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January 21, 2007
Scripture: Luke 4: 14-30
Title: “Run out of town”

There is an old saying that you can never go home again. Take a few minutes and think about that. Maybe you went away for college and then came home for a weekend. Or maybe you got married and then came home for the first holiday as a married couple. Or maybe at the age of 18, the call of independence had you renting your own apartment, buying your own groceries, and becoming an adult. And then your parents invite you to dinner one night.

Think about the first time that you came home after becoming an adult. Was it awkward? Was it like you had never left? Did it seem like life moved on without you?

As I was writing this sermon, I was thinking of the first time that I preached at my home church. It was my last year in seminary. And they had asked me to come home and preach for the Week of the Ministry. They wanted their most recent Priscilla to come and share in the celebration. And at that time, I was in first preaching course and I was working on a sermon for that class that seemed to fit the theme.

I decided to preach on the call of Samuel. You may remember the story. Samuel is with Eli, the main priest at the Temple and Samuel keeps hearing someone calling to him. He goes to Eli and Eli says that there is nothing there, just go back to sleep. And then Eli realizes that God is calling to Samuel and tells Samuel what to do.

So I preached on the decline of young people who are accepting the call to ministry and how there are just not enough ministers to go around to serve the wider Church. I mentioned that it was responsibility of the local churches to nurture the calls to ministry in their youth.

I finished preaching and made it through the service, feeling like I had preached a pretty good sermon. After the service, I stood at the door with the minister and greeted everyone as they left. I got the usual comments, “Thanks for coming,” “We are so proud of you.” “We are expecting great things from you in the future.” And So on.

And then a woman came up to me and began to shake my hand. I was expected the previous comments but I got a surprise.
She looked me in the eye and said, “Remember know your audience. You have forgotten that this church has had a history of bringing forth Timothy’s and Priscilla’s for ministry. Remember know your audience.”
I made it through the rest of the line of people, seeing faces of dearly loved people who supported me on my faith journey and encouraged me to go into ministry but the woman’s comments would not leave my mind.
I hadn’t meant to offend anyone with my message. I had just wanted to remind the church of the current state of the wider church. I hadn’t meant to belittle the support that I had received from this church. I had just wanted to tie in with the Theme of Week of the Ministry.

I realized that at that moment, I could never go home again and preach the Word that had been laid on my heart. I realized that at that moment, I would never be able to “preach” to my home church. They knew me as Little Heather Woodruff, Sandra and Lewis’ daughter.
I realized that I could never go home and minister to that congregation.

Never go home and minister. Never go home and preach. Never go home and share the Word of God that had been laid on my heart.

I am sure that this is what Jesus is thinking as he is being run out of town. I never meant to offend anyone with my message. I never meant to belittle the support that I have received from this church. I just wanted to let them know what God is doing right here, right now. I just wanted to let them know that God’s grace, God’s love is not limited to just those of Israel. It is available for all who believe in God, regardless of nation, color, and gender.
I just wanted to bring to them the Word of God that inspires, that fulfills, and that heals.

Jesus comes back home after starting his ministry. He has begun his teaching ministry and news begins to spread. I am sure his hometown is so proud. A local boy is doing well out there in the world. And now he is returned home to teach. He stands up and reads from the scroll and everyone is impressed. They start saying, “Thanks for coming,” “We are so proud of you”, “We expect great things from you for our church.”
And Jesus continues to speak. I am here because you are my home town and you have supported me. You have heard of the things that I have begun to teach and thanks for your encouragement.

But I have got to let you know that you are not the only ones who will receive God’s love and God’s grace. God does not work that way. God worked through Elijah and Elisha to help women who were in need although they did not live in Israel. Sure there is a great need here in Israel, but God cannot be limited.
God will take care of the poor, and the oppressed regardless of race, gender, or nationality. God’s covenant is not only for those who look like us or who think like us. God is a God of grace. God is a God of love. God is a God who knows no limits.

Well, this was no what the congregation wanted to hear. The Scripture that Jesus’ reads is from the prophet of Isaiah and is a sign of the covenant between God’s people of Israel and God. God’s promise is only to them. They forget that God has sent them a prophet and begin to only think of the boundaries surrounding their community. The community is not open to hearing or sharing in the prospect that God’s grace is boundless.
And so they chase Jesus out of town, wanting to stop this message, wanting to stop this prophet who is breaking the acceptable norms, who taking God’s covenant beyond appropriate borders. He is taking the good news to the poor, to the oppressed, to the lost, to the lonely.

This past Monday, we celebrated the birth of a man who followed Jesus’ example and brought the Good News to the poor and the oppressed. MLK wanted equal rights for all, regardless of race, gender, or nationality. He began his prophetic ministry as a voice for the voiceless. And I am sure that there were people in his own community that appreciated his teachings and his calls for justice, as long as it was for people who looked like them or thought like them.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that God’s grace and God’s love is boundless, that it cannot and will not be promised for only one group, that God’s love and God’s grace is for all.
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

May we always have the courage to share God’s love and God’s grace regardless of race, gender, and nationality. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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