5 Epiphany A + Keep it Simple + 2.5.23
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos Oxnard
(Isaiah 58:1–9a,
(9b–12); Ps. 112:1–9, (10); 1 Corinthians 2:1–12, (13–16); Matthew 5:13–20)
When I was a teenager, about twenty-five years ago now, I
went with my church several times to do mission work alongside the people in a
small town called Agua Verde in Sinaloa, Mexico. This was my first experience
of cultural immersion in a completely different language (although the
difference between British English and American English was an adjustment!) And
I was a bit nervous about being away from family and friends for a week with
some church members, including youth, I barely knew. Despite the fact that I
was nervous, I thought of a friend of mine who was always easy-going and I
decided that for the whole week I was going to act like her. Be easy-going, and
just adjust to whatever happened as it happened, and in general be a bit less
nervous.
Although I was in an unfamiliar context and I had to be
flexible to different schedules, foods, etc. than I was used to, at the end of
the week, I realized I had had a wonderful time. And interestingly, one of my
fellow travelers commented, “Wow, you just have such a low-key personality.
It’s great!” And I had to laugh a bit inside, because that is not customarily
true, but I had been able to act myself into being easy-going, at least for
that week.
And that experience has stayed with me in so many ways throughout my life. The
idea that we really do choose how we express ourselves in the world and how we
can react. That our personalities and how we respond to different situations
are not set in stone.
And that most of the time, it benefits us to keep it simple.
Many of you know this as the KISS method. Keep it Simple, Silly, or the other
more pejorative option.
Here in our reading of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians,
he is keeping it simple. Paul says: “For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).” Now, you could say a lot
of things about Paul, but not that he was a know-nothing. Paul of Tarsus was a
highly educated rhetorician, and the best proof of this is in his writings.
Paul wrote and spoke with all of the art of a highly trained philosopher in the
Greek style, befitting his birth as a citizen of the Roman Empire and his
position as a leader in the Jewish community trained by Gamaliel. So here, Paul
is not saying that he is an ignoramus who has chosen to only learn about Jesus
and Jesus’ saving acts for us. He is saying that despite all he knows, he
chooses to focus his leadership among the early Christian church not on his own
learning and intelligence but instead on the simple facts of what he knows
about Jesus.
He chooses to preach simply. Who Jesus was, what he taught us
and what he did, and still does through us who follow him. And how he laid down
his life by being crucified so that we could be saved. So that death would not
have the last word, and so that nothing could separate us from God.
There is a lot of mystery to the Christian faith, but at its
heart, our faith is simple. Jesus. Who he was, what he taught us. Christ. And
him crucified. What he did for us, so that we could be free.
Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is also a highly educated
man. He went to Yale Divinity School and has five honorary degrees as well as
being awarded an honor by the now late Queen of England. So he is a
knowledgeable man. But when we saw him at the Martin Luther King, Jr. service
several years ago, he asked us to Keep it Simple by remembering a book that
many of you know. It is called All I
Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum and Curry quoted
some of the basic rules: “Share everything. Clean up your own mess. Don’t
hit people. Play fair. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.”[1] So basic. But Presiding Bishop Curry kept
it simple when he shared that when we remember these basic life lessons, it is
hard to go far wrong.
These lessons make me think of
dear Kailani, to whom we said goodbye unexpectedly this week. Since she did not
speak a lot, she often kept it simple in her interactions with you. When she
saw you, if she liked you, she gave you a big smile and/or put out her hand for
a fist bump to which you quickly learned you were supposed to make special
sounds of fire after the bump. When she was engaged, you could tell she was
fully present. And you could tell when she was having a hard day and you just
wanted to reach out to her. She loved communion and kept it simple with her mom
by just inviting her to come partake. Her joy was infectious and she will be
much missed.
Something Kailani reminded me is that when we keep it simple, we tend to focus
on Jesus more. When we make it complicated, it becomes about us. Our
intelligence. Our fears. Our whatever. But if we focus on Jesus, we remember,
he was all about fulfilling the Jewish scriptures, not abolishing them. He came
to complete what was foretold in Isaiah. About being repairers of the breach.
Of fasting in just the way that all might have enough to eat. Of mending what
is broken. Of repairing even the ancient, crumbling ruins. Can you imagine
that? The restorative power of God is so great, crumbling ruins can be brought
back. Well of course, God can raise us and God’s-self in Jesus from the dead,
how much more will God restore the places in our lives that look like ruins at
times. Nothing is beyond the healing, restorative reach of our creator. I trust
that even now, Kailani is whole again and able to do what she has not been able
to do for years.
There is Jewish concept of Tikkun
Olam, a phrase that comes from the Mishnah, or a group of classical rabbinic
teachings, that refers to ways that we can be repairers of the world by sharing
acts of kindness.[2]
This is what Jesus was about,
being a repairer of the breach, being a restorer of the world. Jesus was
completing the dreams that God had given the prophets, and invited us into
living that same dream. Into being the light of the world. Into being the salt
of the world. Light and salt bring so many things into this world, but they
especially bring healing. We need the light of the sun to thrive and be
healthy. Many cures can be brought about in part by access to light. Light
clears away the haze of confusion and fear and shows us the path forward. We
are the light.
We are the salt. We may sting a bit when we are placed on wounds, but we
preserve what is best in the world and bring out its healthful qualities. We
are here to purify and cleanse the earth in how we speak to others, in how we
react with prayer and respond in peace and act in love. It is so interesting to
think of Jesus saying we are the salt of the earth in the context of someone
who lived by the Dead Sea, where salt not only detoxifies you, but makes you
float. Perhaps that same image fed his description of us. People who can work
to bring peace and spiritual purity to the world.
But in order to do that, we need
to be able to float. We need to, in a sense, get out of ourselves. And focus on
Christ, and him crucified. We need to remember that there has always been a
breach, and we have always been called to be the repairers of that breach. Yes,
we see a more obvious breach in our society today, but if anything, that makes
our role even clearer. Let us forget our egos. You cannot act or speak or
protest your way out of this one. But you can pray, get centered, and get out
of yourself. And you can focus on Christ, and him crucified. In this way, you
can Keep it Simple by remaining in a state of prayer. Prayer for our country
and for our world. For our country’s leadership. And prayer for wisdom as to
exactly how to be salt and shed God’s light in the world. If you pray, you will
be guided. You just have to Keep it Simple.
Amen.
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