GOODNESS

ROWLAND AND JAN CROUCHER’S 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

DONCASTER EAST BAPTIST CHURCH

10th JANUARY 2010

Matthew 5:1-12 Matthew 7:15-20

Last week I wagged church.

By mid morning my neuroses got the better of me. I looked for something religious on television. There was a doco about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I was deeply challenged by the story of a Jewish man, who with his family, had been transported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. Most if not all of his family were exterminated.

While he was there he noticed a community of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were also prisoners. He was impressed by their kindness to each other and to their Jewish neighbours. They were in the camp because of their steadfast refusal to recognize the authority of the Nazi regime to rule their lives.

Although they had been offered their freedom if willing to relinquish their faith, they declined the invitation, because of their strong religious beliefs and because the same opportunities were not being afforded their Jewish neighbours.

Most of them met their death as well.

The old man recounted the impact of these strangely wonderful people upon his life. Their goodness impacted him so greatly that after the war he himself became a Jehovah’s Witness.

Last week I also finished reading a novel entitled Good to a Fault by a Canadian writer Marina Endicott.

Clara, a forty-something, lonely, divorced woman with a successful career was travelling to work when her car crashed into another which also served as home for the family riding in it – Mum, Dad, three small kids and grandma.

The family, who would be stereotyped as classic welfare recipients, were taken to hospital after the accident for observation, and, as a result the mother of the family was diagnosed with a serious illness requiring long term treatment.

Almost as soon as she heard, Clara invited the family to live in her home while the mother went through her treatment. There were a number of possible contributing factors for this:-

* The husband had made sure she felt responsible for the accident.

* The family was in desperate need.

* Her house was empty.

Before she had time for a second thought, her home was full of people and as a result her life was turned upside down by the choice she had made.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t long before the father disappeared, leaving the kids and the rather dysfunctional grandmother in her care. The wife’s brother, who was a bit of a drifter himself also rocked up to join the family.

Although she faced challenges she had never faced before it was mostly good. She unearthed networks of kindly support but was also exposed to harsh criticism and suspicion from people in her church and professional agencies who questioned her motives.

At one stage even the family she was helping and who she had begun to love, turned on her.

Heaps of unpleasant stuff from deep within her came to the surface. There were times when I wasn’t sure I liked her very much.

What makes a person good?

When I was a kid attending Saturday afternoon matinees at the Plaza Theatre in Newport, I could easily tell the difference between good people and bad people.

The good person was:-

* Usually male

* wore a white hat and a gleaming smile

* rode a light coloured horse (which was also remarkably intelligent, often more intelligent than the bad people)

* sometimes sang romantic songs, accompanied by angelic choirs and 30 piece orchestras as he rode on his intelligent horse across the prairie

* when he entered a bar he always asked for something non-alcoholic

* and he always won!

That’s the way it was for me. It took a lot of anxiety out of life. I only had to *look* at the person to know if he could be trusted.

Today when I go to the movies I am confronted by baddies who are really goodies and goodies who are also baddies sometimes. I have discovered that a person’s goodness lies not in the colour of the hat or in the intelligence of the horse.

Goodness is listed by Paul as one of the fruits of the Spirit along with love joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

So because of my recent musings and because Rowland and Jan are two of the goodest people I know I have chosen to talk about it today.

For we must create a world in which it is easier for people to do good.

1. Good People are Not Always Nice People

In fact they often appear to be quite strange.

They can be very annoying.

They are kind and generous but are not people pleasers. They do the right thing not always the popular thing.

They are stubborn sometimes.

Good people challenge our culture of niceness.

Dirk Willems was an early Anabaptist leader who was arrested, tried and convicted for being a Baptist in the years of harsh Spanish rule in The Netherlands.

He escaped from the prison they were keeping him in and as he made his way across a frozen pond, a guard saw him and pursued him across the thin ice. Dirk�s weight had been reduced by short prison rations so he made it across, but the heavier pursuer fell through the ice. Hearing the guard’s cries for help, Dirk turned back and saved his life. The guard then seized Dirk and led him back to captivity.

This time he was thrown into a more secure prison and soon after was executed.

A good person, foolish to some but so compassionate that he risked recapture in order to save the life of his drowning enemy, despite the possible consequences.

Why did he do this?

I reckon it was a reflex action. He was so immersed in the teachings and spirit of Jesus and so alert to the values of the Kingdom of God that he did it by instinct.

Whether the good person is Dirk Willems, Clary in my novel, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Auschwitz or the supremely good person, Jesus, there is something about their life which is out of kilter with the values of the society in which they are placed, and whilst they may be admired they are often regarded as an oddity.

Jesus’ description of the Good Life in what we call the Beatitudes has more than a touch of absurdity to it.

When we in Australia speak of someone being “greatly blessed” we usually mean that they are very clever, have a good job, are financially secure, have a happy marriage with healthy happy kids and a nice house i.e., that things are going well.

Jesus is saying to the crowd, “Here are the fortunate …happy… blessed people, the ones

* who will see God

* who will possess God’s kingdom

* who will receive god’s comfort

* who will receive God’s mercy

* who will receive a great reward

and who are they?….. the successful, articulate, educated, upwardly mobile? NO!!! . Those people already have their reward.

The fortunate are the ones who have responded to Jesus’ call, to be part of his life and mission. The people who:-

* know they are not the centre of the universe.. who realize their need of God

* feel the pain and loss of others, who are prepared to weep with the world

* humble, merciful, pure in heart, those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, prepared to work for peace, those who get a hard time because of their commitment to Jesus.

These are the ones who can consider themselves fortunate because God’s kingdom is for the needy not for the self-sufficient; for those on a journey not for those who feel they have made it.

We can easily be seduced by a call to tread carefully, to protect our status or reputation, our way of life, even our so-called liberty.

But the good person sees a different reality to life. There is something absurdly beautiful but uncomfortably challenging about a good person.

2. Good people know something of the meaning of grace.

Jesus said: ‘Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.’

There is more than a touch of the ravenous wolf in each of us. The good person is in touch with the ravenous wolf. The false prophet wants to hide it.

A good person possesses a deep appreciation of grace. We have a better chance of being good if we appreciate that we can be bad, and particularly if we can appreciate just how bad we can be.

A few years ago I read a biography of Martin Luther King entitled Bearing the Cross. Among all the noble things it said about him, it also revealed areas of darkness about him. He was unfaithful to his wife and was often at the mercy of mood swings and depression.

I was shocked. One of my heroes with feet of clay. One of the significant reference points for my life had assumed a grubbiness. I didn’t want to know about this

In the epilogue of the book, members and friends of the King family explain it.

‘By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognise his humanity – his personal and public struggles – that are similar to yours and mine. By idolizing those whom we honour, we fail to realise that we could go and do likewise. We do a disservice both to them and to ourselves.’

Martin Luther King was a good man. He was seriously flawed. He knew that but it did not prevent him from being a good person.

The fact that Mother Theresa was a bossy stubborn old woman who insisted that things be done her way does not mean that she was a bad person. She is a woman in need of grace like you and me. The same goes for Weary Dunlop, Nelson Mandela and every other good person. The journals of all good people reveal a struggle with the inner self.

Sometimes we evangelicals become paralysed by our own sense of sinfulness. We believe we are such bad examples of goodness we fail to do the thing we know we should be doing. We have not learned well enough about grace.

Some of the best people had a shaky start. Others stumbled along the way. God’s grace was sufficient for them. It is sufficient for us as well.

Throughout the gospel story, Jesus does not dismiss people who stumble and struggle along the way. He affirms those who are aware of their frailty and who seek to serve him in the midst of it.

Jesus is more anxious about those who deny their faults and failings, or who are obsessed with the splinters in other peoples’ eyes while ignoring the planks of wood in their own – those who hide their sinfulness or cover it under a cloak of respectability.

Goodness comes with self awareness, not only of the endearing qualities we possess but of the not so endearing ones as well – the demands we make upon others in the way we drive our lives and the ways we may drive them.

The quest for approval, for power, for significance. The anger which we take out on others in the name of goodness. The need to be right. The difficulty in facing criticism. The way we need to undermine people who are threatening to us or just different from us. These things are a part of me and you.

Good people understand the meaning of grace. They invite the darkness in, realise that goodness is a gift of grace which enables us to accept ourselves. And the knowledge of our sinfulness and fragility should not prevent us from being good people.

3. Good people move beyond good intentions

Jesus says we will know good people by their fruits. A good tree bears good fruit.

A major turning point came to me in my second year of study at Whitley [Seminary]. I entered college as a fundamentalist and had been coached by my mentors in my home church to be careful of those who would lead me away from the evangelical faith.

It was not a happy time for me. I was scared of people ideas and discussion. One day I asked myself a question: ‘Why is it that many of the people whose theology I am meant to admire live fearful, negative angry lives and why is it that many of those whose theology I was meant to despise and suspect lived as I imagined Jesus would like me to live?’

‘Good’ theology does not necessarily produce good people even though it should. I have discovered heaps of good people who do not share my ideas about life the universe and everything; who live their lives outside my evangelical framework; who live outside my Christian framework. I know and respect good people who have no faith at all.

When ‘good’ theology becomes an end in itself goodness finds it difficult to grow like the fruit of the Spirit it is.

Jesus told a story about a father who had two sons (Matt 21:28-33). He asked the first one if he would help with some work in the vineyard. ‘No, I can’t.’ But later he went and did the work.

When the father asked the second son he said, ‘Sure dad’, said the son but he didn’t get around to it.

It may be laudable to have good intentions but the good person will move beyond intention and do what she says she will do.

4. Good people make a difference.

While I know my inner world can paralyse me the outer world gets to me too.

When I think about Burma, Gaza, Afghanistan, Aids in Africa I sometimes feel hopeless as I think of them.

I need reminding that goodness makes a difference and just when I begin to think that there is nothing I can do, in the face overwhelming evil, I encounter the story like that of Rosa Parks, a good Christian woman in the Deep South of the USA who refused to move to the back of the bus just because she was black.

A simple act of belief in her own dignity and the dignity of others like her, but it became the catalyst for the Civil Rights movement across the United States.

I can’t do everything, but I can do something and the something we do can make a difference. Sometimes the immensity of the task before us seems overwhelming.

There are no slick tricks or fancy ideas which will bring a swift lasting change.

Jesus calls us live with integrity – with an understanding that to do so does not bring a life of ease – that you will not always be understood or praised – that it may end with costly choices.

Dag Hammarskjold: “We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours. Those who will adventure will experience it according to the measure of their courage. Those who will sacrifice will be sacrificed according to the measure of their purity of heart.”

Jesus’ life is the one above all which stands as good above all others. His choices about lifestyle, friendships and values made many uncomfortable and even angry.

His struggle with the powers of darkness was as difficult as anybody’s. He not only talked about love and grace and liberation, he lived them out. His death was the outcome of a good life not a wicked one.

He waits for us and he calls us to meet him in the world with all its pain and despair, to stand with him beside those who are copping it rough, to learn from him through them.

Rowland, Jan we thank you for the opportunity to experience the goodness and grace you have shared with all of us. We are the richer for it.

Alan Marr