There are portions of scripture that are so tied to certain memories that I have difficulty separating the scripture from the story. Today’s gospel portion will probably always take me right back to the 70s and the Smothers Brothers. The brothers, Tommy and Dickie, were folk singers, comedians and commentators on American life. Their television show, the Brothers Smothers Comedy Hour, was cancelled, not for want of audience, but because their criticism of public figures and political policy became too pointed for the folks who made decisions about such things. Their music was pretty good, but it was primarily what they did while they were setting up their comedy. Their humor had an edge, and it was a vehicle for commentary about the way we live our lives as well as the state of the nation and the world. Dick was the straight man. He was set up as the smart one, a political conservative who was frustrated by brother Tom’s comments about the world. Tom was the goofy one who escalated their on-stage arguments and usually capped off their dialog with questions or statements that had the effect of the small boy yelling that the emperor has no clothes. The brothers held a mirror for the way we live our lives as people who struggle to deal with all the history of our families. Their arguments were about all sorts of things, and whenever it seemed that Dick was winning, Tom would glower at his brother, stick his lip out and give the ultimate comeback: “Yeah, well, Mother always did like you best.”
No matter how old we get or how well adjusted we think we are, there’s always a part buried in each of us that really, really, truly wants to be liked best. As we look back through the centuries at the history of the church, we can see all the ways people have attempted to set themselves up as the one Jesus likes best. And it all seems to start with this story of James and John and their request to be in places of honor when Jesus comes into his kingdom. Since that day, our story as the people of God is filled with examples of people jockeying for position, building hierarchies and setting rules that attempt to exclude from favor anyone who doesn’t agree.
There’s another story about that struggle—not from the scriptures—that I’d like to share with you today, as we celebrate Children’s Sabbath. The story is taken from “Old Turtle and the Broken Truth”, a book by Douglas Wood and Jon J. Muth.
The story begins:
‘Once, in a beautiful, faraway land...
that was, somehow, not so very far...
into this far and lovely land there fell...
a truth.
It streaked down from the stars...
But as it fell, it broke.“One of the pieces blazed off through the night sky,
and the other fell to earth in the beautiful land.”
The animals and birds find the broken piece and try to figure out its meaning but finally put it aside because they see no use in this broken and incomplete thing.
Then humans find the broken piece and read, “You Are Loved.” They call it The Truth. And then they fight over the Truth, believing it can bring them happiness and power. The people of the world battle over the truth, and even the earth itself is wounded.
Ultimately a child goes on a long journey to find Old Turtle and ask him why the world is so sore, and why there are wars. Old Turtle tells the child about the broken truth and then says, “It is because it is so close to a great, whole truth that it has such beauty, and that the people love it so. It is the lost portion of the broken truth that the people need, if the world is to be made whole again.” Old Turtle says, “Remember this also, Little One. The Broken Truth, and life itself, will be mended only when one person meets another—someone from a different place or with a different face or different ways—and sees and hears herself. Only then will the people know that every person, every being, is important, and that the world was made for each of us.”
Then Old Turtle gives her something. It is the other half of the Broken Truth.
When the child returns, people don't understand the story. It is only when the child places half of the Broken Truth next to the other half that people begin to understand the complete truth.
One half reads, “You are loved.” And the other half reads, “And so are they.”
And the people begin once again.
Today is Children’s Sabbath—the day when we join people of all faiths in celebrating the ministry of children—the ministry of children today, not in the future. People of all faiths are celebrating the gift of children in our lives. We at St. Mark’s are so blessed by the children who have been given into our care—both in our parish family and in our community. Today, as we give thanks for these children in our lives, it’s important for us to remember that we also have a commitment to them—a commitment to join them in building a new world.
As Christians, we are called neither to competition nor to compromise. We must listen for God’s revelation to us, and we must speak God’s truth as we hear it. We are not called to competition for God’s favor or to compromise our understanding. We are called, each of us, to seek reconciliation in all things. We are called, each of us individually and as the gathered Church, to hold both pieces of the broken truth, to remember that we are loved and that they are loved. We are called to seek God’s new creation, to focus on providing for those who cannot provide for themselves, to help each child find opportunities to grow to be the person God creates each person to be, and to give thanks in every day for the gift of children and young people in our lives.
Thanks be to God.