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February 11, 2007
Scripture: Luke 6: 17-26
Title: “Blessings and Woes”

I have lived a very sheltered life. I grew up in a fairly well off suburb in North Carolina. I went to a somewhat affluent high school that was known for being a good school. One could look out in the parking lot and see the range of income reflected in the cars parked there. There were trucks belonging to the kids whose parents ran farms. There were sport cars belonging to the kids whose parents were lawyers and doctors. There were second hand cars belonging to the kids whose parents’ incomes fell somewhere in the middle. I have lived a sheltered life.

I was given the opportunity to attend college in the mountains of North Carolina, which held ski resorts and vacations homes and held homes in Appalachia. I attended seminary in the heart of Lexington KY, nestled among the busy campus environment of UK. I have lived a sheltered life.

Until one course during seminary removed my blinders to the world around me. I had enrolled in the course called “The Church and the Urban Poor, well to be honest, I needed an ethics elective and I thought well this could be interesting. Famous last words. This course stretched me and knocked me from my ivory tower of security and leveled the playing field in the name of peace and justice.

At the beginning of the class, we talked about peace and justice issues that concerned the urban poor and we read about the injustices of our society toward the urban poor. But it wasn’t until I was given a glimpse of the true community of the urban poor did I really understand the purpose of the course.

It was field trip time during this course and we all loaded up in a borrowed church van and took off for the Federal Prison on Leestown Road. I had never been to a prison so I didn’t know what to expect. We arrived and filed through the door. The guard explains the procedure to go through the glass doors and the fact that one door would shut behind us before another one would open. We had to go through metal detectors before we could even go through the glass doors first.

My classmates proceed through the metal detectors with no problem. One. Two. Next. It was my turn. I walk through and the detector goes off. “Please go through again.” I walk through again and it goes off again. “Ma’am if you could please come with us.” What! My mind was racing. Oh no. Do they think I am smuggling something in? Couldn’t they see that I was a good person? Did I look like someone who would do something bad?
I am pulled to the side and then I began to understand my lack of understanding of how the world works. For you see that morning, as I was getting dressed, I simply pulled out my corduroy overalls with all the metal buckles and buttons and put them on over my sweater, not even putting two and two together. So as I stood at the metal detector, one strap of my overalls unhooked, I realized what a naïve person I was. I simply put on clothing that was comfortable and clean, not thinking of the world that I was entering on this field trip.
My corduroy overalls. A sign of my sheltered life. They did not fit in this world that surrounded the prison. And on that morning, my blinders were removed. And on that morning, I was taken out of my ivory tower and placed in a prison where corduroy overalls are not the standard issue dress, but orange jumpsuits.
This was a prison. This was not the suburbs of my childhood home. This was not my cozy apartment at seminary. This was a prison. And this was a part of the world that I was not familiar with but could no longer ignore from my perch of safe Christianity.

A level playing field is needed when it comes to talking about the kingdom of God. A level playing field that rights the wrongs of the world and embraces God’s justice for the oppressed. A level playing field that reverses our understanding of how the world works and invites us to began to understand how the kingdom of God works.

That is how the author of Luke sets the scene for our story today. We learn that Jesus has called his disciples and leads them up a mountain for prayer and reflection. Then he proceeds to choose the twelve disciples who will follow him on his journey of teaching, healing, and preaching. And then we come to this story today.
Jesus comes off the mountain top to be with the people below. Jesus could have stayed on top of the mountain with his disciples, teaching them about the kingdom of God. But rather, he leaves the mountain and comes down to stand on a level place among the people. Jesus wants his disciples to experience the Kingdom of God with the people, as a part of the people.
Jesus begins to show the true nature of the Kingdom of God through teaching and healing of this crowd regardless of nationality, regardless of background. All that mattered is that this crowd wanted to hear what Jesus was saying. All that mattered is that this crowd is experiencing the Kingdom full of grace and hope.
And then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Okay guys. You have seen a little of the Kingdom today but there is more to the Kingdom than what we expect. It is God’s Kingdom, a kingdom that will bring relief and peace to the poor and weary. A kingdom that will bring justice to the oppressed. A kingdom that will shake the very foundations on which we have built our safe world.
Guys, I am not telling you ways to be happy in this world that we live in. I am telling that this is God’s word for God’s people. God is a God of justice who hears the cries of the poor and knows that they are hurting. God wants them to know that they are promised a better future in the Kingdom of God. God is a God of mercy who knows the names of God’s children who are starving. God wants them to know that there is a banquet table full of blessings awaiting them. God is a God of love who mourns with those whose sorrow is unbearable. God wants them to know that that there is hope.

God’s Kingdom is not about being safe. God’s Kingdom is not a health and wealth gospel. God’s Kingdom is not about going through life with our blinders on to the injustices of the world.

God’s Kingdom is about speaking out about the injustices of our world. God’s Kingdom is about creating a level playing field for all of God’s children. God’s Kingdom is about a reversal of fortunes, about changing our understanding, is about a love that is given not based on money or wealth but on the fact that we are all children of God.

God’s Kingdom is a level playing field.

It is only when we step down from our mountains of security, of safety, of sheltered lives and step on level ground with all people of God that we truly begin to understand the Kingdom of God. It is only when we level the playing field for all of God’s children by creating affordable health care for all regardless of status, by creating equal opportunity for educational programs for all regardless of income, by closing the poverty gap that we understand the blessings and woes of God.
It is when we share the blessings of a God of compassion, a God of change, a God of hope, regardless of our situation and theirs, with those around us, then do we truly understand the purpose of the Kingdom of God and the equality of God’s love.

May we always share in the blessings and woes of the Kingdom of God. Amen.

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

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