  We don't want to be stumbling blocks for others in their faith journeys.  (Ideally, we'd like to be water slides!)  If we drop the work ball, it could scuff.   Ministry feels like glass, and not rubber.  The good news, however, is that we are not responsible for saving souls.  Jesus is.  The Good News is that the Messiah has already come, the Savior of the world has already come, and I am not him.  God will make sure that God's Church continues.  I have to make sure that I take care of myself so that I can carry out the work I was called to do and love all the people I have been given to love. 

"He Is Thy Health and Salvation"

7^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 7, 2013

Psalm 30; 2 Kings 5:1-14

          I find it rather fitting that our text this morning involves the prophet Elisha.  Elisha didn’t start out as the main prophet in Israel; he was mentored by Elijah first and only came into his own upon Elijah’s ascension.  In a similar way, I have been working with and learning from Pastor Ken the past two years and only now in his absence am I the “pastor-in-charge.”  The big, huge difference, of course, is that Pastor Ken is coming back in August and this is a temporary assignment.  This week has also been a personal lesson in going too far to identify with the Scripture lesson.  While I’ve been reflecting on Naaman and his skin condition, I have been dealing with poison ivy.  Note to self: always wear gloves when pulling weeds. Given the lengths to which I will apparently go to relate to the Scripture lesson, my husband has warned me that I’m not allowed to preach on Job!

          However, this story is about Naaman.  There are a few things we know about Naaman.  He is an army commander for the King of Aram, which is modern-day Syria.  And Naaman is a very successful military officer and thus held in high regard by his King. It’s worth noting that the text points out that it was God who gave Naaman the victories; he was not successful because of his skill or experience, but because of God. 

8:00 & 11:00 only: It appears, to quote from the first verse of our opening hymn [UMH 139 - "Praise To the Lord, the Almighty"], that God is Naaman’s health and salvation. 

//However, it also appears that Naaman is unaware of God.  Finally, the last thing we know about Naaman is that he suffers from a skin disease.  The Bible calls it leprosy, though it may not have been.  “Leprosy” is one of those generic Bible terms that just means “skin disease” and not necessarily the specific disease of leprosy.  I don’t know if you’ve ever had problems with your skin – acne, rashes, eczema, bug bites, chicken pox – but skin conditions are a pain in the butt.  And you try creams and lotion and over-the-counter things to try to remedy them, which I can attest sometimes help and sometimes don’t.  Some things you just have to wait out and endure until they go away.  So Naaman has a skin condition, but his doesn’t go away. 

          The second character in our story is the servant girl.  We know a few things about her, too.  We know she’s from Israel, that she was captured by the Arameans on a raid, that she’s young, and that she’s now a maid for Naaman’s wife.  We also know that she wants her captor to be healed.  And so she mentions to her mistress that there is a prophet in her homeland who could cure Naaman of his skin disease.  Naaman’s wife tells Naaman and Naaman tells his King. 

Have you ever played the telephone game, where the first person relays a message like: “a million monkeys sat down and typed Shakespeare;” it gets passed from person to person, and by the time it gets to the last person the message has become “on my left are guys that own a shack of bears”?  It appears something like that happens with the servant girl’s message because the King of Aram sends Naaman to the King of Israel, not directly to the prophet.  The Aramean King also sends with Naaman a letter of introduction and gifts befitting a major state visit. 

          However, the King of Israel does not receive this visit very well.  He tears his clothes and yells, “I can’t cure Naaman of his skin disease!  Does the King of Aram think I’m God?  He’s tryin’ to start somethin’!”  Keep in mind that, much like today, Israel and Syria are not exactly allies, they’re actually kinda hostile to each other and the King of Israel isn’t sure if Naaman’s visit isn’t just an excuse for Aram to declare outright war, since the King of Israel knows full well he can’t cure Naaman.

Fortunately, or, since this is the Bible, providentially, Elisha hears of this disastrous state visit and sends a messenger to the King to say “Don’t worry, send Naaman to me so that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”  It’s interesting, that phrase “so that.”  The guest speakers at Annual Conference this year were Tom Berlin and Lovett Weems, who together wrote a book called “Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results.”  They place a lot of emphasis on the phrase “so that.”  Why do we do each of our various ministries at the church?  So that we accomplish our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ.  If the ministry is not doing that, if it’s not bearing fruit, then we need to re-evaluate it and re-align it with our mission.  Why does Elisha ask the King to send Naaman to him?  So that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.  And, indeed, Naaman has some learning to do. 

Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house in full military regalia with an impressive entourage.  But what does Elisha do?  He sends out a messenger!  Here comes this top dog military official from an unfriendly country and Elisha doesn’t even bother meeting him in person, much less invite him inside!  Instead, he sends a message: “Go, wash in the River Jordan seven times.  Your skin shall be healed and you shall be clean.”  Naaman is outraged.  Have you ever suffered from a long illness, and you get to the point where you’re just tired of not feeling well, and those treating you aren’t doing what you expected and you aren’t feeling any better and you just lose it?  That’s where Naaman is.  He’s tired of dealing with this disease.  He’s made the trip to an “inferior” country.  He went to their King, who was offended by his visit and said he couldn’t do anything.  He’s now gone to the house of this prophet, and now that joker won’t even come out, won’t even see him, and just gives him instructions to go wash in this filthy nothing podunk stream.  Naaman has had it.  Elisha’s probably lucky that Naaman didn’t burn his house down.  However, on major medical visits, it’s always good to have someone else there with you, someone who also hears what the doctor says and can remember it in case you forget it, someone else who can also interpret the doctor’s directions.  And in this case, it’s Naaman’s servants, his big entourage.  And they timidly approach him and carefully word what they say to him: “Father,” a term of address for a high government official, “if the prophet had commanded you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not this simple ‘wash and be clean’?”  Why not try it?  What have you got to lose?  In Naaman’s case, his pride.  In order to attempt this cure, to see if it might work, Naaman must humble himself and wash in this little Israelite stream, which just can’t compare to the grand rivers of his home country.  But Naaman’s suffered enough and finally agrees to try it.  He swallows his pride and goes and washes himself seven times in the River Jordan, just like Elisha said, and his skin is restored and he is clean, just as Elisha promised.  Naaman does indeed learn that there is a prophet in Israel.  And if you keep reading, you find that Naaman not only learns that, but also that there is no other god besides the God of Israel.  This is the one true God, who does act and restore, even if in unexpected ways.  Naaman almost let his pride get in the way of his healing.  He felt angry and insulted and humiliated because he didn’t feel that Elisha showed him the proper respect according to his status.  And it’s true, Elisha didn’t.  Naaman had to overcome those feelings and put aside those slights in order to be restored back to health. 

I don’t know what malady you’re dealing with this morning.  I don’t know if it’s a physical one, or mental or emotional or spiritual.  God knows what it is.  I do know that God can and will heal and restore you. 

8:00 & 11:00 only: The fourth verse of our opening hymn states that the Lord is the One “who doth nourish thy life and restore thee.” 

//The secret to the gift, to any gift, is that it has to be received.  God will restore you, will heal you, if you will let him.  He will nourish your life and restore you.  Promise.  Whether your podunk little stream is literally a dirty river or whether it involves swallowing your pride and being the first to say “I’m sorry,” God will direct you to it and tell you to dive in.  Keep in mind, God doesn’t always work how we want him to; the stream may not be what you’re expecting it to be.  His ways are not our ways but his way is the one that leads to life.  And he offers us life abundant, if you will but receive it.