Oxymoron
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Oxymoron
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Oxymoron
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Found
Missing
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Act
Naturally
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Alone
Together
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Living
Dead
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Deafening
Silence
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Seriously
Funny
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Jumbo
Shrimp
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Microsoft
Works
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Unbiased Opinion
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Quotes that are oxymorons..
I
am a deeply superficial person. - Andy Warhol
I
distinctly remember forgetting that. - Clara Barton
Always
be sincere, even when you don’t mean it. - Irene Peter
I
can resist everything but temptation. - Mark Twain
as
I was beginning to prep for this sermon, before we left town, I was
thinking about some oxymorons. Good Samaritan is itself an oxymoron.
And I was preparing for a working vacation.... Martin & I went to
our NACCC annual meeting and had a few days vaca on either side of
the meeting.
Our
travel was wonderful—I was reminded again of the lavishness of
God's creation! For example, There could have been just a few kinds
of trees, but no, God created thousands! We saw a lot of the beauty of
creation, especially 4 of the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls.
Thank
you for allowing us to represent you. Martin was your delegate and I
was alternate and serve on the Growth Ministry Council and am a rep.
To the Leadership Council.
The
theme of the Annual Meeting was "Who is my Neighbor?"
All the speakers, and the Sunday worship were around this theme.
Detroit has an incredibly diverse population, in large part
due to the influx of folks to work at all the Auto manufacturing
plants, and of course the economic issues have profoundly affected
the area. We here in Beloit can certainly relate! There is a lot of
good happening, in particular, a large company is putting a lot of
resources back into the city.
Love
your neighbor as yourself....
Gospel
of Luke...Luke himself was not Jewish, as were the other writers of the Bible. Luke was Paul's 'beloved
physician” who clearly believed that Jesus was indeed the long
-awaited Messiah for the Jews, and for Gentiles as well. Luke's
gospel shows Jesus' compassion for the poor and the 'outsiders' of
this society.
Neighbor
in bible...
literally
one who lives near by.
OT
times -it was understood to mean those of the Hebrew community, those
who follow the traditions and worship in the same ways. In fact this
section of Lev. has a lot about worship! The prohibitions in
Leviticus and elsewhere in the OT were there to remind the Hebrew
people to not act like the pagan worshipers around them.
This
was the understanding of the Jewish leaders of Jesus' time. Love your
neighbor, meant to love your Jewish neighbor, not the Romans or the
other peoples living nearby. Love your neighbor meant love and care
for the one who looks like you, talks like you, worships like you,
acts like you!
So
this lawyer...this was someone who worked in the temple, studying the
Torah, the Jewish law!...a leader of the Hebrew people! He was a
learned man who was going to show up this Jesus fellow...This
preacher from Galillee -Nazareth-of all places...can anything good
come from Nazareth!? ...was going around preaching and teaching and
conducting healings and now he had even sent out his followers to do
the same and they were preaching, teaching and conducting healings!
The followers were Jewish, but many of them were not elite...they
were working class, rough around the edges, not like the educated
elite in Jerusalem! So this man was going to give Jesus his
comeuppance.
And
Jesus' response was to tell a story. Stories get our attention,
stories appeal to our senses and emotions in ways that little else
does. So Jesus told a story, this was a story, not a news report! But
it certainly COULD have happened.
Although
Jericho is northeast of Jerusalem, travelers go “down” to
Jericho. The Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37–93) explained that
the first-century road was approximately one hundred and fifty Roman
stadioi, or about eighteen miles long. A traveler descended from
Jerusalem’s height, approximately twenty-five hundred feet above
sea level, to Jericho’s depth, some eight hundred twenty-five feet
below sea level. In that short geographical space, the descent was
approximately six-tenths of a mile. Travelers, merchants, pilgrims,
and soldiers have for centuries gone down to go up (traveling north
to Jericho) and gone up to go down (traveling south to Jerusalem).
This
road was very well known. Jesus setting his story here would have
brought a lot of emotion to his listeners. They all had traveled it
and knew it was steep and precarious. There were lots of places for
bad guys to hide in anticipation of robbing the solo traveler.
His
story would also provoke emotion, when the priest and Levite avoided
the beaten man... These were the very leaders of the Jewish
community! Yet they were indifferent to the suffering of the beaten
man.
But
along came the “Good Samaritan” --that phrase would have been a
complete oxymoron to Jesus' listeners. Samaritans were hated by jews,
and the feeling was mutual. Their fighting went back hundreds of
years, to the Babylonian exile.
So
Jesus telling a story that involved a Samaritan taking care of an
injured Jew, would certainly have shaken up his listeners! The Lawyer
couldn't even bring himself to say “The Samaritan.” he merely
said, the one who showed compassion.
So
who is my neighbor? Jesus is clearly stating that his neighbor may
well not be the one who looks and acts like him, but the one who
cares for someone without regard to religion/race. The one who has
compassion, who puts the OTHER person ahead of his or her own needs.
Compassion
is a hallmark of Jesus' stories, the ones he told and the ones we
read about him in the bible. The word in the Bible in the original
Greek literally means to feel a clenching in the gut...
to
FEEL the pain of the other person. To put oneself in the position of
the other person!
at
NA meeting, among our speakers were about a dozen missionaries who
serve in various parts of the world. Geoffrey Lipale who was just
here, serves in Kenya, his native land. Indian Trails, which helps
Native peoples of Arizona and Mexico. Rev. Jim Owens, from United
states serves in Haiti, ministering to the poorest of the poor...of
Haiti--the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Other speakers told us about helping families here in the US.
Another was from India, his native land–he spoke about religious
traditions in India, including worship of many gods and idols. He
reminded us that the Cow is sacred in India. But he then said, confidentially, “but
when I am here in United States, I eat a LOT of beef!” He also
spoke of the economic conditions of the caste system which keeps
people in poverty generation after generation. These missions all
work hard to not just help people, but help with education, and
empowerment. Helping people to do more than survive, but also to be
able to help others.
The
first speakers we heard are very dear to my heart. A group of women
from the Detroit area, who 10 years ago began to meet to form an
interfaith group to address some of the issues in the Detroit area.
They have formed an organization, Womens Interfaith Solutions for
Dialogue and Outreach in MetroDetroit.
WISDOM
Mission Statement
To
Provide concrete modeling of women from different faith
traditions working together in harmony for the common good.
To
Empower women to take a more active role in furthering
social justice and world peace.
To Dispel myths,
stereotypes, prejudices and fear about faith traditions different
from our own.
To Nurture the growth of empathy and
spiritual energy that result from our projects and interfaith
dialogue
Every
speaker talked about sharing our stories, about spending time
together, really listening to each other. The interfaith women's
meetings and discussions were not to 'evangelize' one another, and no
one was tempted to leave her own faith tradition. Rather, the deep
discussions helped each woman learn what they all had in common and
helped deepen their own faith.
We
were reminded that God created a wide variety of people too! And all
have needs and they have the same desire for their children and grand
children to live in peace as we do!
Every
speaker talked about sharing our stories, about spending time
together, really listening to each other. The interfaith women's
meetings and discussions were not to 'evangelize' one another, and no
one was tempted to leave her own faith tradition. Rather, the deep
discussions helped each woman learn what they all had in common and
helped deepen their own faith.
From
their talks...Scripture assures us we are the people of God even when
we believe we are not. It sends us into the world to tell the story
of God.... The story of the Bible...God's love....runs deeper than
the world’s stories. It invites others to see this story as their
story. Allows God to work through us and the church.
{Quotes
from the speakers, I only used the last one}
“How
deep is your heart and how wide is your embrace?” – Patricia
Harris (Roman Catholic)
“It
is only when the uncomfortable becomes the comfortable that we can
make a difference!… The women of WISDOM have found that their own
faith is strengthen and deepened in interfaith conversation” –
Gigi Salka (Muslim)
“Maybe
I’m dreaming, that the friendship between a Hindu and a Muslim,
that our friendship has the power to reshape perceptions.” –
Padma Kuppa (Hindu)
We
in USA celebrate Freedom of speech. Freedom of speech means that one
can -for example- criticize some policy of a government without fear
of being imprisoned for saying so! As a pastor, as wife, mother, I
do not believe that freedom of speech means that is it OK to say any
old thing that pops into your head! We need to be kind to one
another! It may not always be easy, but it always pays off.
Golden
rule -common to many if not all faiths...most state as do not do that
to another which you would not want done ..Jesus stated in positive
terms. It's not always easy to do, especially living in times when
bad behavior is rampant.
It's
easier to look the other way, it's easier to cross the road to avoid
someone in need. It's easier to stay home than to get involved in
your community.
Elie
Wiesel (Ellie VeezEL)
"The
opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of
beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is
not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death,
but indifference between life and death." (Interview with
U.S. media, 1986)
“Mankind
must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; peace is
our gift to each other.”
God's
peace can only come through our working together to bring it! God's
peace happens when a Samaritan takes care of a Jew...when a church
helps out a mission to the poorest of the poor in a poor country.
God's peace will come about when we volunteer in many ways, at the
Hospital or at Caritas-our food pantry, or delivering meals on
wheels. When we fill backpacks for needy school kids. We may have to
get out of our comfort zones a bit! We may have to work with people
we don't know from other churches, and people from no church! But if
we do not, if we don't allow ourselves to feel the other's pain, we
are the poorest of the poor!
Let
us pray... holy God, help us to be Good Samaritans in this church, in
our city and in the world. Help us to serve you well, looking at our
common needs, not at our differences. Help us to bring the Light and
Love of Jesus into all we say and do. In Jesus Name and Spirit we
pray, amen!
