Episcopal Church of the Messiah

Worship Service Sermons

Proper 5C,  June 10, 2007

 The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

The Invisible Widow

We gather around the table of the Eucharist as people coming from different cultures. We are asked to put on the lenses through which Luke and Jesus see the world. Each of us arrived this morning wearing our own unique lenses, coming from our ethnic, social and class backgrounds. For those of us who are Anglo, we can unconsciously assume that the world sees things the way we see them, because we are the frame of reference. It is hard work for all of us to keep these lenses of Jesus firmly planted, so we can adjust to the shift of perception to which Jesus invites us.

If we look at the widow in the gospel reading, we can see her as her culture sees her: she is completely vulnerable because she has no living husband or son. Jesus sees a burial procession for two people: the son and the widow. The woman is weeping as she leaves her village to be buried with her son and husband. Looking through the lenses of that culture is to see women abandoned and without value.

If we put on the lenses of Jesus that each of us received in our baptism, we see that this is a story about the compassion of God for the poor and vulnerable. We can also see the cultural conditions that create poverty and vulnerability. We may see things we don’t want to see and we want to put on our old, familiar lenses.

Jesus shows us how the Lord of creation has chosen to bring mercy to the oppressed and to confront these false assumptions about people and to expose them to the light. When Jesus did this, how do you think people responded?

When we choose to wear the lenses of Jesus, we are able to see the movement of the mercy of God among the oppressed and how this creates a world of choices, especially for those who have the power to choose.

How would we tell the story of the widow today? How would the Spirit of God expose to light the cultural assumptions that create oppression and vulnerability?

&#I know there is passion even here for the debate about immigration reform. I am not going to tell you what the answer is, but I know that it concerns me when I hear people talk about Latinos and other immigrants as if they are its/objects , rather than thous/persons.

Where would Jesus be moving about in this neighborhood today? Jesus asks you to put on the lenses of a disciple: what do you see?

Some see our neighborhood children and youth (who are mostly Latino and immigrant) as invisible and give up on them. Some see the children and youth as energy and hope for a new future.

Let me share with you a cultural lens that effects many of us here. When we talk about our parish and children and youth, I sometimes hear lamentation: where are the young children and the youth? Every time I mention the multitude of children and youth at the 12 O’clock Spanish service, I hear or perceive: Oh, them. For some of us this is a tremendous opportunity. For others of us, this is an invisible part of our congregation.

I have a vision of what might happen this coming year. What if we came up with funding for a half time church school-youth person who would also intensely cultivate the many children and youth we have at 12 noon? Monthly family events. Monthly youth events. When I say to you that I believe that God has given us a great gift in the presence of so many wonderful Latino youth and children, what do you honestly feel and sense? What lenses are you wearing?

For 25 years this parish has actively been engaging the cultural assumptions that permit indifference and intolerance. The programs we have initiated in this neighborhood are precisely where Jesus and the Spirit want us to be. We are a people who take seriously the collect for today: "O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them." Amen.