Hate - Pastor Rodger Kiepe

Hate is tragically blind and destructive as the daily news so frequently reminds us.   But last Sunday the reminder was personal for our friend Kirby Gould.   Kirby is one of the Vice Presidents of the Christian Church Foundation and has visited our congregation several times.   She was here just a couple of weeks ago and we had lunch together.   She is a dear friend of mine and Mindy’s as well as many of you who are reading this.

Two of the victims in what is being investigated as a “hate crime” were Kirby’s cousins, Dr. William Corporon and his grandson, Reat Underwood.   They were randomly shot and killed in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.   Corporn had taken his grandson there to audition for “K.C. Superstar” an “American Idol” – style singing contest.   Both were shot by Frazier Glenn Cross, a 73-year-old man with a history of anti-Semitism.   After being arrested, witnesses reported him shouting, “Hail Hitler” from the back of a squad car.

Hate did not see a loving grandfather who recently moved from Oklahoma to be near his family and spend more time with them.   Hate did not see a 14 year-old boy with his whole life before him.   Reat was described by teachers and friends as, “A fantastic young man, funny, a beautiful person, incredibly gifted and one who brought smiles to everyone.”

Hate did not see the effects it would have on Rev. Mindy Corporon, a Methodist minister, the daughter of William and the mother of Reat.   Hate did not see because it could not see.  It is itself blind and it blinds everyone that it infects.   It robs us of so much that is precious and beautiful.   It is like a cancer that destroys the health of our whole society.   It blinds with ignorance.   It smothers souls.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’.  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. . . .” (Mt. 5:43)

May God deliver us from all hatred and grant us peace even if that peace is only inner peace.   Amen.

The Quick and the Dead - Steve Jordan

“Who shall give account to him that is ready the judge the quick and the dead.”
1 Peter 4:5

“It is a hell of a thing, killin’ a man. You take away everything he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have.”
That was Bill Munny, played by Clint Eastwood, in the movie “Unforgiven.” 

I love a Western. When I was young, we played cowboys and Indians. I always played the hero. The
sidekick or villain was relegated to a younger brother or sister, who was not able to, either win the
casting debate, or prevail in a production meeting melee to claim the protagonist role. Besides, I had
the costume!

I still prefer to think of myself as a hero; nobody really wants to play the bad guy. In the stories I tell, I
am always the hero, in a plot where someone has wronged me. Sometimes the plot involves the
crowd’s recognition of my heroicism. Sometimes the story shows how I was justified in my
righteousness. I suspect you are also usually the hero in the stories you tell to yourself and to others.

In Westerns, it’s easy to identify the heroes and the villains. In the story, our hero has been wronged—
he’s protecting his women and children, avenging his friend, or laying claim to his land. The good guy
wears white, has a white horse, he is confident, strong, righteous, handsome. The bad guy has black
hair, a black horse, a snarl, a scar, an unearned arrogance. In Westerns, we are comforted to know that,
by the end of the scene, the good guy will be holding the gun, and the bad guy will be looking down a
steely barrel.

John Wayne, in the Shootist, said, “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand
on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” Now that’s an
American hero talking……

Holy Week would be a lousy Western; the hero is on the wrong side of the gun! Let’s for a moment,
imagine Holy Week as a Western being played out by John Wayne:

The Duke from Stagecoach, walking from Galilee to Bethany: “Well, there are some things a man just
can’t run away from.”

It’s easy to think of John Wayne playing the role of Jesus, but, knowing the outcome of Holy Week, Jesus
(the stranger in town, come to raise a rabble, riding a colt for goodness sake!) would be in the role of
the villain.

Imagine Caiaphus at home at the end of a tough day at the office, telling his family, “I told that Galilean,
‘Well, son, since you haven’t learned to respect your elders, it’s time you learned to respect your
betters.’ and then I punched him.”

Imagine Pilate played the Big Jake: “Now you understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all—your
fault, my fault, nobody’s fault—I’m gonna blow your head off. It’s as simple as that.”
 Imagine McClintock as Herod: “I haven’t lost my temper in 40 years; but, Pilgrim, you caused a lot of
trouble the morning; might have got somebody killed; and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But
I won’t. I won’t. The hell I won’t!”

Holy Week makes a lousy Western!
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Carla and I recently watched the movie, “Hanna Arendt.” Good docudrama; I recommend it to you. Dr.
Arendt was a Jewish philosopher who grew up in Germany, was detained in a French concentration
camp, and eventually emigrated to the United States. She was hired by the New York Times to go to
Jerusalem in 1961 to observe and document the war crimes trial of Adolph Eichmann. While traveling
from New York to Israel, she prepared herself to watch the trial of an evil monster, a lunatic, and
extremist—a VILLAIN.

However, she arrived to find a passionless bureaucrat, who claimed he killed no one, but simply
performed his duty to his country through carrying out the government’s policies of moving Jews,
homosexuals, individuals with disabilities, foreigners, and other “enemies of the state” to the
concentration camps. He never reflected on the broader meaning of his actions; he simply did his job.
Eichmann was not an extremist, crazy, evil—he was an ordinary guy. In other words, he could have
been any of us. He was a lousy villain! He didn’t even wear an eye patch or a scar on his face, just black
glasses.

Dr. Arendt came to the horrible realization that the starting point of a great deal of evil arises—not from
extraordinary bad guys—but from the DECISION, by ORDINARY PEOPLE, that other groups of people—
that is the VILLAINS—are not like us by virtue of their religion, sexual orientation, culture, language,
heritage, beliefs, disabilities. Because they are not like us, they do not enjoy the same rights and
privileges as the HEROES (us). They are less deserving of compassion, protection, liberty.

Fifty years after they hung Mr. Eichmann for his war crimes, I have been trying to wrap my mind around
a response to our country’s descent into extremist thinking. I observe that it is getting harder to be cast
in the role of HERO in our political rhetoric. And once a person is cast in the role, it is becoming nearly
impossible to maintain the role. We are assigning blame right and left; VILLAINS abound.

In this rhetoric:
Villains don’t deserve health care.
Villains don’t deserve cupcakes and wedding celebrations.
Villains don’t deserve to be listened to.
Villains don’t deserve to eat regularly.
Villains are lazy; they are enemies to the economy; they need to be forced into productivity or expelled;
if only these lazy people would work harder, they too could have all that we have…so the logic goes.

Jesus claimed his role as Messiah, but, try as his Apostles might, he never claimed the role of HERO. He
also refused to accept the role of villain—or victim. As much as the writers of the Gospels attempted to
assign blame, I doubt he would view Pilate or Herod or Caiaphus or the crowd as VILLAINS.

Easter is not a Western with heroes and villains. Jesus was not avenging his people, protecting his
family, reclaiming the land stolen by the Romans. He understood that the Kingdom of God is neither
given, nor taken away, by your fellow humans.
 In this Easter season, are you willing to give up your hero role and claim the Kingdom of God?

Are you willing to lay down your divisions and accept both “the quick and the dead”, the heroes and the
villains, as Children of God?

Are you strong enough in your faith to understand that “villains” cannot truly take any of God’s blessings
away?

Peace be with you.
Steve Jordan 

The Catholic Just Rubbed Off

Immigrants who have come to America tend to settle together in areas and neighborhoods.  We all like the comfort and familiarity of language and culture and even religion. 

Decades ago a farmer either bought or inherited a farm in a settlement of protestants.  Now, back then feelings were still pretty hostile about religion, and the new folks were Catholic.  Immediately, talk began about “running them off.” 

This probably wouldn’t have been done with violence, but rather by undercutting the family’s business and discriminating against them – shunning.  Folks can take only so much of that. 

The protestant pastor did not like the attitude of his own people, but instead of arguing with them, and instead of preaching sermons, he took action. 

He had heard that the new farmer’s wife was a skilled seamstress.  So the pastor and his wife decided together that, instead of the pastor’s wife teaching, they would send their three daughters to the home of the Catholic lady, and pay her to teach the girls to sew and to cook. 

The results were stunning.  The talk stopped immediately.  And since the protestant pastor was respected by his congregation, some other girls were sent for lessons too. 

It’s true, some of the “Catholic” just “rubbed off” on those kids and they grew up with a little more respect for others, and as a result, the protestants in that community became better protestants, and the Catholics in that family became better Catholics. 

Isn’t it ironic that a little love and a simple act can melt our worst fears and teach us about a God who is so much greater than the small world in which we live?

Of course, in today’s world sewing and cooking wouldn’t be the topics taught – perhaps dancing instead. 

Jack Spratt Syndrome

I asked our younger daughter to sort out what kitchen goods I could pack now and which ones should stay available for a little while longer.  She did the job by putting post-its on each cabinet door and drawer and I’ve just gotta share this one that was stuck to the refrigerator: 

“(You) May pack ALL magnets on the fridge & what they are holding up.  WARNING: Pack it ALL!  If a scrap, no matter how ugly or small, is missing Mom will miss it & you will hear about it!” 

I see the world, and my work, in broad, general terms.  My wife, on the other hand, sees the details.  Sometimes that brings us into conflict, but most often, between the two of us, we do a splendid job of things.  I call it the “Jack Spratt Syndrome.” 

This only works if the two parties are somewhat disinterested in having their own way, and believe me, this can change from minute to minute. 

So in my conversations with other people over the four forbidden topics (politics, money, sex, religion), I have to keep reminding myself that no two people see the world in the same way, and behind these forbidden topics lie powerful passions both positive and negative. 

The God I now know does not demand conformity to a belief system.  Rather, to do good and to love (genuine) justice, and to walk humbly sums it up with simplicity and hands us a life of challenge and infinite love.