Y’all…..

Do y’all get as tired as I do of the back and forth between conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, right vs. left, this religious denomination vs. that religious denomination back and forth, my way or the highway babble that goes on and on and on and on, ad infinitum? 

Sometimes I just wanna scream STOP It!  Other times it’s a quiet “Why can’t we all just get along?”  More recently, my thoughts have been, “What the hell is wrong with you?”  I find it exhausting, this push and pull and continuous descension, and I find myself wondering, “What if?  Why?   How can we stop this madness?”

Well, Imma tell ya.  We can’t.  We simply can’t stop folks from doing what they’re gonna do and being who they’ve shown to us they actually are.  But, as he so often did, Jesus gives us a bit of direction that we can apply here.  In Matthew 10, often called “The Great Commission,”  Jesus is telling the twelve disciples what’s up, just how they’re supposed to proceed with the “actually being disciples thing,” and what they can expect.  And in the middle of this oral handbook he’s delivering, he includes this little zinger:  “Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.”  To put a more modern spin on it, in the film “Frozen,” Elsa sings, “Let It Go.”

Along those lines, a dear friend of mine sent me an article this week in which the “Let Them” theory is explained.  He summed it up like this: 

I used to tolerate a lot because I didn’t want to lose people.  But I learned the hard way if they were really my people, they would never treat me poorly.  Don’t make the mistake of being so understanding and forgiving that you overlook the fact that you’re being repeatedly disrespected.  Let them be upset. Let them judge you. Let them misunderstand you. Let them gossip about you, let them ignore you. Let them be “right.” Let them doubt you. Let them not like you. Let them not speak to you. Let them run your name in the ground. Let them make you out to be the villain.  Whatever it is that people want to say about you, let them! Kindly step aside and LET THEM.  You can still be kind. You can even still love them deeply. But do it from the distance they created with their words and actions. Access to you is a privilege they have proven they can’t be trusted with. Let them go.

Now, having said all that, what are we left with?  In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus tells us to make sure that we are the folks who need to “Let them go,” rather than being the folks who are let go:  Jesus told his disciples a parable.

“Can a blind person guide a blind person?  Will not both fall into a pit?  No disciple is superior to the teacher;  but when fully trained,  every disciple will be like his teacher.  Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?  How can you say to your brother,  ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’  when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?  You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;  then you will see clearly  to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.  “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,  nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.  For every tree is known by its own fruit.  For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,  nor do they gather grapes from brambles.  A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,  but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;  for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”

So the bottom line here is, much like Glenda asking Dorothy, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”    Are you letting go, or are you being let go?  What kind of fruit are we bearing?  Are we being Jesus for folks?  Are we acting in love?  Coz love is what Jesus teaches us we are supposed to do.  Again from Matthew:  When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Notice there is no mention of race, gender identity, sexuality, citizenship or immigrant, religious preference or lack thereof, gender expression, or anything else that we today use to separate us into an “us versus them” mentality.  Nothing except acting in love.   There it is.  Are you gonna be ‘let go’ like a goat, or loved like a sheep? 

John Bell has written the hymn, “The Summons.”

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my Name be known?

Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave your self behind if I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?

Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?

Will you set the prisoner free and never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen?

And admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘You’ you hide if I but call your name?

Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?

Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around

through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Christ, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.

Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.

In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show,

thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me?

Love God.  Love people.  Act accordingly.  Amen.