A Sermon Preached at Journey United Church of Christ on June 4, 2011. Based in part on “The God You’re Looking For” by Bill Hybels.
This weeks Glee feature: Season 1, Episode 8 “Mash Up”
I’d like to ask you think back - back to the time when you were a kid. Who was the class bully? Do you remember that kid in your neighborhood or your local playground who made everyone run with fear and trembling? How many of you were that bully?
In our neighborhood it was a kid names Chris. She was the meanest, roughest, scariest little kid in my class. The worst part was that she lived only two blocks away on same street further down the path to and from school. That meant that my entire journey to and from school every day was fraught with peril. My only hope was to get there before she did in the morning (which wasn’t difficult since she was usually late). And then on the way home I would hope that she would find someone immediately on her way out the door that she just had to beat up right then and there – that meant I could get a head start and be safely locked away in my home by the time she began stalking 7th Avenue.
At McKinley High School, the setting for the hit series GLEE, bullying takes on a unique form of abuse in the form of the “Slushy Facial”. The cools kids are on the throwing end of the slushy and the outcasts are on the receiving end. As difficult as it is to receive “the slushy”, what’s even worse is to find yourself moving from the throwing side of the social order to the receiving ends. Early on in GLEE, Finn and Quinn experience first-hand the reversal of their social standing.
For those of you who are not fans of the show, let me set the context. Quinn is captain of the cheerleaders (aka “The Cherrios”), she is also president of the celibacy club. Her boyfriend Quinn, is captain of the football team and equally admired by everyone at McKinley High. All is well, until Quinn finds herself pregnant (we find out later that it’s not by Quinn, but by his best friend, Puckerman) … if that weren’t enough, Quinn makes a decision to join GLEE club which lowers his status as well … and here’s what happens
Season 1, Episode 8, “Finn and Quinn Get A Slushy Facial”
In the culture of the Ancient Middle East, there was a good deal of running and chasing going on, only IT WAS FOR REAL … it was far more serious than a childhood bully and worse than a slushy in your face.
You see, in ancient times, in certain parts of the Middle East, societies were not all that organized and judicial systems hardly existed. To fill the void left by the absence of police, judges and courts, people were often left to take matters into their own hands.
Here’s how it worked: If someone in your family or extended family lost their life at the hands of someone from another family, your family would call a meeting. You’d discuss the situation and you would appoint what came to be known as a “blood avenger”. A blood avenger was a representative from your family whose full time job (at least temporarily) was to find whoever it was that killed your family member and chase them down, run after them, until they collapsed … then they would kill them as an act of retribution.
Now when you had these meetings to decide who was going to be your blood avenger, you did not choose happy-go-lucky, Aunt Dorothy. No, no, no. You would choose one of your relatives who lives in da Bronx … someone like Anthony or Vinny … or fleet-footed cousin Nick. Whoever was the strongest, fastest, most persistent person in your family.
Your blood avenger tracks down the whereabouts of the person who killed someone in your family. As a matter of honor, the blood avenger would run after and run down the killer until he dropped, and then justice would be achieved and he would go back to the family with proof of the kill. And they’d have a big old party to celebrate.
It’s a little crude, a little bloody, but it sort of kept the law and the order.
But a problem arose. There was no provision for accidental homicides and unintentional deaths. For example, let’s say a woman is in hurry to get to the market. She jumps on her camel and takes off. But a five-year old steps out in front of her. The five year old is knocked down right there in the middle of the road … it’s a terrible accident. The woman feels horrible. She gets down off the camel, tends to the little one … but it’s too late … he dies. She didn’t mean it. But what happens? The five-year olds family calls a meeting and they appoint a blood avenger. And the blood avenger’s orders are clear “track down the camel-riding housewife and you catch her. You chase her until she can’t run another step and then you kill her.”
“That’s not fair,” you say. She didn’t mean to cause the death. It was an accident. It’s not fair. And you are right. But nobody knows what to do about it.
No one but God. God addresses the problem by establishing “cities of refuge.”
Joshua 20:1-6 (TEV)
Then the LORD told Joshua to say to the people of Israel, "Choose the cities of refuge that I had Moses tell you about. If any of you accidentally kills someone, you can go there and escape the one who is looking for revenge.
You can run away to one of these cities, go to the place of judgment at the entrance to the city, and explain to the leaders what happened. Then they will let you into the city and give you a place to live in, so that you can stay there. If the one looking for revenge follows you there, the people of the city must not hand you over to that one. They must protect you because you killed the person accidentally and not out of anger.
You may stay in the city until you have received a public trial and until the death of the man who is then the High Priest. Then you may go back home to your own town, from which you had run away."
Get the picture? If someone could make to the city of refuge before the blood avenger tracked them down … they could not be harmed. It was a place of protection. A place of safety.
The point I want all of you to grasp today is this --- the idea for these cities of refuge flows right out of the very heart of God. It’s God’s nature. It’s God’s nature to provide safety and refuge for folks who are feeling hunted down and oppressed.
Now, stop and let that sink in for a bit. It may be very contrary to what we’ve often been told about God. At times, we’ve been led to believe that God is more like the “blood avenger” trying to hunt us down and make us pay for the awful things we’ve done. Have you ever seen God like that? Have you ever felt like God was some kind of “cosmic cop?”
I’ll bet if I asked how many of you can related to longing for a safe and secure place so that you can hide out and heal for a time, I’ll bet I’d see a forest of hands.
It’s unfortunate because that view of God is simply not the picture painted for us in scripture. In fact, one of the most beautiful pictures of what a refuge is in a spiritual sense is found in Psalm 91. Look at verse 4 where it says “God will shelter you under her wing” Have you ever seen little chicks hop around chirping, pecking, doing chick stuff … and then all of the sudden the chicks and the mother hen become aware that there is a predator. The mother hen doesn’t schedule a seminar, plan a self-help class, or start handing out brochures. She lifts her wings and within seconds, all the baby chicks disappear underneath them.
Where once there was just a hen and a bunch of little chirpers, now the predator sees nothing but one mean mama. The chicks hide there. They are sheltered there.
God offers to be our spiritual refuge and our strength. And let’s face it, how many of us need that kind of refuge these days?
But God doesn’t just offer to be that kind of refuge, God invites us to carry on that legacy and imitate the very nature of God in our lives as well.
Those of you who watch Glee on a regular basis, know that at McKinley High, the Glee club becomes that kind of place for the kids who need it most. Glee club is a “slushy-free” zone. Mr. Schuster provides a place of refuge where everyone is welcome – the kid in the wheel chair, the gay kid, the pregnant cheerleader and her boyfriend, the Asian kids, the drama queens and the list goes on and on.
Sounds vaguely like “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey … you’re welcome here.” I can’t tell you enough how delighted I am that we are a church of radical hospitality and extravagant welcome. That challenge will always be before us. At times it’s easy. Of course we feel compassions for those who society has treated harshly through not fault of their own. We easily become a place of refuge. But what about the folks who are less like us? What about the folks who defy our sense of justice and push our sense of mercy? Can we equally welcome them?
In Glee it’s not always easy and while it’s easy to accept some folks, it’s not easy for them to accept others who threatened their sense of identity. It’s easy for self-absorbed Rachel to welcome Kurt, but it’s not so easy to welcome someone whose talent threatens her role as the lead soloist.
Will that be us? Or can we meet the challenge to fully be a place of refuge?
Let’s pray …
Our refuge providing God, we know that there are many people here today who are tired out from running away from avengers. There are many people here who are desperate for a safe place. There are those who hurt and grieve and others who are lonely and scared and frightened. We pray that you would give us all faith to believe that if we call out and pour out our hearts to you, you will shelter us under your wings.
Enable us to fully live into your character as we seek to be a place of refuge, a place of radical hospitality and extravagant welcome when it is easy and when it is a challenge. Give us strength for the ministry you have called us to, wisdom as we plan and perseverance for the journey. Amen.
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