Covenant: Showing Up for One Another (Mark 3:13-27)

Welcome to Bixby Knolls Christian Church. We are a congregation that is in covenant with 3,600 other Disciples of Christ congregations scattered across the United States and Canada, all called by God to be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table, as God has welcomed us. 

My name is Danny Bradfield. My pronouns are he/him/his, and I’m pastor of Bixby Knolls Christian Church; and I am so glad that you have joined us for worship today. Your presence is a blessing to me and to those worshiping with you this day.

The very act of coming together to worship is a countercultural act. It is an act of resistance. Because, in so many ways, the culture tries to separate us, divide us, even tear us apart. In so many ways, the culture has been telling us: go your own way. Do your own thing. Be… an individual.

This is the message that our culture has been giving us since before I was born - and I’m 50 years old. For over half a century, going back at least to the 60s, our society has encouraged each of us to do things our own way.

And we have become the most individualized society on earth.

When I was studying sociology at Chapman University, I read the influential book Habits of the Heart, a book that was groundbreaking in its time, and which still influences scholars in the field of sociology today. It was published in 1985 and is still in print. It was written by a team of writers that included Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan , Ann Swidler, Steven M. Tipton.

In discussing how Americans have increasingly gone their own way and done their own thing, the authors talked about bowling. Once upon a time, bowling leagues were incredibly popular. But then, the popularity of bowling leagues began to decline. Sharply.

The thing is: people still like to bowl; but now they’re more likely to do it on their own, or with a few close friends. People still want to experience the joy of bowling, but they don’t want to commit themselves to joining a league.

The authors were talking about bowling, but really, they were talking about everything; including religion.

People are still interested in religion and spirituality; but they are less interested in church membership. People want to explore spirituality on their own.

The book describes a young woman named Sheila Larson, and how she was very interested in religion, but wanted to do it on her own. Sheila is quoted as saying: “I believe in God... [but] I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.”

This trend of doing things your own way took off in the late 60s, and continues today. Membership in all sorts of organizations - including churches - continues to decline. People don’t want to come together in an organized way. They want to do things their own way.

Nevertheless - in 1968, right when this trend of doing things your own way began - the Disciples of Christ chose instead to come together and get organized.

1968 is the year that we solidified the covenant that holds us together - the covenant which shapes our identity even to this day.

For the next five weeks, my sermons will focus on this covenant that holds us together, and how significant it is - and how countercultural it is - that we came together in a significant way at that particular time in history. I’m using a study guide that our denomination put together as a resource - the study guide was designed for small groups, but I’m adapting it into a sermon series. 

Starting today, and continuing for five weeks, we’ll explore the idea of covenant, what it means, and how it guides us.

Later this summer, we will all have the opportunity to actually experience what it means to be in covenant when we gather for the first-ever Disciples Virtual Gathering, joining with thousands of other Disciples from throughout North America, on Saturday, August 7. You can think of it as a sort-of one-day, online, General Assembly.

Each of the five sessions in the study guide resource includes a short video, featuring a Disciples leader talking about covenant. I’ll share these on our church facebook page in case you would like to view them. 

The first video features Sandhya Jha, a Disciples pastor in northern California who I’ve worked with, who has led trainings I’ve attended, and with whom I’ve been in contact to discuss our own situation here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, especially as we made our way through the New Beginnings program… 

Sandhya was the pastor of a congregation in Oakland, California, which housed a number of nonprofit organizations all working for peace and justice in that community. Eventually those organizations formed the Oakland Peace Center, and the congregation - which was small in number but had a big building - eventually turned their building over to the Peace Center. Sandhya became the director of the Peace Center, which now runs the building; and the congregation continues to meet there for worship… 

I’ve had a few brief conversations with Sandhya, hoping to discover what we might learn that can apply to our own situation here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, given that we also have a church building where many community groups and organizations gather.

Anyway, Sandhya has done extensive research in the history of our denomination, and in particular, how our denomination has - and has not - worked to bring people of different races and cultures together.

In the video she talks about how the Disciples - like many denominations - was separated by race. There were the white churches, which had their own organization and leadership structure, and the Black churches, which had their own organization and leadership structure.

In the 1960s, we began to see the possibility of bringing the white church and the Black church together.

Doing so, of course, would not be easy. One of the challenges is that we weren’t really all that organized as a church. In fact, we didn’t even consider ourselves a denomination. We were a “fellowship” or “brotherhood” of independent congregations.

Yet, despite these challenges, we did, in fact, come together. We got organized as a denomination, committing ourselves to work with one another as a united movement. And we did this across lines of race, bringing Black Disciples and white Disciples together… 

We understood - as Martin Luther King, Jr. said - that "I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be." 

As Disciples, we understood that. So we came together. We decided it was important to show up for each other, to commit ourselves to working together as one body.

And we did this in 1968, when people were starting to go their own way, do their own thing; when racial tensions were high in this country. It was the year Martin Luther King was assassinated for trying to bring people together; a time when many wondered if racial healing was even possible.

But Disciples brought the white church and the Black church together. Disciples organized, and brought independent congregations together. Disciples committed to working together.

When we came together in 1968, our guiding principle was the idea of covenant. We put together a document that described how this covenant would work. That document is called the Design.

And the Design begins with a preamble. 

I have read and studied the preamble to the Design many times over the years. You have, too; We’ll read the preamble together in a few minutes, but we already sang it, since it forms the basis for the words to the second hymn we sang. 

Despite my familiarity with the Design and its preamble, I have gained a new appreciation for just how profoundly significant it is, thanks to the insights shared by Sandhya. In that video, she says this:

“We were committing to unity at a time when our nation was coming apart. We were committing, maybe even more importantly, to radical inclusion at a time people of color had little reason to trust that our white family could include us in the fullness of who we were…

“We were still a number of years from ordaining an openly gay or lesbian clergyperson, but this document, as we turned to it over and over again, would demand of us that we figure out how to show up for each other as siblings in Christ in a very different way than some of our sibling churches chose to.”

Oh, my gosh! What a radical act of resistance it was then - and still is today - to come together in covenant. To “show up for each other,” as Sandhya says. 

It makes me think again about the twelve disciples, who Jesus called to follow him. What a diverse group of people. Some were anti-Roman agitators, while others were Roman collaborators. Some were old school Jewish, while others practiced a Judaism that incorporated elements from Greek culture and religion. We know that there were times when they argued with each other, as their conflicting visions for the Kingdom of God clashed.

How on earth did Jesus ever think that a group of people as diverse and different from one another as these disciples could ever work together, not to mention organize and lead a movement that would carry on long after Jesus was no longer with them?

But I think that was the point. A group as diverse as that could only be brought together by the grace of God and the work of God’s Spirit, to do holy work.

By the way, the lectionary has today’s gospel reading starting at verse 20, where the people say Jesus has gone out of his mind, that he is possessed by Beelzebub, and Jesus responds by saying that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand…

I had us start a little earlier, at verse 13, to hear Jesus name those twelve disciples… and I find it interesting that his comment that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand comes immediately after those twelve are chosen. It’s as if he’s actually putting his own statement to the test, by calling such a diverse group of disciples, a group that - by nature of its very diversity - was countercultural; a group that faced great challenges before it even got going. 

Again, it could only have been by the grace of God and the work of the Spirit that they were able to stay united and stay together.

And so it is with us. It is by God’s grace, and the work of the Spirit among us, that we are what we are: a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world; a movement bound together by covenant. 

I’ll be talking more about covenant in the coming weeks; for now, just know that - unlike a contract, which is an agreement enforced by law - a covenant is an agreement enforced by love.

It is love that binds us together. Our love for God, our love for one another, and our love for the world.

So with this brief history of our coming together in 1968, I’d like to close by having us read together the preamble to the Design. As we read it, remember the history; remember the challenges we faced in 1968, and the challenges the world faced in 1968; remember how profound and radical it was then for us to come together in this way, and how profound and radical it still is today for us to work together in a divided world.

As members of the Christian Church,

We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.

In Christ's name and by his grace we accept our mission of witness and service to all people.

We rejoice in God, maker of heaven and earth, and in God’s covenant of love which binds us to God and to one another.

Through baptism into Christ we enter into newness of life and are made one with the whole people of God.

In the communion of the Holy Spirit we are joined together in discipleship and in obedience to Christ.

At the Table of the Lord we celebrate with thanksgiving the saving acts and presence of Christ.

Within the universal church we receive the gift of ministry and the light of scripture.

In the bonds of Christian faith we yield ourselves to God that we may serve the One whose kingdom has no end.

Blessing, glory, and honor be to God forever. Amen.

Sermon: "Crazy in Love" (Mark 3:19-22)

The people were saying that Jesus had gone out of his mind.

Is that what you want in a savior?

The first time I ever read this story about people saying Jesus is crazy, that he had gone out of his mind, I didn’t like it.

For one thing, I didn’t like the idea that the one I worship and follow was out of his mind. If I commit myself to following the way of someone who is crazy, what does that say about me?

For another thing, if people were saying that he was crazy, that he was out of his mind, he must have been making quite a scene. What do you have to do for people to accuse you of being out of your mind?

...I have never been a person who likes to make a scene. Maybe that’s one reason I like to arrive early to things. You arrive early, you don’t make a scene. Other people arrive, and you are already there. Just like the furniture.

But if you arrive late, someone might call out, “Oh, look, everyone: Danny’s here!” And then you’ve made a scene.

I don’t like making a scene.

When I was 11 or 12 years old, I was sitting in church one Sunday, and the pastor recognized an older member of the congregation for something. I don’t remember what for. But he mentioned her name, and everyone started applauding.

But I couldn’t see her, so I started craning my neck around, looking back and forth, trying to see the person who everyone’s attention was focused on.

The pastor saw me looking around, and said into the microphone, “She’s up here, Dan.”

When my pastor called me out, the congregation chuckled. I sank into my pew, trying to disappear. Was he making fun of me? No, not really. But everyone was laughing. He had made me the center of the congregation’s attention, at least for that one brief moment.

It was almost more than a shy kid like myself I could handle.

The fact that I still remember this all these years later shows how traumatizing it was to have all that unwanted attention focused on me.

Not long after that, when I graduated from middle school, I was somehow chosen to lead all my classmates as we marched in. I don’t remember the criteria on which that selection was made, but I was just thankful that that was all I had to do. I didn’t have to give a speech.

A similar thing happened in college. I wasn’t valedictorian. Valedictorians have to give a speech. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m sure I could have been valedictorian if I wanted to… but valedictorians have to give a speech. And I didn’t want that kind of attention. So I made sure to get a B every now and then, just so I wouldn’t have to give a speech.

But then the faculty at Chapman University chose to designate me the “Outstanding Senior Male.” Did I have to give a speech? No. Just lead my classmates in as we marched...which wasn’t too bad… as long as I didn’t take a wrong turn on my way to the stage.

By the way, if you are wondering how it is that I went from there to becoming a preacher..., let’s just chalk that up to the miracle of God’s mysterious ways.

I don’t like to make a scene. So, naturally,  I get a little uncomfortable when I read that Jesus made such a scene and drew such attention to himself that people thought he had gone out of his mind.

And when his family heard about all this, they believed what was being said about Jesus. They at least thought it was plausible, and they felt the need to go restrain Jesus. They felt it was their responsibility to go find him, calm him down, and convince him to stop making such a scene.

You go family! Go out there, and make Jesus act in a more respectable manner!

Do we really want to count ourselves as followers of a man who many thought was crazy? Don’t we want to follow someone who is a little more tame, a little more respectable, a little more normal?

On the other hand…

We must consider what is considered normal in our society. Our society considers “normal” a lot of things that really aren’t...

It is considered normal, and acceptable, that nations have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, capable of destroying all life on earth many times over. That’s normal… but really, it’s not. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.

It is considered normal, and acceptable, that so many go into bankruptcy because of medical bills.

It is considered normal and acceptable that our economic policies favor those who already have piles of wealth, and penalize those who are poor, giving to those who already have, and taking from those who have so little.

It is considered normal and acceptable to deny services to people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is considered normal and acceptable to take families who are fleeing violence and terror, separating the children from the parents, then labelling the children “unaccompanied minors” and locking them up in cages. That’s our normal, operating procedure these days.

It is considered normal and acceptable to use rude, offensive names when referring to people you don’t agree with.

It is considered normal and acceptable that our justice system and economic system favors people with white skin.

It is considered normal and acceptable to allow industry to pollute the environment without accountability.

It is considered normal to make up your own reality, present it as truth, and then claim that those who report the actual truth are “fake news.” Truth becomes lies and lies become truth - that’s our new normal.

...But is all that really “normal?” Is all that really “sane?” Is all that really something that people in their “right minds” do? Is all that really acceptable to us? … acceptable to God?

Jesus went out to those who were poor, and gave them hope. He went out to those who were crippled, and healed them. He went out to those who were sick, and cured them. He went out to those who were broken, and made them whole.

And in doing so, he lifted them out of the position to which normal society had placed them. In doing so, he transformed society, by making the poor, rich; the weak, strong; and the last, first. And anytime you set out to transform society, someone is going to call you crazy.

Why did Jesus do all these crazy things?

Because Jesus was motivated by love.

Jesus was empowered by love.

Jesus was crazy in love.

Notice that no one ever says they are “sane” in love. No one ever says they are “normal” in love.

Crazy in love. That’s what people say.

Jesus was crazy in love for God and for God’s way.

Jesus was crazy in love for God’s kingdom.

Jesus was crazy in love for all of God’s people.

I’ve said before that, when faced with a difficult decision, a good place to start is to ask: “What would love do?”

The answer may be complicated. Would love have you leave everything behind for a mission trip, or stay and care for your family? One could argue either way. Examine the lives of people who acted out of love and you’ll see that. How did Martin Luther King, Jr., balance love for the world and love for his family? How did Erin Gruwell, the “Freedom Writers” teacher at Wilson High School who they made a mostly-true movie about, balance love for her students and love for her family?

There are people in this country fighting for justice. Some of them are still children. Some of them just graduated from high school. And they are fighting for justice. They are crazy in love for justice.

Little Miss Flint, the ten year-old who is fighting for clean water in Flint Michigan.

The survivors of the Parkland School Shooting, who have received death threats and even had murder attempts on them because of their commitment to ending gun violence. If I were their parents, I might encourage them to reign it in a little bit, not be quite so aggressively outspoken, only because I would fear for their safety.

But they are crazy in love for justice. They are crazy in love for life. And nothing’s gonna stop them.

How crazy in love are you for the things you believe in? People are going to say things about you regardless of what you do. There are always going to be haters. Is that going to stop you from being crazy in love for what's right? It didn't stop Jesus. The world thought he was crazy, but that didn't stop him. Because nothing can stop love. Nothing can stop the power of love. And nothing can stop people who are crazy in love for Jesus, and crazy in love for all that is right and good.

"Family Values" Mark 3: 20-35

A quick summary of the first few chapters of Mark shows just how crazy things had become: Jesus casts an unclean spirit out of the synagogue; this was witnessed by many, and soon they were lining up to be healed by him.

He heals a leper. He heals a paralytic. He heals a man with a whithered hand. Very soon, Mark’s gospel reports that “a great multitude from Galilee followed him;… they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea,” and even from the regions “beyond the Jordan” and around Tyre and Sidon. There were so many people coming to him, according to the scripture, that he was in danger of being crushed. This was a wild, frenzied crowd.

And then, the scripture says, he went home. Maybe he thought he’d get a rest from the crowds there, a little break; but no. The crowd followed, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat.

If it was a formal meal that they were trying to eat – a deipnon, a symposium, in the triclinium – perhaps the crowds were parading through the open doorway, reaching through (and perhaps climbing through) the open windows, filling the triclinium, begging Jesus to heal them, to save them, to make them well.

Word spread quickly. If this was in Nazareth, it’s not that big of a town. Perhaps he was in a nearby town, not Nazareth itself, but even so, word travels. His family heard about it: his mother and his brothers. In conversation, they asked, “What should we do? People are saying he’s gone out of his mind.

Perhaps you remember the scene in the Tim Allen movie “The Santa Clause.” Scott Calvin is the new Santa, but he’s not yet sure he wants to be the new Santa. Christmas is a long way away, and he’s still trying to be plain old Scott Calvin.

One day he’s sitting on a park bench. A little girl walks up to him and quietly shares her Christmas list with him. Moments later, the camera pans back, and all the kids from the playground have come over and are in a line, waiting to talk to the man they believe is Santa Claus.

And because he is Santa Claus, Scott Calvin reluctantly allows each one to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. His family arrives, sees what’s going on, and thinks he’s gone crazy. Out of his mind. And they are determined to put a stop to it.

In that scene from the movie, it’s a couple dozen kids in a line, waiting patiently. In Jesus’s case, it was a great multitude – a huge crowd – and they weren’t quiet and orderly. No wonder his family felt they had to intervene. They leave and set out to retrieve him.

But they are too late. Already what they feared was taking place. Some scribes from Jerusalem had arrived and had begun leveling accusations against Jesus. “He has Beelzebul!” they say.

Who is Beelzebul? Beelzebul – or Beelzebub – is a Semitic deity; according to Alyce McKenzie, Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology, the name literally translates to “Lord of the Flies.” In the Bible, it becomes another name for “Satan.”

In the Old Testament, Satan is a character who sometimes works with God, like during Job’s temptation. But by the New Testament, Satan has become God’s adversary. Anything contrary to God is attributed to Satan.

The scribes accuse Jesus of coordinating with Satan. After all, if Jesus has authority over the demons, he must be in partnership with the ruler of the demons. “He has Beelzebul! By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!”

Jesus responds, “That’s ridiculous! How can Satan cast out Satan? You have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit!”

And the conflict escalates, a foreshadowing of what is yet to come… see how quickly things are getting out of hand?

Everyone is going crazy. The crowds. The scribes. And Jesus. His family appears to be the only sane people in the entire scene.

They arrive, and try to make their way through the crowd. “OK, everyone just calm down. Just take a step back, everyone take a breath… Jesus? Jesus, can you come out here, please? We need to talk to you…”

Jesus doesn’t hear them, but word makes its way to Jesus that his mother and brothers have come for him.

Imagine that! Thousands of people, crowded around Jesus, most looking to him as a divine healer (some arguing that he’s an agent of Satan), and then a voice calls out, “Hey, Son of Man! Hey, Holy One of God!”

“Yes?”

“Your mom wants to talk to you.”

What is it about our families? We can’t live with them, yet we can’t live without them. They love us, we love them, and yet they drive us crazy.

Jesus, without missing a beat, responds: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, my mother.”

This scene doesn’t appear in the other gospels. Mark was the first gospel written, and it’s there, but it’s not there in Matthew, Luke, or John. It’s as if these other gospels, written later, were embarrassed by this story, so they left it out.

I don’t know if that’s the reason Matthew, Luke, and John left this story out, but there is certainly much here to be embarrassed by. First, there is the accusation by his own family that Jesus has gone out of his mind. That’s what his family was told, and they evidently believed it, because they set out to retrieve Jesus and bring him home.

We don’t want a Savior who appears to be out of his mind. Better leave that story out.

Then there’s Jesus’s comment about his true mother and brothers. That just doesn’t play in to the whole “family values” thing very well, does it?

Although, come to think of it, Jesus isn’t really a very good model for “family values.” Aside from this present scene, he has also called disciples to follow him. In many cases they left their families to do so. They cast off their resonsibility to care for their aging parents. James and John were fishing with their father, and just left him there, holding the nets, and followed Jesus.

Peter left behind his mother-in-law – presumably he also left behind his wife – and it seems likely that his mother-in-law wasn’t in the best of health when he did so. Not long after, Jesus and the disciples returned to Capernaum, Peter’s hometown, and Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, so at least there’s that. But make no mistake: following Jesus can be hard on your family.

This is even true today. Those who truly follow Jesus commit a great deal of time and money to the church’s ministry. Many of you commit a great deal of time and money to the church’s ministry. That’s money you could be using to take your family on a vacation…

I know families who were called to missionary work. Seventeen years ago, when Ethan was just a few months old, we visited some friends who had taken their whole family to live in the Dominican Republic, including little children, to serve as missionaries there. I’m sure there were some rewarding experiences there, but I’m also sure there were some challenges.

I think one could argue persuasively that people who follow Jesus today are out of their minds.  And yeah, I’m looking at all of you, and you all are looking at me, and yet I stand by my statement.

But what does it really mean to be crazy, to be out of our minds?

Is it crazy that we work long hard hours so we can afford to buy a nice home, even though we don’t spend much time in our homes because we’re working such long hours?

Is it crazy that we work long hard hours so we can afford to buy the clothes we need for work and the car we need for work, even though if we weren’t working or were working other, lower-paying jobs, we might not need the extra clothes or car?

Is it crazy that so much of our life we spend “going through the motions,” never stopping to ask why we do what we do?

Is it crazy that today we join great multitudes and wild, frenzied crowds just to get the best deals on new electronics? Or is that somehow “sane,” but following Jesus is still “crazy?”

Maybe it’s this whole world that is crazy, and the way we live our everyday lives…

And where do our families fit into all this?

There are no easy answers. I know people want easy answers from their religious leaders. Four spiritual laws. A 30-second prayer that somehow grants salvation.

But the issues go much deeper than that. The questions are much deeper than that. Sometimes the best thing to do is not rush to answers, but just let the questions dwell in our hearts and our minds.

What is crazy? What is sane? And how can our families help us as we wrestle with these questions?

For now, just let the questions dwell in your hearts and your minds…

"People are Talking" Mark 3:20-35

We’ve gathered here because we believe there exists one God, one divine being, one Creator Spirit, filled with compassion for all of creation.  In many ways this higher power is a mystery to us, but we believe that God was revealed in a very special way through a man who lived 2,000 years ago:  Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus felt a call from God to bring healing and wholeness to God’s people.  He knew what his life’s purpose was.  So he went around, teaching and interpreting the scriptures.  He forgave people of their sins.  And as a sign that he had the authority to do such things, he healed those who were sick, paralyzed, and disfigured.

His style was different.  Most religious leaders did their work in the temple; Jesus was often out in the street.

Most religious leaders insisted that people follow certain procedures and rituals, that they do things “properly;” Jesus only cared about what was in their heart.

Most religious leaders were always aware of the repercussions of anything they did, and they acted accordingly. They knew Rome was watching, and that knowledge influenced their ministry.  Jesus didn’t care what Rome thought.

Most religious leaders had certain “office hours,” which certainly did not include the Sabbath; Jesus said that saving a life is more important than the Sabbath, something that Jewish rabbis then and now would agree with, actually, but something that certain groups of Pharisees and priestly officials apparently forgot.

Anyway, it was clear that Jesus did his own thing, that he had his own style.  He spent much time in prayer and meditation to make sure what he was doing was right.  He wanted to be sure he understood his life’s work and his mission.  Because once he began his work, he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything stop him.

Don’t you wish you had that kind of confidence?  I do.

When I started my ministry here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, a little over four years ago, my family was living in Burbank with my Dad, in the same house where I grew up.  That in itself wasn’t exactly a confidence booster, although it ended up working out well, and all of us were thankful for the opportunity it provided.

So once I began here, I spent two months commuting from Burbank to Long Beach.

However, I refused to deal with freeway traffic.  I don’t know how people spend hours every week sitting in traffic without going insane. 

So instead of dealing with traffic, I rode Metro trains from North Hollywood, not far from the house in Burbank, to Long Beach.  It worked out great.  I was even able to work on sermons while riding.

It didn’t take long for me to notice bike lockers at the Wardlow Metro station.  Using a bike to get from there to here would be helpful, I realized.  So:  I bought a bike, and began riding it.

Before coming to Long Beach, I wasn’t much of a cyclist.  I didn’t even have a bike.  But, as they say, you never forget how to ride a bike.

Two months later, we moved to Long Beach.  However, I decided that it made sense to keep riding my bike.  I had discovered too many good reasons to ride:  it saved money; it was good for the environment; it was good for my health; it was fun; and sometimes it was a necessity, as my family only had one car, and it wasn’t always available to me.

That’s a lot of reasons to ride, and there was only one reason not to ride.  Anyone want to guess what that one reason was?

I was worried about what other people would think.

I know.  It’s silly.  But even now I feel a little insecure when I remember one particular religious leaders meeting I attended, showing up on my bike, a little embarrassed at my undistinguished mode of transportation. 

I know you’ve been there.  You know what I’m talking about.  Every person here has made a decision at some point, to do or not do something based on what other people would think.

I recently read The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen.  It’s the biography of a man named Daniel Suelo, who wanted to live a life free of money and all the complications that come with money.  He realized that acquiring ever more possessions and wealth leads to greater anxiety, stress and worry, and he wanted to be completely free of that.

Obviously, this meant becoming homeless.

For years, he had simplified his life as much as he could, but had still not completely given up money or having a roof over his head.  He was afraid to take that leap.

A paragraph in the biography reads:

Why was he so terrified of being homeless?  Was it the physical hardship?  No. He loved camping and being outdoors.  He thought pitching a tent in a windstorm and figuring out how to stay dry through the thundershowers was fun.  No, the real fear of being homeless lay in worrying about what other people would think.  The stigma.  And he thought: If I can overcome what people think of me, I can overcome anything.

Jesus went around, teaching, healing, not worrying about what the religious leaders thought or what the Romans thought.  And he was homeless.

So of course people began to talk.  They even went to his family, and told them:  “He’s gone out of his mind!  You better come and put a stop to this.  Take him home.  Get him some help.”

Now, I don’t want people saying things like that about me.  My guess is that you don’t want people saying things like that about you.  We don’t want the stigma.  We need other people’s approval.

Jesus didn’t seem particularly concerned with all that.  When he was told that his family had arrived to take him, he said, “Who is my family?  All those who do the will of God are my family.”

The true story of Darrell Vandelveld is featured in the book Beautiful Souls by Eyal Press.  Vandeveld was a senior prosecutor at the Office of Military Commissions in Guantánamo.  He was proud of the work he did, doing his part to protect Americans, until he began to doubt the validity of the U.S. government’s charges against some of the detainees, and question the treatment they received.

No one else seemed to care or even notice these things, but Vandeveld felt it was his duty to inform his superiors that things didn’t seem to be up to the high standards that he believed America represented.  So he spoke out.

His superiors immediately ordered him to undergo a psychological evaluation.  He was the only one who had a problem with the abuses that were taking place; therefore he must be out of his mind; right?

Vandeveld was then released from active duty; and even though he had previously received two Joint Meritorious Unit Awards and a Bronze Star, he was made to feel as if he was a traitor.

He was told that he was wrong, that he was crazy, that he was a traitor.  This was not easy for Vandeveld to take.  It wouldn’t be easy for anyone.  But Vandeveld knew he was right, and he insisted that the country he loved be right as well; and he had no regrets.

So he stood firm.  To compromise what he knew to be right would have meant compromising his own character and integrity, and that, he would not do.

He said: “I went to Guantánamo on a mission, and the mission that I achieved was my own salvation.”

About 150 years before Jesus there lived a man named Daniel, a faithful Jew living in a time of persecution.  When the king banned prayer, everyone stopped praying to God except Daniel.  Daniel ignored the order, praying three times a day.

Well, people started talking.  Word got back to the king, and the king had Daniel thrown into a pit of hungry lions.

Daniel knew that the consequences for doing what he knew was right would be severe, but he didn’t care.  He did what he knew was right anyway, even though he was alone, not worrying about what other people would think, not worrying about the consequences.

As it turned out, Daniel was miraculously protected from the lion’s jaws.

On another occasion, a different king set up a giant golden statue, and ordered all his officials to bow down and worship it.  But three of his officials – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – refused to do so, even though they, like Daniel, knew that the consequences would be severe.

When brought before the king, they made no defense, insisting that they had to follow their conscience.  So the king had them thrown into a giant furnace of blazing fire – but, miraculously, they survived unharmed.

Jesus did what was right, obeying the will of God.  He knew people would talk.  He knew some would call him crazy.  He knew the consequences would be severe.

And of course, the consequences for Jesus were severe.

But because of Jesus, the world has changed.  He has shown us how to live, how to live for God, how to love and show compassion to one another, how to live in a way that honors the Spirit that dwells within us.

So often, we know what’s right.  I really believe that.  Most people, I believe, know what is right most of the time.  We don’t need anyone to tell us.  And most of the time, we really want to do what is right.  Like Daniel Suelo, we find doing what’s right to be rewarding and liberating.  Like Darrell Vandeveld, we find our own salvation in doing what is right.

But we’re so worried about what other people will think.  What will people think if I lower my standard of living so that I can do more and give more to the things I believe in?  What will people think if I move to a smaller place, lowering my rent or mortgage so I have more to spend on what’s really important?  What will people think if I say, “Sorry, I can’t go to the mall today because I’m volunteering at a service project.”  What will people think if I sell my car or my TV so that I can give the money to charity or to the church?

Does it really matter what people talk about, what they say about us, if we know that what we are doing is right?  Let’s worry, instead, about what Jesus says and about what God thinks.

Not only would doing so make the world a better place; it is also what will bring meaning to our lives.