Sermons
No Robinson CrusoesPastor Russell Norris |
She lived alone, in a third floor walk-up apartment in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. At 80 years of age she was still sharp as a tack. But the three flights of stairs down to the street and back up again were more than she could handle. And so she almost never left her apartment. Sometimes weeks would go by without seeing or talking with another human being face to face - except for the Meals on Wheels driver who showed up every day, seven days a week, with a hot meal and a few minutes of conversation.
That driver was a lifeline - another human being - a connection with the outside world. So you can imagine the reaction when the City of New York suggested we could cut the cost of Meals on Wheels by delivering frozen meals once a week. That way people could defrost the meals when they needed them. And we'd save money. But the City didn't understand: It wasn't just the food, it was the human contact. It was the conversation, hearing a friendly voice; seeing another face, a smile.
Long ago the great English poet John Donne reminded us how much we need each other. You know the words:
No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.
We think of stories like "Robinson Crusoe" or Tom Hanks in the movie, "Castaway" - the rugged individualist, marooned, surviving on a desert island alone. But those are stories. And even in the stories, there was that need for human contact, for someone to talk with - even if, as in the case of Tom Hanks, it was only a volleyball with a face painted on it. Hanks called it "Wilson" - and so desperate was he for human contact that when he finally escaped from his desert island, and the volleyball was washed overboard, Hanks almost abandoned his raft, his only hope of survival to rescue ... Wilson.
Just the other day I read the origin of the phrase, TGIF -- "Thank God it's Friday". You know where that comes from? Robinson Crusoe. Remember how excited he was to find a human footprint on his deserted island. Why? Because there really are no Robinson Crusoes; but like the lady trapped in her third floor apartment in Brooklyn, we need each other.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and tell you that last week I was watching the Republican National Convention on TV. Now let me just say I'm not speaking on behalf of either party or either candidate. But I was concerned when a couple of the speakers made fun of the other candidate because of his background as a community organizer.
It seemed to me that showed a real lack of appreciation of how difficult it is to build community - and how important it is. Bringing people together, helping them work together to improve their neighborhood, their city - that's pretty important work. Here in Brockton, the Brockton Interfaith Coalition is a movement of 19 churches, synagogues and organizations working for a safer and healthier community. And that's tough work. But it's important work.
Human beings are social animals. Throughout all of human history, the human story is the story of life together, life in community. Our own story, our faith story, the story of the Bible, begins the same way - in community. Really, the story begins not so much with Adam and Eve (although even Adam needed a companion) - but the story of faith begins with Abraham and his family, and God's promise to make of him a great nation.
In the Bible, people are always called into a community. In the Old Testament it's the Jewish people; in the New Testament, the focus is on the Church; but it's always life together, life in community. Think about it. When the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Teach us to pray", how did Jesus respond? He began with the words, "OUR Father" - not "my" Father, but "our" Father. It's a shared prayer because our faith is a shared faith. It reminds us that we're part of a community, a family in which we are all brothers and sisters. And as I've said many times, you can choose your friends, but not your family.
This morning's Gospel reminds us what it means to be a family of faith. Jesus says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." Why is that important? Because Jesus is talking not just to the disciples, but to us. When we gather in Jesus' name, as we do this morning, we are more than just the number of people who happen to show up for church, or listen in on the radio. Two becomes more than two, and three becomes more than three. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. The sum of our individual lives, our individual ideas and abilities and resources becomes so much more because of the power of God's presence among us.
Lately there's been a lot of concern about the future of First Lutheran Church. There are so many changes, so many challenges. People are worried. How will we cope? How will we survive? Will this church be here tomorrow as it has been for the last 140 years? And I'm not denying the importance of those challenges. I'm just saying we need to remember the words of Jesus: "Fear not! Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
You see, our faith is not a Robinson Crusoe faith. It's a faith we share together, a faith in community - of twos and threes and fours - but never isolated individuals. We work together to help one another, to encourage one another, in God's name; and when we do that, we multiply our resources, our energy, our ability to do what God calls us to do. The disciples once asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" And he said, "Humanly speaking, it's not possible; but with God all things are possible."
We gather in Jesus' name. And Jesus becomes a part of us, a part of what we do. That's what we experience every time we share the Lord's Supper: We in him and he in us. But remember, we don't celebrate Communion in isolation. If only the pastor showed up on Sunday morning, there would be no Communion, because there would be no community to break bread together.
Even our private prayers and devotions can become dry and empty if they're not infused with regular doses of shared worship with others gathered in Christ's name. That's why Pastor Hilston sent that letter to the congregation in the last issue of Tidings. He was right. We need to come together around Word and Sacrament. That's where we need to start. That's where we'll find Jesus, and that's where we'll find each other. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
Today Jesus makes it clear just how important we are for each other. We are connected to one another, through Christ; and there is a power in that coming together. Together we can face whatever challenges life throws at us - because Jesus promised we would never have to faced them alone - and that that whatever the challenges tomorrow brings, nothing in all the world can ever separate us from God's love. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." That's a promise. Amen.