Punctuation Marks for Daily Living

Foreword 1

The Gospel in Brilliant Gems

If I were an atheist, I’d make a thorough study of Pastor Juancho Campañano’s book, that I may push back the frontiers of faith that is steadily gaining ground in the hearts and minds of human beings. If I were an agnostic, I shall make a careful study of this book as it does make a lot more sense than my efforts of making sense of what appears as total meaninglessness. But I am a Christian. Oft assailed by confusion and doubt, like many of my colleagues, I find Pastor Juancho’s sermons making doubt a real struggle for truth that authenticates my faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of humankind who embraces all the verities of life revealed in various ways. I find joy, meaning, and power in Pastor Juancho’s book of sermons. The collection springs from a providential convergence of forces that range from his childhood faith upbringing, to his biblical and theological training in neo-orthodox seminaries like Silliman’s Divinity School and Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, to his immersion both in the Philippines and in the United States. These places offered a rich encounter with the Gospel and a deep exposure to many of life’s realities.

In essence and at best, a sermon is a proclamation of the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. But it is a proclamation that is more than 2000-years old, clothed as it is in a different culture, strange ways and mores, and expressed in a mixture of ideology and myth. This book plunges into this world, makes us familiar with its ways and understanding of things, and allows the reader a deep understanding of the good news. As we can see, it requires a lot of things to bring out the meaning and power of the Gospel in such a context. Firstly, one must have a personal experience of the saving power of Jesus Christ. Without that personal experience, the story of Jesus Christ may be relegated to myth and pseudo history; but with it, one gets a perspective on the whole of reality from the love and grace of God. Such a perspective is evident even in a cursory reading of Pastor Juancho’s book. Secondly, one should have a passionate love for the world—its people and the planet where they live—and a commitment to bring about transformation, even in very little ways. I have seen a bit of Pastor Juancho’s ministry to know the depth of his commitment towards healing people’s souls. Thirdly, one should have an adequate knowledge of the world—its structure and dynamics, its ideologies and vision of the future—and the sagacity to engage the world from the perspective of the Gospel in the hope of redeeming, liberating and transforming it. Fourthly, one must shape the proclamation in a way that is arresting, entertaining, and focused on its central message, the Lordship and Saving Power of Jesus Christ. Lastly, it is needed to launch one’s audience to be bearers of the Gospel, empowering them to be participants in God’s work of peace and reconciliation.

Every sermon in this collection is like a jewel of purest ray serene whose facets illuminate various aspects or dimensions of human life. Taken all together the sermon pieces radiate and proclaim the truth and beauty of the Gospel. Reading the book makes one literate on the historical and cultural origins of the Gospel. Studying it helps one discern and feel the stirrings of divinity in the systole and diastole of life until one incarnates the Gospel and becomes part of the divine movement towards the consummation of God’s kingdom.

Levi V. Oracion, Ph.D.

Former President, Union Theological Seminary—Philippines Retired Minister, United Church of Christ in the Philippines

Foreword 2

Punctuation Marks—The Emphasis Of Life

As we reflect on how we live our lives daily, we tend to emphasize some things more than others. We may choose to eat better by making healthier choices. We may choose to focus on a daily routine of exercise. We may choose to make a better commitment spiritually for ourselves and/or for our families. All of these options usually do not happen without punctuation—that element of commitment, drive and will power that fuels our inner most desire to achieve what we know is right. But what happens when we fall short? We simply add more punctuation through networks of family members, friends and in some cases, co-workers.

Juancho C. Campañano - in this book says that life is always in active form. I would suggest that how we choose to lead our lives is just as important as living actively to improve one’s life.

Richard Roehr

President/CEO of Mercy Medical Center

Aurora, IL

Preface

Punctuation marks help sentences or paragraphs make sense. They make writing easier to read. Without them, what we read would simply be jumbled up words with unclear or no meaning. By themselves, punctuation marks have little function, if at all. In fact, some of them may look strange or funny. But punctuation marks are very important; they convey the intended meaning. They are so important that if wrongly placed in a sentence, meaning can be altered.

Punctuation marks may represent our life, our situation, the message we would like to convey, the choices we would like to embrace, the decision we would like to make, or the legacy that we would like to build and leave behind. In a sentence or paragraph, there may be several punctuation marks. Life is also like that. Several varied things may be happening at the same time in our life’s journey.

A period is used to finish a statement or a declaration. In life there are things we believe in, principles to guide us, and convictions to anchor us. In my life as a person of faith, I embrace LOVE as absolute and eternal. I believe in God who is love who calls me to respond to God in action. And when I respond to God in love, it manifests in the way I love my neighbor as I love myself. Why is this so? God is love and loves everyone. If I claim that I love God, I must also love the way He does.

Love may be expressed in many forms. In fact, love can never be fully described in a single form or expression. The more expressions, the more love’s riches and mystery are experienced. This is expressed with the use of a comma. A comma signifies that more is coming. A comma may also represent a pause, a break, a lull to take a deep breath to think and anticipate what is coming. And when it comes, just as a sentence is completed, the suspense is satisfied and one can decide what to do in the future when meaning becomes clear.

Love is not something that we can tame or control; it is likewise mysterious and complex. We can never fully understand love even though we can fully experience it when we open up ourselves to fully love. Even the decision to love leads to more uncertainties and more questions although there is no answer to everything. Sometimes, life’s questions are better left unanswered. I have found peace accepting that I have to live with some difficult questions that have remained unanswered. I do not need to know everything. It’s impossible to have all the answers to our questions in this lifetime. I also realized that doubt is not an enemy of love, faith, or hope. Doubt is a necessary element of these Christian virtues. As Paul Tillich says, Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.¹ Miguel Unamuno also understands that Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.²

I have also experienced in my life that having a loving God in my life I cannot and will not be able to fully exhaust that love nor fully express it. In fact, that can even lead me to more questions. But as I let love lead me, I discover again and again how many times I have those ahah! moments and mountaintop experiences that give me immense joy, inspiration, and energy to keep on loving no matter what.

Each sermon reflection in this book embodies all these punctuation marks. You will find my periods—the statements, principles, and convictions to which I anchor my life. You will find commas—things that make me pause, think, or take a deep breath because it is not finished yet and there is more to come. You will find many of my questions and doubts because I seek wisdom, not to control, but to understand. But I also hope that you will find many exclamation points—things that inspire me, give me energy, and keep me pressing on toward the mark of a fuller life in God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Let me say one more thing: I titled this book Punctuation Marks for Daily Living because life is not static, dormant, or settled; it is always in active form. Life is found in living it; in taking risks and participating in its adventure; in practicing the values of peace, justice, equality, freedom, inclusion, tolerance, sacrifice, and more. It is my prayer that from the following pages you will pick up some punctuation marks—periods, commas, question marks, or exclamation points—that will make your faith and life’s journey peaceful, bumpy, exciting, and enjoyable all at the same time.

Juancho C. Campañano

Aurora, Illinois

¹ P. Tillich. Dynamics of faith. (New York: Harper One, 2009).

² M. D. Unamuno, A. Kerrigan, and M. Nozick. The Agony of Christianity and Essays on Faith. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974).

Acknowledgements

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. This is a paraphrase of one of Chief Seattle’s most famous quotes. This statement is true even with every work we do, like the writing of this book of reflections and sermons. I owe many ideas and insights from many sources. I constantly received inspiration and significant help from my lovely wife, Digna; wonderful daughters, Hesed Dianne and Kharis Christi; and son-in-law, James Conway, who provided technical assistance. I appreciate the gracious feedback and encouragement I received from my parishioners and friends who heard or read all or some of these sermons. I especially thank—

Paul Samuel M. Amago and Norman Tioco for cooperatively creating beautiful cover design. They creatively captured my concept of what the cover image should be for this book of sermons.

Rev. Abel and Phoebe Amago, Ben and Clemencita Butuyan, Oriel and Jonathan Carillo, Rev. Leo and Norma Constantino, Rosie Eiler, Luz Corsino-Frost, Tim and Tonette Geary, Dehlia Guingguing, Eros and Josie Rizal Mabalay, Cesar and Cecilia Macapulay, Drs. Israel and Ligaya Marasigan, Shirley McGillivray, Bill Moore, Helen and Mauro Requilman, Rose Samoy, Lois Scott, Veva Walton, Mike and Rachel Villanueva, Dr. and Mrs.

Gerardo Guzman, Ofilia Cinta and another friend who wish to remain anonymous, for their generous support without which the publication of this book of reflections and sermons would have not been possible.

Dr. Levi Oracion, former President of Union Theological Seminary-Philippines; and Brian Fenwick, Administrator of Bethany Retirement Community (Chicago), for writing the Forewords to this book.

Bezalie Bautista Uc-Kung for the final editorial touch.

New Day Publishers for the technical and publication support.

My lovely wife, Digna and my two grown-up smart daughters, Hesed Dianne and Kharis Christi, and their husbands, James Conway and Matthew Cottrell, and Tatum Fritz, a good friend, for proofreading and the initial technical help.

And all who shared positive feedback about this book.

Again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH from the bottom of my heart!

The Life You Want to Live

Punctuation Marks of Life

Isaiah 62:1-5; John 2:1-11

I heard this story of an English teacher who wrote the words, A woman without her man is nothing, on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote, A woman, without her man, is nothing. Most women used a different punctuation mark and wrote: "A Woman: without her, man is nothing." The rest wrote, A woman! Without her, man is nothing.

Punctuation marks are necessary. They help put across our written message clearly and understandably. Combined with the right choice of words, excellent sentence construction, and cohesive thought patterns, the skillful and correct use of punctuation marks enhance the reading of the written text whether read silently or aloud.

Since the use of punctuation marks can make a big difference in the meaning of the written texts, I would like to invite you to use the same principle in gauging and reflecting on our life as disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us use at least four of the most commonly used punctuation marks. First, we have the PERIOD. A period may indicate negative or positive scenarios in our life. Negatively, a period can refer to those who may think that after our baptism or confirmation, or after completing a certain project, that we have done enough. As a result we become Christers (i.e., Christmas and Easter Christians; though I prefer the acronym C.E.O., Christmas and Easter Only Christians). Worse, there are Christians who don’t go to church at all; they are Christians in name only, content with the fact that their names are in the membership roll. Positively, a PERIOD may represent the truths of our Faith that are firm, settled, and unshakeable, truths that define who we are and serve as foundation of our faith and living. From our Gospel lesson today, we find one big truth of our faith: God is with us and very much involved with our lives and the events around us. Jesus, the Word made flesh, tells us that God is with us. In our lesson, Jesus was invited to the wedding at Cana. When the wine was running out or when life was being tested, Jesus acted accordingly when his mother Mary called his attention to the problem.

Today, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Sacraments represent our most basic and foundational affirmations of our Christian faith. One of the more basic meanings of Baptism is that it tells us that we are ultimately all children of God. We are, first and foremost, a son or daughter of God, a disciple and follower of Christ. As such, we belong to God and to one another. No Christian can stand alone. We are brothers and sisters; we are a family.

The other Sacrament, the Holy Communion, also tells us that God loves us so much that God would do everything, even giving God’s only son to die and buy back our freedom as God’s children. Communion also defines the kind of community that we should have. Everyone is welcome to receive a share in the table. And since it is a table, we are called to live face to face. And since it is a circle, we can expand; we can make room for everyone.

Second, we have the QUESTION MARK. In some ways the question mark is the opposite of a PERIOD. Things are in limbo; there are many loose ends and there is no guarantee that our search will lead to answer. We may discover that there are no easy and definite answers to our questions. Even more negative, after our long and arduous searching, we may end up with more questions. As a result, we may end up disillusioned and losing faith even in the very foundation of our faith. Our doubt becomes who we are. I pray that this is not true with us. I pray that our questioning is part of our growing in faith. This means we continue to hold on to the basis of our faith even when we are not able to find answers to all our questions. Having questions in life is not necessarily a bad thing. Living with unanswered questions may be a more faithful way of living out the truth of the Gospel.

I pray that in our questioning, it will inspire us to do something. There is a big difference between the Magi and the religious leaders. The Magi decided to find out whether their theory about the star was true or not. They left the comfort of their laboratory and home and headed to a place in the hope of finding an answer to their search. The religious leaders, on the other hand, knew everything that the Bible says about the coming Messiah, but that was all there was.

I pray that we may become more and more like the Magi. Even if answers are not guaranteed, we will gain a lot from our adventurous journey! Someone said: I never lose. I either win or I learn.

Third, we have the COMMA. A comma suggests we need to pause, to take a deep breath, to regain our composure, energy, or sharpness, in order to pursue and perform our role. It is good advice for workaholic people and for the many Christians who are doing so much in their church, community, and family. All of us need a break, a little rest from time to time, in our spiritual journey. A comma symbolizes Christians who never get tired of loving, caring, and giving. The comma also reminds us that we need a break, take a rest, otherwise we may end up being burned out. Yes, there is always something to do; the task is endless. Therefore, we need to rest, to take a break, so that we can live longer and healthier, accomplish more tasks, and meet more needs. The comma also represents the truth that people who are givers continue to be always giving. Their wells become deeper and deeper as they become more involved in the work of love, justice, and compassion.

Finally, you have the EXCLAMATION POINT. Exclamation signifies some dynamic, powerful, and enthusiastic interjection. Exclamation points are reserved for life’s strong points and profound accomplishments that excite the spirit and set our hearts on fire.

John called our Gospel lesson the first SIGN that Jesus performed. The other Gospel writers would have called this a miracle. There is a little difference between a sign and a miracle. A sign points to something. Consider traffic lights as an example; we must pay attention to the meaning each light represents—Green for GO, Red for STOP, and Yellow to Proceed with Caution. There is a tendency to focus only on the miracle. But John is telling us, do not focus on the wedding; focus on the message and live by it and with it.

A wedding is one of the special occasions of our lives as human beings. When I was growing up, people commonly interpreted the white bridal dress to mean purity. Theologically, this is not possible. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. Then I realized that white represents JOY. A wedding symbolizes abundance, community, and celebration. John is telling us that in Jesus we can find the most joyful, abundant life. In Jesus, we can celebrate the beauty and goodness of life. This does not mean that life is only pleasant. That would be wishful thinking. There will be trials, bumps, and tragedies along the way. This is represented by the wine running out. Wine is the most important component of a wedding party in biblical times. Yes, there will be trials and tragedies but when Christ is with us we can overcome and face them all with grace and courage. Our joy doesn’t depend on mere circumstance; it depends on our relationship with God.

I believe Mary is a great example of a Christian who lives as an exclamation mark. Mary was very confident that Jesus would do something when told of the problem. Mary knew God very much through her son Jesus Christ. Mary found excitement in trusting God and in serving others. Mary knew that life in Jesus was no ordinary life; life in Jesus was a high point in life, an exclamation point.

The Exclamation-Point Christian has something to shout about. They make a joyful noise to our God, who made this world and everything in it. Their spirits are overflowing with Hallelujahs for the Savior who died on Calvary in order to save them from eternal death. Jesus our Savior gave an Exclamation Salvation. So Jesus deserves an EXCLAMATION-POINT response. This punctuation mark is the best response we can give to Jesus. A person who lives in exclamation says the following: there is a life to live, a work to do, a victory to achieve, a storm to face, a prayer to lift up, a promise to claim, a hunger to satisfy, a thirst to quench, a cross to carry, a book to study, a command to fulfill, a fight to win, a race to finish, a neighbor to love and care for, a Savior to worship!

In our Gospel of John, we are told that there were 6 jars with 20- or 30-gallon capacity. Six was an incomplete number for the Jews. Thus, they ran out of wine. I believe John was telling us that life without Christ is incomplete, and the wine easily runs dry. To John, life without Jesus is made of jars filled with guilt and sin. These are jars with 120 to 180 gallons of sins and guilt. Then Jesus did something, and the jars filled with sins and guilt were transformed into jars of grace and love and compassion—120 to 180 gallons!

But that is not even the most amazing news for us today! The great news is that Jesus needs you and me to be Mary, to bring and to lift up to Jesus the sins, guilt, and needs in the world. Jesus needs us to be servers, filling life’s jars with water, the symbol of our most basic need, so that Jesus can transform them into wine—the symbol of celebration and abundant life.

Our Old Testament beautifully describes our life in Jesus Christ: For Zion’s sake I won’t keep silent and for Jerusalem’s sake I won’t sit still until her righteousness shines out like a light, and her salvation blazes like a torch . . . . You will be called by a new name, which the Lord’s own mouth will determine. . . . You will be splendid garland in the Lord’s hand, a royal turban in the palm of God’s hand . . . . You will no longer be called Abandoned . . . and your land will no longer be called Deserted . . . . Instead, you will be called My Delight IS in Her, . . . and your land shall be married (Isaiah 62:1-5, CEB). So be it. Amen.

New Beginning

Power of Imagination

Matthew 2:1-12

I would like to start the New Year imagining new and positive things. Based on Dictionary.com.³ to imagine may be . . . to make a mental image . . . to see a thing that has not yet been created or experienced . . . to see things in a new way . . . to see things as they might be.⁴ Walt Disney came up with the word imagineering—a combination of two words: imagine and engineering. Imagineering is conceiving big things in our minds and figuring out how those ideas can become a reality. Imagineering starts by being aware of how things really are and then imagining how they might be and how things get done. Imagineering involves creativity, passion, and determination (based on Wikipedia.org).

Albert Einstein said, Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. Einstein continued, You can fill a human with knowledge and all you will have is a human filled with knowledge, but spark the imagination and one can conquer the universe.⁵

The word epiphany comes from the Greek noun epiphaneia, which means shining forth, manifestation, or revelation. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, an epiphany referred to the appearance of one of the gods to mortals. Since Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors were considered by many to be gods, the word epiphany was also used as a term for divine majesty. The Epiphany of our Lord is the Christian festival that celebrates the many ways that Jesus revealed Himself to the world, through signs, miracles, and preaching, as Christ, God Incarnate, and King of Kings.

Epiphany is not only an historical event. Epiphany also has a metaphorical and theological meaning. It is an appearing, revelation, meeting with the divine, a glimpse of a spiritual truth that can transform us for the better. An epiphany can happen again and again in the lives of everyone who is sensitive of life’s spiritual truths and God’s manifestations in one’s life and circumstances around them. Sometimes, an epiphany can happen suddenly and fast; other times it can happen in the normal unfolding of things in our ordinary daily activities.

Our Gospel lesson today is about the wise men from the east. It is interesting to note that this story has fascinated many. In fact, perhaps there is no other story in the Bible that has attracted so much interest and undergone so much evolution. The Bible describes them as wise men from the east. We don’t know their names, how many of them there were, and what exactly was their occupation. But over the years, we called them three wise men, three kings, and magi. It did not end there; we assigned them names: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar.

This made me realize again how often we give more importance and attention to people of wealth, power, and influence than we do to the poor. The Church did not attempt to glamorize the shepherds by giving them names or making up stories about them. The Church, however, did this with the wise men. And I suspect not only because they were Gentiles but also because they were people of status and power in comparison with the shepherds. This is another occasion in which we ignore the message of the Bible, the divine epiphany that in the eyes of God, the lost, the least, the last, and the poor, the marginalized, the nobodies, were special and close to God’s heart.

We know these priests as The Magi, perhaps from Persia, modernday Iran. But some Bible students claim that Magi is actually an inaccurate Greek rendition of the Persian word, mobed, which means priest. But anyway, the Greek word Magi stuck.

Despite the lyrics of some well-known carols, we are nearly certain that the journey of the three wise men did not take place in the bleak midwinter or amid the winter’s snow. As Matthew’s Gospel tells us, they came from the east. And if you know anything about the geography of the Middle East, you will be aware that to the east of Israel there are no fields, fountains, moors, or mountains, only desert. A wide expanse of hot, dry desert that stretches for miles and miles as far as the eye can see.

The story of the Magi is an example of positive, peaceful, and productive imagination. These men did not only imagine and dream; they were willing to pay the price to follow their dream. The Magi were the great scientists of their day. They were the best in their trade. They were making good money, and they commanded respect over their people. And yet, they left the comfort of their air conditioned offices and classrooms, the warmth of their own homes, and the love of their families and friends. They took the risk for something they were not sure of but believed was a great phenomenon. They walked their talk, so to speak, and they put their resources where their mouths were. May we be like the Magi and find something that we are willing to risk our all for, something worth living and dying for.

Do you remember John Lennon’s song Imagine? In that song, he said, "Imagine there’s no heaven. . . . No hell below us. Above us only sky . . . . Imagine there’s no countries . . . . Nothing to kill or die for and no religion . . . . Imagine no possessions . . . . No need for greed or hunger a brotherhood of [all . . . . You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one."

With John Lennon, let us imagine and dream of a world of peace and call on all people to join together, reawaken their senses, and begin building a world in which love, justice, respect, inclusion, and unity are enjoyed by everyone. Let us imagine a world without divisions, where poverty is a thing of the past, and everybody has a fair share of the riches and blessings of the world. Let us imagine a world of diversity in which everybody are getting along; a world without fear, hatred, racism, and bigotry. Let us imagine a world in which people of faith and ideology respect and embrace each other. Let us imagine a world in which we share more than we take. Many people may say, That is utopia and it is unrealistic in history. But may we be like John Lennon who says, You may say I am dreamer but I am not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one.

I hope, that in your heart and in my heart, the day of joining together to dream and imagine this world finally living in peace and shared prosperity has come. This is my prayer. I hope this is your prayer, too.

Amen.

³ ‘Imagination.’ www.dictionary.com. July 2017.

⁴ ‘Imagineering’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_ Imagineering. July 2017.

⁵ Albert Einstein As quoted in What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck in The Saturday Evening Post (26 October 1929).

Freedom

Table of Freedom

Matthew 11:25-30

The Gospel reading today is one of the most loved passages in the Bible. It is Jesus’ invitation to rest from our burdens and labor. It is ironic, however, that in order for us to find rest we must take up Jesus’ yoke. In the time of Jesus, a yoke was a wooden crossbeam that joined two animals at the neck; the crossbeam was used to drag a farm implement like a plow to cultivate the land or a rake to soften the farm surface. Towards both ends of the crossbeam, there was a curve shaped according to the size of the neck (near the shoulder) of a beast of burden—a cow, horse, camel, or water buffalo. To keep the yoke in place, a U-Shaped iron was bolted to the yoke, wrapping around the neck. In the place where I was born, we use a rope instead of an iron.

For the people in the time of Jesus and even where I was born, each family may only own one or two working animals—at least one grown and one young. The young animal is yoked with the older animal for training. At the start of training, the yoke is loosely fitted to the young animal, just enough to keep it yoked, so the work is mostly done by the older beast of burden. The yoke is not only for dragging the farm implement; it is also used for training the young animal to do the work intended for it and for discipline. From the perspective of the older animal, the yoke represents modeling, mentoring, and teaching by example. This cycle of learning and mentoring is repeated whenever an older animal dies and a new one takes over as a beast of burden.

When Jesus made the invitation to the disciples and now to us, this is what he meant: to be yoked with him that we might learn from him and find the reason and inspiration for meaningful living.

It is interesting to note that in this invitation, Jesus wants us to be yoked with him. Later in his life when he talks about the cross, he made it clear that we are on our own in carrying our cross. Jesus is not going to carry our cross with us, nor will he carry our cross for us. In Matthew 16, Jesus said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24). On Good Friday, when Jesus could not carry his cross anymore, Simone of Cyrene stepped forward. He carried the cross; I do not know for how long, but it was long enough to give respite to Jesus. This is the best that we could do with our cross. Somebody may come to help us carry our cross, but only for a while.

The lesson is clear: the yoke is for training, modeling, and mentoring us to carry our own cross. The yoke teaches us to form our own principle and philosophy in life and to find the things that matter and make them our priority. The cross is both the burden we bear and the strength we need to endure to the very end. We can only do this if we have accepted first the invitation of Jesus to be yoked with him.

You may ask, what has this invitation of Jesus for us to be yoked with him have to do with freedom? I dare say, Everything about this invitation of Jesus has to do with the true meaning of freedom.

What Freedom Is

Martin Luther wrote this in his book The Freedom of a Christian, A Christian is a perfectly FREE lord of all, subject to no one. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful SERVANT of all, subject to all.⁶ True freedom means respect for others and devotion to our responsibilities to our neighbor. Somebody told me that my freedom stops where my nose ends. There is so much truth in that statement. From the perspective of our faith, freedom is both loving God and our neighbor which include everyone—near and far, friends and foes—as well as the rest of creation. A neighbor is anyone and anything we need and need us in return; we are mutually bound together. This is what we are made for: LOVE. To do otherwise is to being enslaved to sin.

In my philosophy and ethics classes, I usually ask my students to share the one thing that they value most as an American. They are almost always unanimous in choosing FREEDOM. Many of them, I suspect, think of freedom as without limit. Freedom without respect and responsibility is chaos. This understanding equates freedom with the license to do anything we want. License is extremely individualistic; freedom balances individual freedom and community responsibility. Freedom is the essence of being human and being in community.

Eric Fromm⁷ teaches us that there are two aspects of freedom: One aspect is freedom from—or what we may call the negative aspect of freedom. This is a freedom determined by outside factors. Most of the political freedom inscribed in our constitutions and laws of the land belong to this category. Freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, or freedom of religion, to cite a few, is guaranteed by our Constitution and the laws of our land. The other aspect of freedom is freedom to or "freedom for." This is often called the positive aspect of freedom. This is a freedom that is legislated within. A person who is free from within has the power to exercise freedom of religion, press, and so on, even if laws and political institutions forbid them. A free person is willing to pay the price and consequence for doing so. Of course, it is always better if one is free both internally and externally.

As I alluded earlier, freedom (or rightfully called license) is not enough. Freedom in this sense is the kind of freedom people exercise to commit crimes. They would claim that they are free to kill, to take advantage of others, to pollute and destroy the earth, or to circumvent laws (political and natural). Freedom is for positive things: caring for the earth, building communities, loving our neighbors, defending the weak and vulnerable, and many more actions that enhance life and create better communities.

That’s why the teaching of Jesus about yoking with him is very relevant to the subject of freedom. The yoke could represent our freedom to develop our individual potentials to the max as well as our responsibility to others and our communities.

We are free to take up (or not to take up) the yoke. The yoke fits us perfectly. The yoke is customized for each one of us according to our gifts and graces. People who find freedom in what they are doing are those who know their gifts and graces and use them to accomplish what they want to do with their lives.

There is a saying that we should do the things we love and love the things we do. It is wonderful when we are able to find a job that really fits our gifts and graces. But there are occasions when we cannot find jobs that fit our gifts and talents. In these situations, we must learn to love what we do. We must believe that everything offers an opportunity to make a difference. For example, when the great recession happened in the early 2000s and dragged on for years, many of us lost our good-paying jobs. Some of us, or people we know, could not find a job. Some of them ended up in jobs they did not prefer, like delivering pizzas or retail. There is nothing wrong with these jobs, but when you are a degree-holder or an executive before the recession happened, taking on these jobs would truly be a challenge. Many people hesitated. I counseled some people in this situation and I told them to think that having this job is only temporary and that having a job is better than not having a job at all and that they should prepare themselves for whatever they would like to do in the future. Just do your job, no less than your best, I advised them, and at the same time prepare yourself for the next job of your choice in the future.

Some of you must have heard about the spiritual-gifts inventory questions. Here is a website from our denomination that can help you if you are interested in knowing your gifts: http://www.umc.org/whatwe-believe/spiritual-gifts.

In the meantime, here are three questions that I ask people to answer if they like to discover their own gifts and graces.

What are the things you are good at? If you look back to the past few years of your life, what were the things you were good at? Maybe some of you might say that what you were good at before is no longer true since the great recession came. Or, you might say, I cannot think of anything that I am good at. You may proceed to the next question.

What do other people say you are good at? If you have not heard anyone telling you what you are good at, ask them—your friends, your coworkers, your family members. I know each one of us is good at, at least, one thing.

The third question is: What are the things you would like to experiment on? You may do this informally, i.e., volunteering in the area you are interested in or, if feasible, just doing it yourself. Or you can do it in a more formal and organized way, such as going back to school. Gifts evolve. If you find some joy and satisfaction from it and enjoy doing it, that may be one of your gifts.

Now that you found the yoke that fits you, you have to remember that we are yoked together. As Christians, we are yoked to Jesus and also yoked to each other. As Christians, we are not to use our gifts any way we want to, but we must always use them in a way that honors Christ and serves our neighbors. We are not to use our gifts to take advantage of other people or to shame our Lord.

I shared with you more than once that laughing, smiling, and singing have great benefits, to our health for one thing. But they are more beneficial if we smile to each other, laugh together, and sing as a group. There is healing and power in doing things in groups. We accomplish more if we do it together than when we do it alone. Remember the Gestalt theory: The whole is greater than the sum total of its parts. It is not an accident that we Christians are called to be the church—a community of those called out by God through faith in Jesus Christ. Paraphrasing John Wesley, there is no Christian in isolation. We are Christians because we are in community with each other.

Finally, the yoke is for beasts of burden to give life and support to people. Water buffalo is the beast of burden in my country of origin. It is not enough to know our gifts and graces, to know that we are part of the community called the church; more importantly, perhaps, we must know our burden—the thing(s) that we are passionate about. Jesus Christ is not only passionate in doing his mission. More importantly, I believe, Jesus Christ is passionate about you and me. He is passionate about people. That’s why he said, The Sabbath was created for humans, humans weren’t created for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, CEB).

Not too long ago, I told you that if there is one person that consistently likes me for what I am, it’s Jesus Christ. I do not need to do good or be excellent before Jesus accepts and loves me. Of course, Jesus wants me to be good but that is not a precondition of his acceptance and love. It is that love of God that transforms me to be a better person or a better pastor. I pray that experience is also true with you. I pray that deep in your heart and in your soul, God’s love, acceptance, and grace are real. That’s why the invitation of Jesus to be yoked with him is for all—for everyone.

Today is Communion Sunday. In a moment we will be partaking of the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Communion yokes us in connection with Christ and to each other. Communion is fellowship and being in community with each other. This Sacrament reminds us of the love and life of Jesus poured upon us lavishly. This is not done because of our sinfulness but because God loves us so much. God believes that we are worth living and dying for. Oh, that all of us may know the depth, the height, the width, and the length of God’s love. Oh, that we may all commit ourselves to let this love of God be known to others. So be it. Amen.

⁶ M. Luther and T. G. Tappert. Selected writings of Martin Luther (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007).

⁷ E, Fromm and Mazal. Escape from freedom, Holocaust Collection (1941).

Holding onto What Matters

Soup For the Soul

Genesis 25:19-34; Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

Allow me to introduce to you the star family in our Bible lesson today. One way to introduce them is by learning the meaning of their names. Names were very important in biblical tradition. Names spelled out the character, mission, and purpose, as well as the aspirations and hope, of a person. That’s the reason why, when a significant event happened that transformed a person, he or she received a new name. This is what happened with Abraham (father of many nations) who was formerly called Abram (high or exalted father) while his wife Sarai (barren) became Sarah (Princess). This practice inspired the church to give a Christian name to people who converted to the faith and to infants when they received the sacrament of baptism. This practice is still being observed in some churches today.

Meet the family of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac means laughter because his mother Sarah, who was already 90-years old, laughed when God told her she would bear a son. Rebekah, the wife’s name, means captivating and a blessing. Rebekah conceived and gave birth to Esau and Jacob. Esau means red and hairy. Esau loved hunting and the outdoors. Jacob means deceiver or supplanter or trickster. He was a quiet man and loved to live in tents and was a good cook.

The heart of our story is when Esau came home hungry one day after long hours of work. As he approached their home, he smelled the aroma of a stew being cooked by his brother Jacob. He could not wait to have a taste of the food. Upon entering the kitchen, he asked his brother Jacob, What is that red stuff you are cooking? Please give me some. I am so hungry. Jacob responded, It’s not ‘red stuff.’ It’s boeuf bourguignon, and you can’t have any. But why not? asked Esau, I’m starving! OK, says Jacob, I’ll let you have some if you will give me your birthright, make me heir to the family fortune, and sign over all your inheritance to me. And Esau says, Yeah, OK! And so he exchanged his birthright for a bowl of stew. Esau gave up so easily what was rightfully his. Esau was so myopic—seeing and desiring a thing that was temporary. He traded the more important thing to something less valuable for quick satisfaction. On the other hand, Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness. He took what was not rightfully his.

Isaac and Rebekah’s style of parenting inspired this kind of relationship between Esau and Jacob. In verse 28, we are told that Rebekah loved Jacob and Isaac loved Esau. The deception of Jacob and the weakness of Esau, plus the parenting style of Isaac and Rebekah in which they played favorites, are aspects of what we might describe today as a dysfunctional family. Our star family in our lesson today is a dysfunctional family.

I am afraid that the characters we just met very much exist in many families today. There are Isaacs and Rebekahs who do not have skills of good parenting. As we all know, they did not teach us in college how to be good parents. We learn parenting from our parents and through trial and error. Unfortunately, Isaac and Rebekah each played favorites, one child over the other. As a result, Esau learned to be dependent and unsuspecting of any possible ill motive. Jacob, on the other hand, learned the skills of competition, of getting ahead, even in a shrewd way. And he succeeded.

These kinds of relationships cannot go on. The stew/soup that Jacob was cooking was only good for a moment, satisfying only the physical hunger. There should be a better soup for our souls—something that will promote growth and turn us into better individuals. We can all act like adults to transform a dysfunctional family into something functional, compassionate, and caring.

The first ingredient that I would suggest for a soup for our soul is the acknowledgement that we have conflict within and without. Esau and Jacob are not just two individual, physical persons; they represent the conflict that is within each of us. Esau’s and Jacob’s personalities are present in every one. This is illustrated by an American Indian fable.⁸

The fable says that, one day a grandfather decided to teach his grandson a lesson about good and evil that exists in every person. He told his grandson that there are two wolves inside of him—one is good, the other is bad. Then he asked his grandson, Which one do you think will win? The grandson thought for a moment and then said to his grandpa, I think I am too young for your question, why don’t you tell me the answer? The grandpa said, It is the one you will feed more who will win, my child.

There are two wolves in every person, that is, there is good, not so good or bad in all of us. If we want good to win, we need to feed the good wolf; if we feed the bad wolf more, we will end up ruined or destroyed.

But the conflict is not only within each person. There is conflict outside of us. We are in conflict with our fellow human beings, especially those who are different from us. That’s why we have killings in our streets, domestic violence and abuse in our homes, crime in our schools, bigotry in the workplaces, and war between groups and nations. But this conflict is not without a solution. We just need to learn to make our diversity a blessing and not a curse. I saw a poster one time with a caption that said something like this, It is because we are different from each other that we have so much to share. Martin Luther King Jr. said, We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Learning to coexist with each other or, better yet, to live together in unity and peace, is the only viable option if we want to have a future we deserve as civilized people of the world. A person who learns to master self-control and make peace with people is sipping and eating from a healthy soup for the soul.

Our dealing with our life’s conflicts, within and without, must be coupled with turning off the stew. In some Bible translations of this story of Jacob and Esau, the dish that Jacob was cooking is called stew; another translation uses the phrase red stuff. Everyone knows what stew is. Stew is mixed-vegetables dish that is put in a pot, to simmer and cook slowly, and then eaten. But like many words, dictionaries provide multiple meanings of the word stew. Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, for example, describes stew as a state of being agitated, disturbed. This same definition also includes the phrase stewing in one’s own juices, meaning, to allow trouble and agitation to simmer; to continue in a disturbed state of mind.

In America, I found out that these two meanings are intertwined. We use the image of cooking slowly, not too slowly or fast, to describe our emotions, mood, or situations. For instance, an upset person is described as being steamed. A very angry person is thought of as boiling mad. Similar expressions abound in the home and workplace. A house that’s overheated is described as hot as an oven and a frigid home is said to be as cold as a deep freeze. Many people describe their office or room as a pressure cooker. I learned that the phrase turning up the heat means "to put on pressure." When someone is lethargic or sleepy, people would say, Somebody ought to light a fire under him or her. When someone can’t handle the pressure, such person is advised, If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. And when someone is making progress, people say, he or she is really cooking.

Isn’t it true that life is sometimes tough and hard as well as pleasant and enjoyable, great and wonderful? I pray that each one of us has a life that is happier than tough, more joyful than lonely, and is filled with more blessings than curses. But whether we like it or not, it is also true that every day we hear, see, or face situations that make our hearts upset, our blood pressure rise, and our life hard, lonely, and dry. Every day we find people criticizing or not liking us and/or the things we do. I know that to be criticized with something that is true is already difficult to handle; how much worse is it when the criticism or accusation is false? But in situations that are tough and difficult, how shall we respond? We cannot always explode, be rude and violent, whenever something that is not acceptable to us happens. We would be hurting ourselves, the people around us, and those causing us the trouble. We cannot always be boiling every time things do not turn out the way we expect them to. A responsible adult’s appropriate response is to learn how to cool off, to turn off your stew, so to speak. We must learn how to conquer, manage, and channel our boiling stew—whether it is anger, hatred, selfishness, fear, etc.—into peaceful, responsible, and productive actions. A conquered stew is a good soup for the soul.

To conquer the conflict within and outside ourselves