January 19, 2020
John 1:29-42
All of us want to feel like we belong. It must be some need that is central to being human because I have not met anyone, ever, who doesn’t need to feel like they belong. Now it is true, some put up a front and claim to be a loaner – they may even claim to like being a loaner, but deep down I believe they too want to feel like they belong.
On the surface, belonging doesn’t appear to be that hard. You find a group with whom you have similarities and poof, you now belong. In reality, though, there are all manner of ways this becomes convoluted and difficult. I remember during my elementary school years, my best friends lived in a housing project called Morningside Homes. This housing project was on the east side of Greensboro. My house was in the northwest section of Greensboro, yet none of us knew the difference. We were so young and all we wanted to do was spend time outside playing with one another. We were buddies, just wanting to do what buddies do. We belonged to one another.
I recall inviting my buddy Marcus Guy over to spend the night. That didn’t work out like I had hoped… in fact there wasn’t a single time I asked Marcus to spend the night, that the answer was yes. I don’t think I spent much time thinking about him always saying no back then, we just moved on and went about our business of being buddies doing what buddies do. Years later, though, I learned his mother always said no because she was scared to let Marcus, a young black boy from the east side of Greensboro, spend the night in a young white boy’s house on the northwest side of Greensboro. Fear can cause us to stop ourselves and those we love from doing a lot of things, especially when that fear is rooted in whether or not we belong.
There was this one time, though, when one of my other buddies, Shay Reynolds said yes. He too lived in Morningside Homes, but his mother said yes. I remember getting on my bus that Friday afternoon to head home. This time, though, was different because Shay sat right beside me. I don’t know who was more excited about this one-night sleep over adventure, me or Shay. The thing is, we were just buddies doing what buddies do, but I think even we could sense this was somehow different.
Now I don’t remember much about what we did that night. I’m sure it involved eating dinner and then playing. We might have watched a movie and then kept playing just like other elementary age kids in the 70’s and 80’s. I do remember, however, my mom and I taking Shay home that next day. In fact, I remember it like it was yesterday because it is still that vivid in my mind.
We pulled up to the parking lot closest to Shay’s apartment and, like we always did with everyone else, we offered to walk Shay to his door. He quickly and politely refused our offer and said he was fine and could walk to his door by himself. Then as I turned and looked toward his apartment, I could see eyes peaking out at us. In that moment it felt like every pair of eyes from every apartment in every building we were facing were staring directly at us. I couldn’t see people, but I could see their eyes. As Shay got out of the car, we said our goodbyes and talked about seeing each other at school on Monday, and then my Mom and I left.
Now I don’t know if my Mom and I have ever really discussed that experience or shared with each other how exactly we experienced that moment, but it would be interesting to do so. You see that morning was the first time in my life I felt like Shay and I were different. Up to that Saturday morning we were just buddies doing what buddies do. That morning, though, my Mom and I were white people dropping off a black boy at a housing project with people staring at us because we didn’t belong.
********************************
This idea of belonging, or not belonging, is a powerful force in so much of life. It seems to play a big part in the decision-making process in general. Now we don’t have to like this fact, or we can claim it doesn’t affect us, but at the end of the day every one of us wants to belong, even and especially those first disciples. You see, I’ve been thinking a lot about those first disciples this past week because I would love to know more about why they chose to drop everything – drop everyone in their lives and join up to follow Jesus, a man they didn’t know, and according to the gospel writer John, had never met until that day when John pointed Jesus out. It appears Jesus wanted to know more about their motivations too.
Does it strike any of you as odd that they just dropped everything? And I know some of you may be saying, well it is Jesus so the decision wasn’t really that hard. But I want to caution all of us from reaching that conclusion to quickly. Put yourself in their shoes and on that road at that time. They didn’t know this man. To that point they had only heard John say who he was, but they didn’t know him. And yet, they dropped everything to team up with him. Travel with him. Belong with him.
Now, if I told you I had discovered something and it changed my life, would you want to know more? What if then I told you I had found someone who I’d been told was like the expert on the topic. Someone who could teach me more about this new thing than anyone else in the world and I wanted to learn from him. Would you want to know more? Then, what if I told you the only thing being asked of me was to drop everything and leave with him. Would you want to know more, or would you think I had lost my mind?
Surely people of that day wondered about these men who dropped everything to go with a stranger. It would seem odd to me if people didn’t wonder what had happened to them, or whether or not they were mentally stable. You see, I am certain people would wonder, even gossip about someone who did that today. Like the Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt,
************************
“I find myself wondering about the disciples who first followed John and then caught up with Jesus in this week’s Gospel… I am wondering about the world that shaped them and the influences which prodded them, filling them with such a hunger for something ‘more’...
Was it the experience of being occupied by a foreign power and all the indignity and injustice that meant?
Was it the piety of their parents or their grandparents?
Was it having seen someone suffer from the inevitable ravages of aging or someone struck down young by accident or disease?
Was it a beggar outside the temple, the hungry in the streets, or one they loved being considered ‘unclean’ because of disease and so never able to come home?
Was it something in John (the Baptizer’s) words or way of living that first awakened them to something more?
Was it part of this, all of this, or just an inexplicable small voice which would not let them go?
For it has to be something, right? Something must have pulled them, must pull us, off the more ordinary tracks our lives seemed destined to be on, in order to go after first John and then Jesus.”[1]
***************************
For me, at least, I believe the need to belong pulls us. We all want to belong and when we don’t it hurts. I know it hurt me all those years ago, but I want to be clear, no one did anything wrong. In fact, no one said anything to us at all. It’s just that in that moment I came away with the unmistakable feeling that we didn’t belong together. I’ve never forgotten that day, nor have I really forgotten that feeling. It’s made me wonder what Shay felt as he rode home on my bus with me that Friday afternoon. It’s made me wonder how he felt as we played outside with other kids in my neighborhood on that Friday evening before it got dark. Did he somehow feel like he didn’t belong there? Luckily Shay and I are still friends. We don’t necessarily talk all that often, but we do every once in a while, so I may ask him if he recalls spending the night with me all those years ago. And I may ask him if he felt like he belonged, and if he says he didn’t I will make sure to apologize.
We all want to belong and the beautiful thing about Jesus and his ministry is that all we invited. Even and especially those who others had excluded. Others who were made to feel like they didn’t belong. With Jesus they did and we would do well to continue doing whatever we need to make sure everyone feels they belong today.
[Prayer]
Amen!
[1] Hunt, Janet H., http://dancingwiththeword.com/called-to-follow/#comments
John 1:29-42
All of us want to feel like we belong. It must be some need that is central to being human because I have not met anyone, ever, who doesn’t need to feel like they belong. Now it is true, some put up a front and claim to be a loaner – they may even claim to like being a loaner, but deep down I believe they too want to feel like they belong.
On the surface, belonging doesn’t appear to be that hard. You find a group with whom you have similarities and poof, you now belong. In reality, though, there are all manner of ways this becomes convoluted and difficult. I remember during my elementary school years, my best friends lived in a housing project called Morningside Homes. This housing project was on the east side of Greensboro. My house was in the northwest section of Greensboro, yet none of us knew the difference. We were so young and all we wanted to do was spend time outside playing with one another. We were buddies, just wanting to do what buddies do. We belonged to one another.
I recall inviting my buddy Marcus Guy over to spend the night. That didn’t work out like I had hoped… in fact there wasn’t a single time I asked Marcus to spend the night, that the answer was yes. I don’t think I spent much time thinking about him always saying no back then, we just moved on and went about our business of being buddies doing what buddies do. Years later, though, I learned his mother always said no because she was scared to let Marcus, a young black boy from the east side of Greensboro, spend the night in a young white boy’s house on the northwest side of Greensboro. Fear can cause us to stop ourselves and those we love from doing a lot of things, especially when that fear is rooted in whether or not we belong.
There was this one time, though, when one of my other buddies, Shay Reynolds said yes. He too lived in Morningside Homes, but his mother said yes. I remember getting on my bus that Friday afternoon to head home. This time, though, was different because Shay sat right beside me. I don’t know who was more excited about this one-night sleep over adventure, me or Shay. The thing is, we were just buddies doing what buddies do, but I think even we could sense this was somehow different.
Now I don’t remember much about what we did that night. I’m sure it involved eating dinner and then playing. We might have watched a movie and then kept playing just like other elementary age kids in the 70’s and 80’s. I do remember, however, my mom and I taking Shay home that next day. In fact, I remember it like it was yesterday because it is still that vivid in my mind.
We pulled up to the parking lot closest to Shay’s apartment and, like we always did with everyone else, we offered to walk Shay to his door. He quickly and politely refused our offer and said he was fine and could walk to his door by himself. Then as I turned and looked toward his apartment, I could see eyes peaking out at us. In that moment it felt like every pair of eyes from every apartment in every building we were facing were staring directly at us. I couldn’t see people, but I could see their eyes. As Shay got out of the car, we said our goodbyes and talked about seeing each other at school on Monday, and then my Mom and I left.
Now I don’t know if my Mom and I have ever really discussed that experience or shared with each other how exactly we experienced that moment, but it would be interesting to do so. You see that morning was the first time in my life I felt like Shay and I were different. Up to that Saturday morning we were just buddies doing what buddies do. That morning, though, my Mom and I were white people dropping off a black boy at a housing project with people staring at us because we didn’t belong.
********************************
This idea of belonging, or not belonging, is a powerful force in so much of life. It seems to play a big part in the decision-making process in general. Now we don’t have to like this fact, or we can claim it doesn’t affect us, but at the end of the day every one of us wants to belong, even and especially those first disciples. You see, I’ve been thinking a lot about those first disciples this past week because I would love to know more about why they chose to drop everything – drop everyone in their lives and join up to follow Jesus, a man they didn’t know, and according to the gospel writer John, had never met until that day when John pointed Jesus out. It appears Jesus wanted to know more about their motivations too.
Does it strike any of you as odd that they just dropped everything? And I know some of you may be saying, well it is Jesus so the decision wasn’t really that hard. But I want to caution all of us from reaching that conclusion to quickly. Put yourself in their shoes and on that road at that time. They didn’t know this man. To that point they had only heard John say who he was, but they didn’t know him. And yet, they dropped everything to team up with him. Travel with him. Belong with him.
Now, if I told you I had discovered something and it changed my life, would you want to know more? What if then I told you I had found someone who I’d been told was like the expert on the topic. Someone who could teach me more about this new thing than anyone else in the world and I wanted to learn from him. Would you want to know more? Then, what if I told you the only thing being asked of me was to drop everything and leave with him. Would you want to know more, or would you think I had lost my mind?
Surely people of that day wondered about these men who dropped everything to go with a stranger. It would seem odd to me if people didn’t wonder what had happened to them, or whether or not they were mentally stable. You see, I am certain people would wonder, even gossip about someone who did that today. Like the Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt,
************************
“I find myself wondering about the disciples who first followed John and then caught up with Jesus in this week’s Gospel… I am wondering about the world that shaped them and the influences which prodded them, filling them with such a hunger for something ‘more’...
Was it the experience of being occupied by a foreign power and all the indignity and injustice that meant?
Was it the piety of their parents or their grandparents?
Was it having seen someone suffer from the inevitable ravages of aging or someone struck down young by accident or disease?
Was it a beggar outside the temple, the hungry in the streets, or one they loved being considered ‘unclean’ because of disease and so never able to come home?
Was it something in John (the Baptizer’s) words or way of living that first awakened them to something more?
Was it part of this, all of this, or just an inexplicable small voice which would not let them go?
For it has to be something, right? Something must have pulled them, must pull us, off the more ordinary tracks our lives seemed destined to be on, in order to go after first John and then Jesus.”[1]
***************************
For me, at least, I believe the need to belong pulls us. We all want to belong and when we don’t it hurts. I know it hurt me all those years ago, but I want to be clear, no one did anything wrong. In fact, no one said anything to us at all. It’s just that in that moment I came away with the unmistakable feeling that we didn’t belong together. I’ve never forgotten that day, nor have I really forgotten that feeling. It’s made me wonder what Shay felt as he rode home on my bus with me that Friday afternoon. It’s made me wonder how he felt as we played outside with other kids in my neighborhood on that Friday evening before it got dark. Did he somehow feel like he didn’t belong there? Luckily Shay and I are still friends. We don’t necessarily talk all that often, but we do every once in a while, so I may ask him if he recalls spending the night with me all those years ago. And I may ask him if he felt like he belonged, and if he says he didn’t I will make sure to apologize.
We all want to belong and the beautiful thing about Jesus and his ministry is that all we invited. Even and especially those who others had excluded. Others who were made to feel like they didn’t belong. With Jesus they did and we would do well to continue doing whatever we need to make sure everyone feels they belong today.
[Prayer]
Amen!
[1] Hunt, Janet H., http://dancingwiththeword.com/called-to-follow/#comments
