Sorry!
Mark 9:30-37
Have you ever played the board game, "Sorry!"? The object is to be the first player to get all four of your pawns from your color START to your color HOME. So far so good. But like any board game worth its cardboard, there must be some potential for tension and suspense. And so it is with "Sorry!" When you draw a card that says "Sorry!" you take one pawn from your START, place it on any space that is occupied by any opponent, and bump that opponent's pawn back to its START. In this game, you never really know who's going to win until the end. That's one of the things that make it so much fun. I can remember times when I almost had all my pawns HOME and the bottom fell out. As soon as I started getting a little cocky, Andy came from behind with a couple "Sorry!" cards to beat me hands down.
"Sorry!" is just a game. But games imitate life. "Sorry!" may be a game that most closely imitates life in Southeast Michigan in the fall of 2006. Toyota may have drawn the "Sorry!" card this time, bumping GM and Ford back to START. And a whole bunch of folks -- real people -- with real lives and real families -- are getting bumped around, sent back to START themselves. In the meantime, we overhear arguments like the one Jesus overhears today in our Gospel. Who is the greatest -- GM or Toyota? What about Ford? In our Gospel, it's Jesus' turn to draw the card: "Sorry!" He says. "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all....whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me..." In other words, go back to START if you want to be the greatest in my kingdom.
It's one thing to experience bumps like this in a game. It's something else to experience them in real life. When these bumps happen, without a plan in place for the future, it's devastating. And yet Jesus says today being bumped back to START might actually be the best thing that could happen to us -- if we let it. In the Kingdom of God, getting bumped back to START is the path to greatness. Getting bumped back to START is what can open us to the power and presence of God in our lives.
Recovering alcoholics active in 12 step groups know this only too well. St. Paul said it over and over in different ways. Jesus said it time and time again: in the Beatitudes, and he says it again today. It's precisely the bump that gives us our claim on the help of God. "Strength is made perfect in weakness." "Blessed are the poor in spirit." "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." And it all completely contradicts the ways of the world in which we're assigned to make a living.
The congregation in which I grew up was very intentional about welcoming children and young people in all aspects of congregational life. That's probably why I ended up being a pastor. There is a full wall of pictures of us, in fact -- pictures of those of us who grew up in that congregation who went on to serve as ordained pastors in the church. When I was in high school, we were blessed to have about 25 youth who sang together and led worship regularly. For two of those years we put on musicals and took them on tours through the Midwest. One year the musical was called "Lightshine." It was based on the Beatitudes. I had a solo called, "Would You?" Would you cherish loving arms if you never shed a tear? Would you welcome going home if you'd never been away? Would you treasure gentle words if you'd never been alone? I don't think so. I don't think so, I really don't think so.
That's the point Jesus makes today. The human ego is such that, for whatever reason, until we really do come to terms with our powerlessness over certain aspects of our lives, we think we don't need anyone else, certainly not God. It's not until we hit bottom that we feel desperate enough to turn our life and our will over to the care of God. St. Paul calls it dying and rising with Christ. Luther calls it living out our baptism in daily life. The first three of the 12 steps are summed up like this: "I can't do it; God can; I think I'll let God." And that is only the beginning. That is getting bumped back to START. That is why Jesus took a little child into his arms and said, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my names welcomes me... Becoming vulnerable is the beginning of the Gospel. Welcoming a child is the beginning of hope.
Children in our midst are signs of hope, of a second chance. The child is potential future. Have you ever noticed how, at a visitation at a funeral home, the whole atmosphere is transformed when a young child is present? The child, through nothing but the grace of her presence alone, brings healing and wholeness and grace to a situation that might otherwise be overwhelmingly devastating. I'm reminded of the Johnny Mathis song from the 1970s: "A ray of hope flickers in the sky / A tiny star lights up way up high / All across the land, dawns a brand new morn / This comes to pass when a child is born.".
Today, the disciples argue about who is the greatest, and Jesus invites them to welcome the children. I had a conference call recently with Julie and the Director of the Center for Youth Ministry at Wartburg Seminary. I was asked by the seminary to ask each one of you to be intentional about connecting with a young person. Even to simply say, "We're so glad you're here." Interesting, isn't it, that Jesus would be inviting us to do just that today? Wouldn't it be something, if twenty years from now we too would have a wall full of pictures of men and women who grew up in this congregation who, as children and young people, felt so welcomed, so at home in all aspects of our congregational life, that they had gone on to serve as professional leaders in the church? Pastor Devin Strong, one from Holy Cross who has done this, would have some company.
Today, Jesus invites us to welcome the children. But when we get bumped around, he also invites us to look inward -- to find and welcome the child inside ourselves. Jesus invites us to welcome that part of ourselves, that defenseless, dependent, vulnerable child inside, that child who signifies that potential, that hope, that healing, that wholeness, that grace that comes when we get to start over.
A friend of mine who moved here recently from Washington State recalls what it was like there when Boeing left. It was devastating. And at that time, no one had yet ever heard of Starbucks, Costco, or Bill Gates. Another friend, of yours and mine, recalls what it was like that Friday when Jesus was crucified. It was devastating. And at that time, no one had yet ever heard of Easter.
One never knows what will happen after we get bumped back to START. In the meantime, we welcome the children -- the children in our midst, and the child inside ourselves. We trust we are on the path to greatness -- in the Kingdom of God that is. Sorry! AMEN.
Pastor Dana Runestad
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Livonia Michigan
24 September 2006
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B Proper 20)