HORTON TEACHES US ABOUT IMMIGRATION

This summer, I have been using a great resource, The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss, in worship and Sunday School. It has been great fun and the response, for the most part, has been very positive.

This past week, we looked at what Horton, the cute and compassionate elephant from Horton Hears a Who, teaches us about immigration. Here is the last part of that message:

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When Horton is faced with the mocking and ridicule of his friends, he begins to wonder if it’s all worth it. He faces the dilemma I mentioned earlier - walk away from this act of justice, or stick it out amid the junk. Horton wonders our loud:

"Should I put this speck down?" Horton thought with alarm.
"If I do, these small persons may come to great harm.
I can’t put it down. And I won’t! After all
A person’s a person. No matter how small."

A person’s a person, no matter how small. It’s not difficult for me to make the leap and expand on that phrase:
Ÿ A person’s a person no matter how young…or how old
Ÿ A person’s a person no matter male or female
Ÿ A person’s a person no matter his or her sexual orientation
Ÿ A person’s a person no matter the language they speak or their country of origin
Ÿ A person’s a person no matter what kind of documentation they possess…or don’t

But again, this isn’t just my radical thought. We find a similar sentiment in the words of Jesus. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus is teaching his friends about living fearlessly. He reminds them of their importance to God with these words: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

What Jesus is saying here is that God cares for us - all of us - deeply and intimately. Jesus references the common sparrow - the most plain and ordinary and probably worthless bird in all of creation. If a person was looking for a low-budget bird, sparrows were always on sale - five for two pennies. And yet, Jesus says, God cares even for these clearance sale priced creatures. And if God can care for the lowly sparrow, how much more will God care for the human creation? It may be beyond belief, but God loves us so much…God cares for us so deeply, that even the hairs on our head are counted and known by God.

Later in the New Testament, in the book of 1 John, we are told to love one another just as God has loved us. Doesn’t it follow that if God loves us so much that even the hairs on our heads are known and numbered, that we ought to get to know one another that intimately? And if in God’s Kingdom there are no unimportant persons - no throw-aways - no second-class citizens, shouldn’t we look at all persons in that light?

At the end of Horton Hears a Who, when the tiny voices have finally been heard and the village of Whoville is saved, Horton the elephant smiles and says:

"Do you see what I mean?…
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the Smallest of All!”

And the big kangaroo, who had been Horton’s biggest critic, has an epiphany:

"How true! Yes, how true, said the big kangaroo
And, from now on, you know what I’m planning to do?…
From now on, I’m going to protect them with you!"
And the young kangaroo in her pouch said,…

"ME TOO!

From sun in the summer. From rain when it’s fall-ish
I’m going to protect them. No matter how small-ish."

May we do the same. AMEN.

AWED...AND ODD

Last week I was at Annual Conference and listened to (among other things) our Bishop, Sally Dyck. It’s not easy being a Bishop, especially at the time of the Annual Conference session. Along with having to run the “business” part of the meetings (think Parliamentary Procedure, Robert’s Rules of Order, and a whole host of other technicalities…), the Bishop preaches at least twice – at the opening worship (which is really called the Episcopal Address) and at the Service of Ordination. Both of her messages this year were quite memorable; her Ordination sermon spoke to me personally, and her opening message presented a challenge to the church.

In her Episcopal Address, Bishop Dyck spoke about being awed. Have you been awed by God lately? Do you live your live with a sense of awe and wonder?

Awe is the emotion described in the opening verse of the great old hymn “How Great Thou Art:”
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
consider all the worlds thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Awe is also the emotion poured out by the psalmist when he considered God as the creator in Psalm 33:
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
He put the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.

When was the last time you were awed by God?

But that word – awed – is pronounced just like another word with a completely different meaning – odd. Are you odd for God?

In today’s world, we seem to be complacent with the disasters that happen around us. Another oil spill, another tornado or hurricane, another war. We can get just as complacent about the more ‘personal’ disasters happening to the people around us: hunger, violence, homelessness, racism, poverty, and the list goes on. In today’s world, it is considered odd to care, to take a stand, to perform not just acts of charity, but also acts of justice.

It is odd to live the words of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 58:
Is not this the fast I choose: To loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And bring the homeless poor into your house;
When you see the naked, to cover them,
And not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Being awed by God ought to lead to being odd for God.

Are you being awed?

Are you being odd?

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