One year ago this month, I led a group of youth and young adults on a 10-day cultural immersion trip to the island of Oahu. We spent half our time there involved in various service projects, and half our time taking part in experiences to learn about the culture and people of Hawaii.
We were so blessed to be hosted by some amazing people who were members of Christ Church Uniting in Kailua. The hospitality they showed us was second to none.
One of those church members was Paul Brennan, the president of the Kailua Historical Society. He worked with us several days, showing us some ancient temple ruins that he and others were working to restore, and leading us in our own restoration work, clearing brush and litter from historically significant sites. He showed us the locations, showed us what to do, and - while we worked - told us wonderful stories about the history of the land.
It was also Paul who connected us with Hoʻokuaʻāina, where we worked in the muddy kalo loi that I’ve told you about before.
There was also Lauren Medeiros, a member of Christ Church Uniting who is also one of the chaplains at Punahou school in Honolulu. On our first day in Hawaii, she met us at Magic Island to witness the arrival of the Hokulea, the first canoe built using traditional polynesian methods in 600 years. It was returning from a 3-year, around the world voyage, and it would be an understatement to say that Lauren was excited share with us one of the most significant moments in modern Hawaiian history.
A few days later, Lauren led us on a tour of Punahou school, which is a very large, prestigious, and historic school for children in grades K-12. Punahou was founded in 1841 on lands given to Christian missionaries by Hawaiian chiefs. It’s the school Barack Obama attended when he was growing up in Hawaii.
Lauren also arranged a visit with her father, Eldon Buck, who served as a missionary in various places throughout Micronesia. He told us all about his work there, which was fascinating for someone like me who didn’t even know the difference between micronesia and polynesia. We visited him in his apartment in Kaneohe, which was filled with trinkets and memorabilia from all his missionary work. It was like stepping into a museum.
Another one of the church members, Paul Hewlett, said to us after worship, “would your group like to join me canoeing in outrigger canoes?”
Um, YEAH!
So he took us. He was part of a canoe club called The Fossils, all men and women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, who go canoeing. He invited us to join them one day, to canoe in the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Hawaii.
Before we actually put our canoes in the water, they patiently taught us how paddle, listening to the instructions called out by the person in the front of each canoe. And even though it was quite a workout - The Fossils are serious about their canoeing! - it was magnificent.
All of these adventures were made extra special for us because these church members didn’t just spend a few minutes in a room telling us what we should see and do. They invited us to go with them. “Come,” they said. “Come and see. Come with me. Let’s do this together…” They became our guides, our companions.
We had a lot to learn about Hawaii and Hawaiian culture, but they didn’t belittle us for our ignorance. Instead, they offered us an invitation. “Come, and see.”
That’s what Jesus said when two of John’s disciples wanted to know more about Jesus and his mission. Jesus didn’t say, “well, it’s about this, and it’s about that…” Jesus didn’t say, “Well, you should do this, and you should do that.” Jesus said, “Come and see. Come walk with me. Let me show you.”
One of those to whom Jesus made this invitation was Andrew. Andrew accepted Jesus’ invitation. He followed Jesus.
Andrew told his brother about Jesus - his brother, Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter.
...The next day Jesus found Philip. He said to Philip, “Follow me. Come with me. I want to show you something…”
Philip accepted the invitation.
Philip knew a guy named Nathanael, and Philip said to Nathanael, “Hey, we found the guy Moses talked about, the Messiah; he is Jesus, Joseph’s son, and he’s from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael was consumed by the prejudices of his day. He sneered, and said, “Ha! What good can possibly come from Nazareth?”
Oh, those darn prejudices. They were alive and well then, and they are alive and well today. We’ve all had encounters with prejudiced people. If we’re honest, we’ll even find some prejudices in ourselves.
How do you respond when you encounter a prejudiced person? A person like Nathanael?
When you say,
“Hey, I know a great person who happens to be a Muslim...”
And they say, “Ha! Can any Muslim be good?”... How do you respond?
When you say, “Hey, have you met our mayor? He’s the first Latino and first openly gay mayor of Long Beach.”
And they say, “Yeah, right.”... What do you do?
When you say, “Hey, do you know about our church’s General Minister? She’s an African-American woman named Teri Hord Owens…”
And they say, “Ha. Women should not be preachers...” how do you react?
It’s so tempting to argue with prejudiced people who say things like that, isn’t it?
If Philip had argued with Nathanael, he might have said something like this:
“What do you mean no one from Nazareth is good? Have you ever met anyone from Nazareth? How can you be so prejudiced! You need to get over yourself. Your attitude is what’s wrong with this country.”
...But arguing like that rarely does any good. The other person gets defensive, and if anything, ends up even more convinced that they are right and you are wrong.
...In this story, Philip does not argue with Nathanael. He does not get defensive. He does not insist that he is right and Nathanael is wrong.
Instead of arguing, he just says,
“Come and see.”
It’s an invitation - the same invitation Jesus offered. It’s non-threatening. It provides an opening…
That is the way of love.
Now, you may say, wait; isn’t it necessary, sometimes, to prove that we are right and they are wrong?
The apostle Paul has an answer to that. Paul wrote that love does not insist on its own way. Even if love is right - and love is always right - it does not insist on its own way.
Instead, love is patient, and love is kind, and love does not insist on its own way. You know that passage, right?
First Corinthians, chapter 13:
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful…”
This doesn’t mean that love is happy with prejudice, or hate, or injustice. In fact, the very next line in that passage specifically says that love “isn’t happy with injustice, but is happy with the truth.” It’s just that the truth needs to be expressed… with love. And sometimes - maybe all the time - the best way to express the truth with love is to simply say, “come and see.”
Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see.” The invitation isn’t always accepted; but Nathanael did accept Philip’s invitation. Nathanael went and saw. He saw Jesus. Then he followed Jesus. He learned from Jesus as one of Jesus’ disciples.
The psalmist accepted a similar invitation, and encouraged others to do so. “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” is what the psalmist wrote. That’s in Psalm 34, a psalm praising God for God’s goodness. The psalmist praises God and talks about how good God is; and here, in verse 8, it’s as if the psalmist says, “but don’t take my word for it… come, taste and see for yourself.”
The invitation is made. “Come, taste and see. If you want to know more, if you have questions, then come and see for yourself. Come, and I’ll show you. I’ll be your guide. And we can discover the truth together.”
Visually speaking, this is not one person out in front, leading the other. It’s a walk, side-by-side. We follow Jesus, yes; but at the same time, he’s walking beside us, not in front of us. He’s walking with us. We’re walking together.
This week, Roseanne Barr made a racist comment on twitter which quickly got her show canceled. And in social media, people have been arguing back and forth about this.
And I can’t help but think that none of this arguing has done any good.
Roseanne Barr has a history of making anti-Muslim, anti-Black comments. If she were here today, I don’t think anything I could say would change her views or erase her prejudices.
But I can extend an invitation to her, to all people, to come and see. Come and see a kingdom proclaimed by Jesus; Come and see a kingdom where differences of race and religion and gender are overcome; come and see a kingdom where all people live in unity and love, welcoming and affirming one another as the children of God they are.
It’s a kingdom where the blind see and the lame leap for joy. It’s a kingdom where the poor are lifted up and the meek are empowered. It’s a kingdom where black lives matter. It’s a kingdom where LGBTQ youth find acceptance. It’s a kingdom that shows hospitality to immigrants and refugees. It’s a kingdom where people from all nations are welcome, not a kingdom where one nation is lifted up above all others. It’s a kingdom that values and protects God’s wonderful creation. It’s a kingdom where people don’t fear one another, but truly love one another.
The kingdom is good. The kingdom is holy.
Come. Let us together taste and see how good it is.
Come. Let us together taste and see what life is like in the Kingdom of God.
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