It’s good to be home.  I love my mom and my dad and sisters, and I love Anni’s family too. And, as good as it’s been to spend some real quality time with all of them, I have to confess that I’ve been getting a little antsy, because I love Ashland and this church family too, and there’s a lot going on here that I want to be a part of.  I’ve heard it said that there are more shepherds than sheep in this church and that you’re doing just fine without me. Even so, I’m back, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

    I preached about my dad a couple of weeks ago. It was personal and pastoral.  The week after that I preached what was intended to be both a challenging and an inspirational sermon focusing on the building campaign.  I’ve been trying to preach a word of hope, a word of comfort and a word of challenge according to what I perceive the need to be.  But, prophetic words concerning social justice have gotten squeezed out in the midst of all the other concerns we’ve been dealing with. 

    Prophets, unlike pastors, have a way of being direct. Sometimes it’s easier for guest speakers to be prophetic.  I read a story about one guest speaker who began his sermon by saying, "There are three points to my message this morning."  The people yawned.  They'd heard that line before.  "The first point," he said, "is that there are two billion people starving in the world today."  More yawns.  They'd heard that before too.  "My second point . . ." he said, and paused.  That got their attention.  Only a few seconds had passed and he was already on his second point?  This was something they hadn't heard before.  "My second point is that although there are two billion people starving in the world today, most of you don't give a damn."  Now he had their attention.  There were shocked looks, nervous glances.  People were sitting up straight.  "And now for my third point.  The real tragedy among Christians today is that many of you are now more concerned that I said "damn" than you are that I said two billion people are starving."  With that he sat down.  Prophets cut straight to their point, sometimes painfully so. (1)

    Well, part of why you don’t hear sermons like that from me is that I perceive you as both concerned and generous when it comes to social issues like the Southeast Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Food Bank and Alternative holiday giving, our Missionary Covenant and on and on.  When I consider the incredible generosity that you share with others in crisis, especially in light of what you’re also doing for our building campaign, I just don’t think prophetic words of that nature are called for.

    In this morning’s passage from Luke we have an example of Jesus as prophet.  When he returned to his hometown of Nazareth his first sermon was short and to the point. He read from the Prophet Isaiah, rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down and said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  What he said shocked and unsettled them.

    The text Jesus read from Isaiah concerned the Jewish Year of the Jubilee, a time of forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation, which occurs every 50th year. The year 2000 was a Jubilee Year, marked by the Pope's message of forgiveness, reconciliation, and a strong push for the forgiveness of Third World debts. In the time of Jesus, Isaiah’s words had taken on a Messianic meaning.  Here in his hometown, among friends and neighbors, Jesus announces that God has anointed him to preach that message!  That may sound good coming from a liberation theologian preaching to the oppressed people of Central America, but what do his words about oppression and liberation have to do with us here in Ashland?

    I can't help but wonder what Jesus saw as he looked at those friends and neighbors gathered in the synagogue.  For that matter, what does he see when he looks at us?  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," Jesus says, "because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed."

    Any time a prophetic word is spoken it challenges us to self-examination about what we’re not doing for those who are impoverished and oppressed.  That’s painful, because it convicts us.  We’re never doing enough for others, are we?  We could always do more!  But he’s also speaking directly to me and to you about our own poverty and oppression.

    Do you feel poor and oppressed?  Mother Teresa spent a lifetime working among the poorest of the poor in the worst slums of the world, but she once commented that the greatest spiritual poverty she had ever experienced was in America, the richest nation in the world.  Jacob Jampolski tells of an opportunity he had to spend time with Mother Teresa.  As she was about to depart for New Guinea, Jampolski asked if he could fly with her in order to have more time to learn from her.  "'Do you have enough money for airfare to New Guinea?' she asked. 'Yes,' he replied eagerly.  'Then give that money to the poor,' she said. 'You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.'" (3)

    During seminary I studied under Dr. James Cone, author of the book, Black Theology and Black Power. Under his influence, Anni and I left NYC and spent a year working in the Black community of Southwest Georgia. I was questioning my calling at that point and wondered if we should stay in Georgia.  Dr. Cone basically said the same thing as Mother Teresa.  He told me that there was plenty of poverty in my own white community.

    And we all know it's true. We well-off Americans may be fat and sassy, but we're not free.  Jesus promises release to the captives, and that's good news, because there's an emotional and a spiritual bondage that all too often oppresses our homes and our families.  We’re pretty typical middle to upper middle class Americans here in Ashland, and we’re often enslaved to everything from overwork to apathy, from television and computers to drugs, alcohol and the restless pursuit of distraction through entertainment of all kinds.

    That's the bad news!  What's the good news?  The Good News is that Christ offers us hope!  Vaclav Havel, the Czech poet/President, after years of suffering from oppression and persecution, wrote: "I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well.  Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure everything ends badly.  I just carry hope in my heart.  Life without hope is an empty, boring and useless life.  I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me.  I am thankful to God for this gift.  It is as big a gift as life itself."

    And that's the Good News. Our hope is in the Lord. It's a gift as big as Life itself. As we open our hearts to the guiding, convicting and comforting presence of the Holy Spirit, as we turn to God in both prayer and with the commitment to be used as instruments of peace, of justice and of reconciliation in whatever situation we find ourselves, then the words of this scripture are fulfilled this very day.  Christ has come to set us free.  This is the year of the Lord's favor.  Amen.

 (1) Holy Sweat, by Tim Hansel
 (2) The Upper Room, 15 May 1994.