A New Perspective

"A New Perspective"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on February 11, 2007 at Union Congregational Church in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "A New Perspective."

This Morning's Scripture reading is:
Luke 6:17-26

Can anyone here stand do a handstand? Or maybe can anyone stand on their head? (Invite someone up to demonstrate. If nobody obliges-- accomplish the same thing without the memorable visual)

What's it look like from where you are, um standing? How does the sanctuary look? What do the people look like? Do you recognize anyone? Call out someone's name -- point to them (stop them before they do this and fall.)

Thank you!

Do you ever purposefully try to get a new perspective on things? Anybody stand on their head or on their hands to do it? Think for a minute about ways you have, or might try, to get a different perspective on something.

(Pause)

This week has been all about new perspective for me. New congregation, new office, new places to put the mounds and mounds of books I have amassed over the years. Just about everything in life has been turned a little upside-down and I know I perceive things in a different way than before.

This week's Bible reading from Luke 6:17-26 is a perspective-changer, too. There's this man named Jesus -- familiar with him? There's a song about him that I'm sure you've heard of. Do you know what song I'm thinking of? (Invite people to respond)

Let's sing 'Jesus Loves Me' together.

Jesus loves me, this I know - For the Bible tells me so - Little ones to him belong - They are weak, but he is strong - Yes, Jesus loves me- Yes, Jesus loves me - Yes, Jesus loves me- The Bible tells me so.

The little ones belong to Jesus. Do you remember the Bible story where Jesus welcomed the little children while the other adults tried to send them away? Children weren't important in Jesus day. But Jesus had a different perspective on that.

Jesus loves to turn things all "topsy-turvy." And this week's reading isn't out of that character at all.

Jesus found a place to preach. The Bible says that he stood on a "level place." Because of the level place reference, this sermon that Jesus begins in our reading today is called "The Sermon on the Plain." That name rings a bell, right? Except you're probably thinking of "The Sermon on the Mount" instead. That sermon begins in Matthew 5. There it says that Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. Some Bible scholars debate and reason and say that the two places and the two sermons are the same -- and the level place was up the mountainside. Others say that the two places are different and the two sermons are different but with similar themes. Still others say that the sermons in the Bible are just a compilation of things Jesus said in many sermons on mountains and plains and many other places. I'll let the scholars debate that. I want to get to the message -- because the message in these two sermons extends way beyond the time and place where they were originally preached.

There are some differences in this morning's reading and the reading from Matthew 5. Both are referred to as the Beatitudes -- sayings of blessedness or happiness. In today's reading there are fewer Blessed are's. They're straightforward without any accompanying flowery language too. In addition, today's reading has something the other one doesn't. These beatitudes are accompanied by corresponding woes.

Jesus took commonly held thought and turned it upside down. The poor have God's kingdom and the rich have already received their reward. The hungry will be full and the full will be hungry. The weeping will laugh and the laughing will weep. Finally, the hated and despised have reason to rejoice and the well thought of have shouldn't see that as a good thing.

The idea that Jesus showed favor on those whom society looks down on isn't present only here, but it seems present throughout Jesus ministry. I guess it's not even that profound to think about, since restoration, forgiveness and unconditional love are such a part of what we believe as followers of Jesus.

Restoration, forgiveness and unconditional love are such a part of what we believe as followers of Jesus.

I'd like to point out -- or at least suggest that this isn't a reading about reward and punishment. It shows a perspective that is simply a fact of life. Jesus was describing a reversal -- a reality where everything is backwards from where people think. Jesus was describing God's Kingdom -- where things work very differently than they do in our world.

Yet I think there's something to give us a new perspective in our world too. Jesus is on the side of the poor and oppressed. And many of the hearers would have thought that what Jesus was saying was completely upside-down from the way that they understood life. I'm sure many were riled up and angry. They were challenged to face a new perspective -- whether they agreed with it or liked it.

Sometimes we hear, read or experience things that are similar -- and they get us all twisted upside-down inside. Maybe it's in joy. Maybe it's in anger. Maybe it’s in happiness. Maybe it’s in sadness. Maybe it’s in contempt.

Jesus stirred those kinds of feelings when he walked the Earth. I believe he still does it today.

What do you do with those feelings? Can you own them and try to learn from them? It's easy to celebrate the good feelings, but can you seek to get a new perspective that gives peace even in the middle of the uneasiness?

Here's a challenge for this week. Make a change that will have you seeing things from a different perspective. It might be packing a lunch each day instead of buying it. It might be rearranging your room so that the sun is in your eyes when you wake up. Maybe it will be in driving a different route to work.

I don't think that the little change in routine will suddenly give you a new perspective on everything. It might not give you any new perspective at all. But that little change is not the real challenge.

Let that little change remind you to do this:

Every day this week when you notice this little change, say a prayer. It can be something that is simple and short -- like "God, give me a new perspective -- show me how to be the way you want me to be."

Maybe you can pray the serenity prayer, ""God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Or maybe you can recite a short line from the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Maybe you can keep a short journal, diary or blog about what you notice throughout the week.

Let me leave you with something that this whole "new perspective" makes me think of in other things that Jesus turns upside-down, too. Here are a couple of quotes from an essay by Tom Peterson. I think it captures the flavor of what Jesus inspired in the Luke reading. If you want to read the whole essay, it's here.

I dreamed the other night that all the maps in the world had been turned upside down. Library atlases, roadmaps of Cincinnati, wall-sized maps in the war rooms of the great nations, even antique maps with such inscriptions as "Here be Dragons" were flipped over. What had been north was now south, east was west. Like a glob of melting vanilla ice cream, Antarctica now capped schoolroom globes.

In my dream, I saw child crying in Calcutta. Her parents wouldn't buy her any more video games until her birthday. I saw her mother drive to the supermarket and load her cart with frozen and junk food, vegetables, cheese, meat, and women's magazines.

I also saw a mother in Houston baking bread in an earthen oven. She had been crying because there were no more beans for her family. One of her children listlessly watched her. He was a blond boy, about six years old. He slowly turned his empty, haunting gaze toward me.

Close with prayer.