Caring, Caring . . . and More Caring!
September 23, 2007
The Rev. Carol DiBiasio-Snyder

Romans 12:9-21

The scripture reading and sermon are interwoven today. Deb will be reading this portion of Paul's letter to the Romans throughout the sermon. She'll be reading from the version of the Bible we just gave our 3^rd graders, the New International Version.

Many of you know that our strategic planning process called Holy Conversations has helped us define who we are and who we believe God is calling us to be. This was formulated in 6 statements and we've prioritized two of them for the beginning of our journey toward being more fully and deeply who we are.

Those two statements are:
Welcoming, with respect, people of diverse traditions, backgrounds and perspectives, and,
Caring for each other with love, compassion and joy.

It's the caring statement I've been thinking about this week

This is a caring congregation, don't you think? People reach out to each other in acts of love in countless ways. People reach out to the community, to those in need, daily through their jobs, often through volunteering in many ways throughout the community. Yes, we are a caring congregation.

One of the Sabbath prayers contains these lines: As we regret our failings and our sin, we yet rejoice in our accomplishments. Let these achievements, O God, lead to many others. There have been times when we have helped those in need; now we ask that we may be able to do yet more.

What shall we do? Paul gives us, in a compact space of writing, a challenging list of pungent phrases on how to live together in unity and peace, how to be caring for each other with love, compassion and joy.

With our focus on children and youth in today's service, I invite you to look to them for lessons in how to be caring. I'm going to share with you a few stories of children caring for others with love, compassion and joy. They are true stories. In fact, each story is about children and youth who are a part of this congregation. I've changed their names, but some of them are sitting here today and might recognize themselves. Really the names are not so important since these are only examples of so many more acts of caring that our children do and have done. I hope you'll add your own stories from your experiences with the young people of this congregation who may be your own children, grandchildren or friends.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.

Sincere love, that is what I feel every time a church school teacher hands me a fist full of we love you cards from our kids to take when we go to the hospitals or nursing homes. Clinging to what is good. Devoted to one another in love. It's that devoted, sincere love you feel when one of our children works hard at Hanging of the Greens creating a beaded ornament and with a huge smile gives it to you, just because.

Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Never lacking in zeal. Children and energy, the building pulses with it when they are here. They unabashedly tell us they love Jesus. They don't get all bogged down in theological debates, they just love telling everyone that God is love. Never lacking in zeal. Have you seen them run across the floor, arms extended in a hug that holds more healing than any prescription drug ever could?

Can you see them? Our children - kneeling at their bedsides or sitting in bed, eyes squinched shut, hands clasped together, fervently praying for mom and dad, brother and sister, for grandma and grandpa, for people to all love each other around the world, for no more wars, for a pet or a video game? Children's prayers are ripe with trust and honesty.

The family had been through such difficult times and just when hope had returned and joy was filling the house again, suddenly and unexpectedly, difficulty burst through the door. Ralph and I had been visiting in the living room with one of the parents, talking about the challenges they were experiencing, listening, caring. As we were getting ready to pray, the children came into the room and so it became a family prayer. Ralph and I each tried to offer words, but it was when Bill and Jeannie prayed, simply, to the point, holding God accountable to help out as they expected God would, that the real praying was done. And God is answering those prayers with healing and grace.

Everyone who came through the line at the Salvation Army meal received much more than food when little 4-year-old Betsy, tiny hands swimming in disposable plastic gloves handed them a roll, smiled and offered some food for the soul as well the body.

Share with God's people who are in need. And I remember that 9-year-old Gretchen held a rummage sale to raise money for Katrina relief, believing the truth that even though the problem was big, she could do something and it would make a difference. Really.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Gail's friend was having a rough time with severe homesickness her first year at summer camp. Gail was amazing. You might have understood if she had been less patient or even embarrassed by her friend's emotional state. But she reached out with a hand around her shoulder, and joke when her friend was feeling a little better, and complete acceptance when her friend was crying and when she was able to smile and laugh again. It was inspiring to witness.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Sally was one of those teens who was awkward, lacked basic social skills and never seemed to quite fit in. She could be trying even for adults to be around. High School must have been brutal for him.

I remember worrying about her, many years ago, then she signed up to go on the Youth Mission Trip. But the chaperones on that trip watched in awe as our teens, whom we can often stereotype as cliquish, reached out, included Sally, and went out of their way to show her they cared. As the week went by they even began to see and appreciate the abilities she did bring to the group. I can only imagine what that kind of caring meant to Sally.

First a word about that startling statement that if you are kind to your enemy "you will heap burning coals on his head." Sounds like the opposite of letting God take revenge and overcoming evil with good, doesn't it? The biblical scholars I read agreed with each other that the idea behind that phrase was not revenge and punishment, but that being kind to an enemy could cause them to burn with shame, so to speak, to turn from enmity to friendship (Paul Achtemeier, Interpretation, page 202). Your unexpected caring becomes transforming.

Let's listen again with that in mind:

Our final story is about a child, who is now an adult. Nora was a child with serious enemies. The adults in her life, the ones who were supposed to nurture and protect, love and respect her, were the very ones who abused, traumatized and brutalized her. Horribly. Unspeakably. No one would have blamed Nora if she grew up and saw all the world as her enemies. No one would have blamed her if she lived from a well of bitterness and suspicion. But she doesn't. She is loving and caring and despite those early experiences and some other troubles along the way, she believes the best of others. She has devoted her life to helping and advocating for those our society rejects. Her life is a living witness to the final phrase of our reading: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Inspired by the caring of our children and teens, may we - with simple acts, or grand gestures - be a caring congregation. May we care for each other and our world with love, compassion, and joy. Yes, there have been times when we have been a caring congregation; now we ask that we may be able to do yet more.