Homily at Lenten Worship last night...
My hero growing up, from the time I could walk… was Robin Hood. I loved the character, I loved the stories. In one of my favorite film renditions, Robin Hood is played by Kevin Costner and his faithful companion who saves his life, is played by the impeccable Morgan Freeman, a Moorish Muslim who follows him home from the Holy Land. Safe to say, no one there in England’s Sherwood Forest has ever seen a black man.
At one point, a little girl approaches Morgan Freeman’s character, Azim, and asks him, “Did got paint you?” He smiles and replies, “For certain.” Still curious, she asks, “Why?” Smiling more broadly, Azim tells her, “Because Ah-lah loves wondrous variety.”
(PAUSE)
You need only look around the world to see that this must certainly be true. The sheer variety of plants and animals and people bear out God’s magnificent pallet. God is a masterful painter and has painted the whole of creation with wondrous variety. From the small grey squirrels native to our land to the magnificently tall bespeckled giraffes of Africa, from the purple of our majestic Rocky Mountains to the purple of the Zimbabwean fabrics.
Did God paint you? For certain. Each of us is painted by God, the same God who has painted all of creation, the heavens and the earth. God did not only paint his chosen people in Israel, nor only North America or the United States. God does not only paint in red, white and blue. When Satan takes Jesus up to the summit, he does not show him only the nation of Israel, but all the nations. Our God is not a God of one people, but all people
The people of all nations were painted by our one true God. The people of the United States, the people of Uganda (point to Emily). The shirt I am wearing tonight was painted by the people of Zimbabwe, made by the hands of our brother in Christ, Paul Newshangwe, who has visited us several times. He told me that in speaking to African immigrants in Denver about church, he heard interesting responses. The hospitality our Presbytery sought to provide included seeking the desires of the immigrant community, to see if they would like a church plant, an African worshipping community. This confused the immigrants. They said, “When you visit us in our home country, we welcome you into our church. We would not ask you to build your own. It would not even occur to us that you would want to worship apart.”
Did God paint you? For certain. God painted the people of North America and the people of Africa. We have a view in this country that we must keep those shades and colors separate, neatly defined. In many ways, we are not one canvas, but many color samples, incomplete and unfinished, yearning to paint a bigger, brighter picture. Perhaps the lesson we can learn from our friends from across the ocean is that the one God who has painted us all can unite us, not just in spite of our differences, but because of them. Maybe, instead of finding a place where we fit or sending others to the places where they fit, we can begin to see that in God’s canvas, no color clashes, but all complement one another, and all paint a fuller, brighter picture of God’s kingdom.
Did God paint you? For Certain. Because our God loves wondrous variety. Amen.
My hero growing up, from the time I could walk… was Robin Hood. I loved the character, I loved the stories. In one of my favorite film renditions, Robin Hood is played by Kevin Costner and his faithful companion who saves his life, is played by the impeccable Morgan Freeman, a Moorish Muslim who follows him home from the Holy Land. Safe to say, no one there in England’s Sherwood Forest has ever seen a black man.
At one point, a little girl approaches Morgan Freeman’s character, Azim, and asks him, “Did got paint you?” He smiles and replies, “For certain.” Still curious, she asks, “Why?” Smiling more broadly, Azim tells her, “Because Ah-lah loves wondrous variety.”
(PAUSE)
You need only look around the world to see that this must certainly be true. The sheer variety of plants and animals and people bear out God’s magnificent pallet. God is a masterful painter and has painted the whole of creation with wondrous variety. From the small grey squirrels native to our land to the magnificently tall bespeckled giraffes of Africa, from the purple of our majestic Rocky Mountains to the purple of the Zimbabwean fabrics.
Did God paint you? For certain. Each of us is painted by God, the same God who has painted all of creation, the heavens and the earth. God did not only paint his chosen people in Israel, nor only North America or the United States. God does not only paint in red, white and blue. When Satan takes Jesus up to the summit, he does not show him only the nation of Israel, but all the nations. Our God is not a God of one people, but all people
The people of all nations were painted by our one true God. The people of the United States, the people of Uganda (point to Emily). The shirt I am wearing tonight was painted by the people of Zimbabwe, made by the hands of our brother in Christ, Paul Newshangwe, who has visited us several times. He told me that in speaking to African immigrants in Denver about church, he heard interesting responses. The hospitality our Presbytery sought to provide included seeking the desires of the immigrant community, to see if they would like a church plant, an African worshipping community. This confused the immigrants. They said, “When you visit us in our home country, we welcome you into our church. We would not ask you to build your own. It would not even occur to us that you would want to worship apart.”
Did God paint you? For certain. God painted the people of North America and the people of Africa. We have a view in this country that we must keep those shades and colors separate, neatly defined. In many ways, we are not one canvas, but many color samples, incomplete and unfinished, yearning to paint a bigger, brighter picture. Perhaps the lesson we can learn from our friends from across the ocean is that the one God who has painted us all can unite us, not just in spite of our differences, but because of them. Maybe, instead of finding a place where we fit or sending others to the places where they fit, we can begin to see that in God’s canvas, no color clashes, but all complement one another, and all paint a fuller, brighter picture of God’s kingdom.
Did God paint you? For Certain. Because our God loves wondrous variety. Amen.
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