Welcoming Grace, Words of Love for All. Kurt Jacobson

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СКАЧАТЬ that. And may God give to each of us, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, to see us through our difficulties and towards peace and wholeness with God and each other.

      Amen.

      ***

      Drawing Lines

      October 15, 1995

      Pentecost 19/C

      Luke 16:19-31

      There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

      The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.”

      But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.”

      He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.”

      Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.”

      He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”

      He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

      Dear Sisters and Brothers;

      Grace and peace be with you all.

      The story is told of a hitchhiker picked up one day out on the road. As he got into the car, the driver squealed the tires, pulling back into traffic. The hitchhiker was startled but didn’t say anything. A little way down the road, the hitchhiker glanced over at the speedometer and was shocked. Breaking his silence, he exclaimed, “Wow, you’re going 67 in a 35 mph zone.”

      The driver responded casually, “Don’t worry, God is with us.”

      They continued zipping through an intersection, not slowing a bit.

      “Hey! You just ran that stop sign!”

      The reply, “Don’t worry; God is with us.”

      Finally, after taking a corner on two wheels, the hitchhiker shouted, “Stop the car!”

      “Why? Didn’t I tell you? God is with us.”

      “Yeah, I know,” the hitchhiker shot back. “Stop the car anyway, “God and I want to get out!”

      Have you ever spent much time trying to figure out what makes people tick? What motivates certain behaviors?

      Throughout human history, scientists have been trying to figure us out. Some have come up with theories. You’ve heard of them.

      Eugene Skinner believed our behavior was motivated by the desire to experience pleasure over pain. Sigmund Freud believed that sex was the driving force behind all we do. Economists believe that it is money, and our desire to have it, that lies at the root of all human activity.

      There is one branch of human thought among some behavioral psychologists that suggests all our actions and all our motivations grow out of one desire - the need to establish and protect our own territory.

      Now think about that - we all have our territories. I recall in college studying about the space bubble - that invisible bubble around our bodies that defines for us the distance we keep when in contact with another person.

      Americans have a much larger space bubble than some Europeans. Americans like about a three-foot space bubble. When someone we do not know, or do not share a close or intimate relationship with, gets inside that space bubble, we pull back or withdraw.

      The experts in this idea of territory theory, go so far as to say this is the reason birds sing, insects buzz and swarm, and dogs bark and bite. In humans, the territorial theory can explain everything from why some people seem to spend all their “free time” taking care of their yard, to the on-going nature of ethnic wars.

      Because we are territorial people, we draw lines. Mostly, we like to draw lines around things, people and property, and declare everything inside that line as “mine” or “ours.” Remember drawing the lines on the back seat of the station wagon, showing your brother or sister where that line was, just exactly what space was yours, and warning them of the dangers of crossing that line?

      Robert Frost, in one of his poems, stated that, “good fences make good neighbors.” Makes me think of Sun City, Arizona, and some other places that I’ve been in which every yard is entombed by a ten-foot-high concrete wall. The message I get when I see this is, “Stay away, this is my property - do not enter without permission.”

      In our own countryside, “No Trespass” signs warn us not to step over the line.

      We’re very good at drawing lines to keep our territories. The lines we draw around what is “ours,” and what is others’, varies from situation to situation.

      •When people trespass against us by touching a “soft spot” where we are vulnerable to offense, even if the intrusion is accidental or ignorant or a poor attempt at humor, we begin to defend “our space.”

      •When the neighbor’s dog does something inside the boundary of our lawn, we know exactly where the point of trespass lies, “our yard.”

      •When a wave of robberies begins to haunt our side of town, our territorial line suddenly expands to include “our neighborhood.”

      •When we resent the intrusion by the federal government into our regional needs or wants, our territory takes on the even larger boundaries of “our state.”

      •When federal spending is out of control, and costs of governmental assistance to immigrants increase, we suddenly want to keep foreign people out and protect “our nation.”

      •When the ozone layer starts to fizzle away from CFC’s, and our oceans start smelling like backed-up septic tanks, we suddenly feel the need to defend “our planet.”

      Do you see how it is that we draw lines so broadly and wide that they encompass the whole earth? When threatened or denied security or desires, we draw lines to protect ourselves.

      But notice how the line gets so broad and wide that it becomes a circle. From drawing lines around our homes, neighborhood, state, nation and planet, we’ve drawn a circle! Every living creature is “inside” the circle, the boundary we’ve drawn!

      This is the kind of line, an eternal, never-ending line resulting in a СКАЧАТЬ