13th Sunday after Pentecost August 30, 2009 “What's The Good News?” Jan Nelson Luke 4: 16-21

In 1896, the Rev Charles M Sheldon published a novel called “In His Steps”. The story centered on a pastor who challenged each member of his congregation to ask themselves “what would Jesus do?” whenever they faced a decision. I’ve always been intrigued by this idea, and I’ve tried to use it, at least when I remember, although I’ve never read the book. In the late 1980’s it cycled around again, especially among youth, and it seemed like everyone under 30 was wearing a “WWJD” bracelet. “What would Jesus do?” is certainly a challenging question, rarely with an easy answer, at least if the decision is an important one.

I thought I found the answer a few weeks ago, on a bumper sticker. It said “Jesus would use turn signals.” Well, I guess he would, wouldn’t he? But that made me think of another question: “What bumper stickers would Jesus put on his car?” And that in turn led me to “What would Jesus get politically active about?” That’s a scary question for a lot of people who take a pretty dim view of politics and think Jesus wouldn’t come near anything political. But “politics” comes from a Greek word that just means “citizen”, and wherever people organize themselves in groups, there is politics.

Today’s scripture seems to be part of the answer to the question. Jesus is visiting his home town, shortly after the beginning of his public ministry. He reads from the prophet Isaiah and then declares himself the fulfillment of the prophecy. God has anointed him to preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, freedom to the oppressed. Well, that seems like plenty to keep him busy. But wait a minute. That all sounds fine, but what exactly is that “good news” for the poor? Uh oh, it’s getting tricky now. And probably political.

If we read more of the gospels, we get some other hints about what Jesus might have meant in that first public statement. He talks about the two greatest commandments: love God, love your neighbor. The parable of the good Samaritan reveals that Jesus has a VERY INCLUSIVE definition of neighbor. Then there is the vision in Mathew of the last judgment where people seem to be judged solely on how they treated “the least of these my brothers and sisters”. There are many stories of his respect and compassion for widows, who in that day were often the poorest of the poor. And many of the things Jesus says, like today’s scripture, are direct or indirect quotes of the prophets of Israel who had been saying the same things for centuries. A lot of his listeners didn’t get it. And it appears that in modern society a lot of us don’t get it, either. And some of us understand, but we have a hard time acting on what we understand.

Apparently Ted Kennedy understood. One of the many people I heard talking about him this week was a journalist who had covered Senator Kennedy for years and was talking about his faith. He asked Kennedy once “what is the source of your passion for all these issues of poverty”. The senator just looked at him and asked “Have you never read the New Testament?”

Obviously Senator Kennedy was not the only Christian in the congress, and there are certainly plenty who would disagree with his positions on any subject you can name. Unfortunately, Jesus didn’t spell out what he would say to us in the 21^st century about the specific problems of our times. There’s nothing in the Bible about global climate change and what to do about it. And as much as we would like to find it, there’s nothing there that tells us how to fix our health care system so that everyone has access to something. But there are these hints about neighbors and caring for the “least of these”, and I can’t believe Jesus would have had an opinion.

Opinion is one thing. Doing something is another.

“But this is too controversial. People will get their feelings hurt.”

“What about the separation of church and state? We shouldn’t be messing around with this stuff at all.”

I’m not talking about churches interfering in government; I’m talking about faith shaping our participation in democracy. As citizens, each of us has a responsibility to participate in the decision-making process of our country, state, and all the local entities in which we find ourselves. As Christians, each of us has a responsibility to live out the values of Jesus in every aspect of our lives, including in our voting and our participation in government and in the economy. The church can help us determine what those values are in relation to particular problems or situations, but ultimately the decisions are made by individuals. Sincere, thoughtful Christians, even good United Methodists, come to different conclusions about those situations.

Then there are times when the church as a body feels called by God to speak out on an issue. In the United Methodist Church, the General Conference can officially speak for the whole church and it does on a number of issues. Hence, we have the Social Principles and the Book of Resolutions. As most of you know, individual United Methodists may have some issues with the decisions of the General Conference on some of those issues. Our Annual Conference can adopt Standing Resolutions and other legislation at our conference sessions each year addressing issues that most members of our conference agree on. Individual churches can take positions on issues, such as Morningside has done in becoming a Peace Covenant church and a Reconciling congregation. Because these decisions are made by groups, there is never 100% agreement on any of them, of course.

One such issue in our conference is the death penalty. This is one issue where Jesus seems to be fairly clear in his teaching, our social principles make a strong statement, and our conference has repeatedly voted opposition to the death penalty. Now Bishop Hoshibata wants us to actually do something about it. He has an initiative and a task force that he hopes will lead to political work on the part of individuals and congregations to change the laws of Oregon and Idaho.

At Annual Conference in June each member was given a packet about this work. It includes a sheet that we are asked to send back to the task force, and we are asked to choose one of the following options:

1. Sign us up to participate in the “call to action” to abolish the death penalty…

2. Sign us up to begin a process of studying the issue…

3. Both of the above

I think the bishop is telling us that doing nothing is not an option, although I know that is more comfortable for many, if not most, of us.

When I read this, I wasn’t sure which was appropriate for our church, so Lynda Sloan and I will be asking you today. After worship, we will be at some table in Herrmann Hall and we hope to hear your thoughts on the subject so we can send our response in to the conference.

But to go back to our individual participation in the decisions of democracy: how do we form our responses based on faith. I strongly believe that the first step is information, all the information you can get, from a variety of sources. Pray. Study the Bible and the traditions of the church. Pray. Listen to many voices, and try to discern those that are simply voices of fear. Pray. Make a decision and act on it, but be ready to re-evaluate when there is new information. Pray.

What does good news for the poor look like today? What does release for the captives and freedom for the oppressed mean for our daily lives and decisions? Unfortunately, the answers are not written for us in black and white in the words of Jesus. But we have some record of what he taught and the prophets who inspired his teachings. I believe that God calls each of us, but we each must discern what that call looks like in our own life. What we do to bring good news, recovery of sight, release, and liberty may be large or small, be we are asked to do something. Amen