Psalm 80:1-7

Psalm

A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

December 17, 2006

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

Today is the third Sunday in Advent. As you know, we have been looking at what it might entail to set the world right. I believe that God sought to set the world right 2000 plus years ago when the original nativity story happened. Just like God sought to set the world right by the great flood and starting anew with Noah’s family, just like God sought to set the world right by delivering the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, I believe God sought to set the world right again by the Holy Family and all who would be inspired by their witness.

But the only way for any of this to happen is if those of us who follow are inspired by the story to such an extent that we become God’s hands, feet and even voices as we engage in the rehabilitative work of setting this world of ours right. This will take, clarity of purpose, strength, purity, security and even some inspiration. We’ll look at clarity next week. We have already looked at security and purity. This Sunday, we will look at strength.

Luckily we have Micah’s prophecy to guide us. The fifth chapter of Micah speaks of the Messianic ruler who is to come from Bethlehem. This ruler “will stand and feed his flock in the strength of God…and he shall be the one of peace.” This ruler is to bring peace through strength. The strength that he brings is the strength of God. Peace through this kind of strength is very different than peace through the strength as we tend to hear it defined these days.

There is a concept of peace that equates it with empire. You have heard of Pax Romana. This celebrates the great wealth of Rome. It builds streets, it gives great art, it is benevolent.

And there is peace in the land as long as no one challenges Rome. Jesus was a threat to Pax Romana. The Messiah posed a threat to the strength of rulers and kings. He might show the ways that the empire had no clothes. He might point out the exclusion that is part of Pax Romana. He might point out how there is not religious freedom and that anyone defied Rome or even questioned its practices were crucified. He might point out the idolatry that says that property and wealth are the same thing as godliness.

Jesus, the coming Messiah was a threat to Pax Romana. “He will stand and feed his flock in the strength of God…and he shall be the one of peace.” Heck, he might even be a threat to Pax Americana. We should beware of something that guarantees peace for the empire at the expense of people. The strength of God must never be confused with the strength of empire.

So what is the strength of God? The fact that the Messiah is metaphorically referred to as a shepherd ought to give us a clue here about the nature of his rule. Shepherds were lonely desert seeming nobodies who yet knew all of the names of the sheep under their domain. They were not ever considered strong by the standards of the world—they had very little wealth, certainly no political clout, no weapons. But to the sheep, they were absolutely essential.

They must have had some physical strength, following sheep around and picking them up when they were in need. They were often left to their own and ignored. And yet, this is the image of the Messiah who brings peace. This is someone who is strong. Our crèche scenes are filled with shepherds because the angels chose to tell them about Jesus’ birth. The angels did not choose the rich or the elite or the warriors. The angels thought the shepherds had strength. We need that strength, too as we seek to be people who are part of God’s movement of setting the world right.

The good shepherd, the one who brings peace, knows of the plight and joys of each and everyone of us sheep. Each of us is vitally important and no one gets left behind. That is the strength that God gives.

Our household has a heavy cloud surrounding it this holiday season. As you know, Kim’s mother passed away this past Monday. Kim flew out and was by her side when she crossed over from this world to the next. We feel very lucky to have known her. We feel blessed that our children were able to know their maternal grandmother. We will long remember the many trips we took to Cleveland to see her and how proud she was to see the next generation come to fulfill her legacy. We know that we will need a strength that is beyond our own power to help us walk through this season.

Many of you have lost parents. Many of you feel the Christmas season brings joy and excitement tinged with regret and sorrow for the people that have gone before us who are no longer here in body. God knows, we need strength.

Let me take just a few moments and tell you of the strength I witnessed in my mother-in-law, Mary Jo Spitz—the shepherd of her flock.

Mary Jo was a no nonsense type of a woman who always told you what she thought. I mean that in a good way. She could do it by what she said and by what she didn’t say.

She realized that life was too short and too precious to have to beat around the bush about something. She buried a husband and a daughter long before their time. She had more than her share of medical challenges and yet bounced back many times. She defied the odds to be a woman of power and strength. She had a grace to her that drew her to a diversity of friends.

She grew up a Kentucky Southern Baptist. During World War II she caught the eye of a young pilot. Over the objections of family and friends, but true to their love, they got married and moved to Cleveland. You see, her new husband was Jewish.

In the 40’s, Kentucky Southern Baptists didn’t marry Cleveland Jewish boys. But Mary Jo was a different breed. She raised her children in the First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland, but reminded them of their Jewish heritage, always celebrating the holy days of both religions. She often joked that the Passover brisket and the Easter ham were holding World War III in the refrigerator.

She had three girls, Kim being the youngest. She worked as a homemaker and a volunteer. As her daughters got older and more independent, she opened up her own antique shop, Mary Jo Spitz Antiques.

She was a catalyst for bringing other antique dealers to the area as well as helping to spur revitalization to the Ohio City Neighborhood on the near west side of Cleveland. One of the highlights of the Christmas season was the Lorain Avenue Antique Walk which she organized each year. Her best friends and confidants were gay men who shared her love of antiques. She was after all a Kentucky southerner and she knew how to be hospitable to everyone.

Her husband died at 59 of a heart condition. Her oldest daughter died of breast cancer at the young age of 39. Amanda’s middle name, Jacqueline, is in honor of Kim’s oldest sister. If that wasn’t enough to break your heart, she had a stroke on the recovery table from bypass surgery, when she was in her 60’s. The extended hospital stay wiped out her savings, her business and much of her physical vitality. And yet she persevered. She steadfastly mustered the strength to pull herself up and start over again. Many times, we thought she was nearing the end, but she chose to surprise us each time. The emphysema, the blood clots, the strokes, the knee problems, the pacemaker and defribulator all extended her life and she got to see not only her six grandchildren grow but got to welcome two new great-grandchildren before her death this week at 84.

She even had the strength to bless the marriage of her daughter to a notoriously obnoxious kid named Doug Donley. I have told some of you that Kim baby-sat for me once. But her older sister Pam was our favorite baby-sitter. One day, I did something wrong and Pam locked me in my room. But being the resourceful kid I was I knew the escape route. My bedroom window opened on to the roof of the front porch. When she locked me in my room, I simply climbed out on the roof and struck up a conversation with my neighborhood friends.

Pam had a conniption and I was severely punished when my folks got home. I remember my parents having a lot of trouble finding a babysitter after that. Maybe that’s why Kim was tapped.

Well, when Kim and I were dating, I came to Cleveland and met Mary Jo at Pam’s house. We were sitting on the porch awkwardly trying to size each other up and I made a joke that I promised not to climb out onto the roof. All of a sudden Mary Jo’s eyes got wide and her mouth dropped to the floor. Speechlessly she pointed to me and then looked at Kim. You mean that’s him? Thank God she didn’t hold grudges.

She amazed me with her quick wit, her faithful cards and letters and her ability to rattle off recipes from memory or give over-the-phone advice on our cooking fiascos even just this past month.

When Mary Jo and her husband Gerry were first married, they were quite poor and one of the real cheap meals was lobster. Obviously, Gerry wasn’t an overly observant Jew. One of her delicacies was stuffed lobster which she took to purchasing and preparing for the entire family every Christmas Eve. The recipe entailed actually killing the lobster before cooking it and no one but the former farm girl Mary Jo had the guts to do the deed.

So she prepared everything and even supervised from her wheelchair in her last years. We will have that lobster dinner on New Year’s even this year in Cleveland a few days after her memorial service.

She had strength. She was Kim’s mom, but she was also her shepherd. She was her confidant, her dear friend and her mother. It’s such a blessing to get to know your parents as adults and not just as children. I think it’s safe to say that we are much more forgiving of our parents when we become parents ourselves.

Mary Jo was a woman of strength who didn’t wield her strength in violent ways. Don’t get me wrong, she had a temper and you didn’t want to be on the other side of that temper. But she also had a tenderness and a caring that far outweighed her occasional outbursts. Her strength was in her faithfulness, her resilience, her devotion to her family and her uncanny ability to bring something regal to her holiday celebrations.

For better or for worse, we are who we are because of the people that have come into our lives. If we can take from them some of their strength, wisdom, love and even learn from some of their mistakes, we will be blessed indeed.

Sisters and brothers, we need to remember, that was we seek to set the world right, we are carrying on the work of those blessed saints who have gone on before. Those people who give us the strength to do what is right. Whose physical presence may not be here anymore but whose spiritual presence reminds us what is truly important, what is loving, what is just, what makes for more beauty, more peace, more gentleness, more devotion, more hope.

Those who have gone before are with God looking down upon us, nudging us to make the very most out of our lives and continuing the work of setting the world right. They give us strength. A strength that is holy and that is of God.

So today, we give thanks for strength:

The strength of a shepherd who knows and cares for each of us.

The strength of will that when mingled with God’s strength can move mountains.

The strength of faithfulness.

The strength of character.

The strength of compassion which is who God is and how God’s followers act.

Most of all, we remember that God’s strength will see us through even the most difficult times. When we can’t hold it together and be strong ourselves, God can be and is our strength. I thank God for that strength each and every day.