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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
23 October 2005Ex. 22/Mt.22“Alien Thoughts”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
In recent years, our part of Murray Hill has been enlivened by parades. Indians, Mexicans, Muslim — all sorts of groups gather on weekends to process down Madison Avenue.
Now I have been monitoring the scheduling of these parades in order to ensure that they don=t disrupt our Sunday services. It turns out that more and more different groups want to march — so many groups that the traditional parade route along Fifth Avenue has become crowded.
That=s the reason that the Mayor's Office has been channeling some parades onto our street. (I'm glad to say that after numerous appeals the Mayor's office has also restricted the permits they issue so that parades only begin after our services are over.)
Still, for those of us who live in this neighborhood or who try to drive into Midtown on Sundays to attend church, these parades can be a nuisance. And maybe more than a nuisance: for the noise and traffic may stir deeper emotions.
As the bands and the floats march by, some of us may secretly wish that these residents of our city would have remained in their own neighborhoods. We might even admit to having the dark desire that these folks hadn=t come to the United States in the first place!
If we have such uncharitable thoughts, well at least, we have company. For the second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus, records a command from God to the people of Israel.
The command states, "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." The people of Israel had immigrants in their land. And the Israelites weren=t always hospitable to them.
So the Scripture reminds the Hebrews that not only should they be kind to the aliens because the people of Israel should be nice neighbors — but also because that they themselves were once "aliens in the land of Egypt."
And that's good advice for us, too. Except for those who are Native Americans, all of us in the United States are immigrants or descendants of immigrants!
None of us can claim priority. Yet, as the Bible passage suggests, human beings are always trying to set themselves up over others. And they think they can use their ancestors to bolster their social position.
If you are a fan of the writer Edith Wharton — who once lived a few steps from this church — you will know that resentment of immigrants isn't a new American problem. Edith Wharton observes in her novels how in the nineteenth century, when this neighborhood was the most fashionable in New York City, descendants of the original Dutch settlers felt they should be at the top of the social heap.
The Dutch looked down on Anglo-Saxons whose ancestors had arrived more recently from England. The WASPs were regarded as newcomers — aliens who didn't deserve to be in high society!
Even Anglo-Americans were looked down upon as "immigrants." So the message for them as for everyone besides the original Native Americans is: "Remember where you came from." Remember that your ancestors were "aliens in the land of Egypt."
And remembering where you came from, you should be nice to those whom you now consider to be "aliens." As Jesus says in the Second Lesson for today, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Those who are concerned with politically correct language have argued that immigrants shouldn't in fact be called, "aliens." The term might be an accurate translation of the original Hebrew, but, these days, many English speakers, when they hear the word, "alien," think of visitors from other planets!
And the point of the passage from the Book of Exodus is exactly the opposite: those who were born elsewhere are still people like the rest of us. They're not members of another species like Martians or Klingons; they are people to be known and respected just as much as we might respect members of our own ethnic group.
The question, of course is: how do we do this? How do we follow Christ's commandment to "love our neighbors as ourselves?"
The key, I think, is to follow Christ's advice and begin with ourselves. To serve strangers, we have to see why they appear "strange." Why they appear strange to us.
If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, each of us should first ask, "Do I love myself?" "How do I love myself?" For it is precisely that natural respect that we bear towards ourselves that we lack when we think about those whom we consider alien.
It's important to see that this lack of respect for some strangers appears with alarming regularity throughout history. At the time of Jesus, the Jews were prejudiced against the Samaritans. In 19th Century Murray Hill, the Dutch-Americans looked down upon the Anglo-Americans.
Today, in urban centers like New York City, this resentment is magnified. For if there's any group of people in the world that you don't like, you can be sure to come across a member of that group sometime, somewhere in this city!
Thus German immigrants encounter Russian immigrants, Pakistanis have to deal with Indians, Koreans with Japanese, Ugandans with Nigerians, Columbians with Puerto Ricans, and on and on. Historic rivalries continue to be relived and reborn.
Yet we all know that the Bible is right. However ancient these resentments are, they're destructive and irrational. As we face our personal prejudices, it may be useful to meditate further on loving our neighbors as ourselves.
For doesn't resentment often being with insecurity? Weren't the Israelites intolerant of aliens in the land of Israel because they secretly remembered their own humiliating past as second-class citizens?
These memories weren't pleasant. The Hebrews didn't want to think back to their ancestors who were slaves in Egypt and who were poor and foreign.
Insecure thoughts like these can lead to other negative attitudes besides ethnic prejudice. You can resent your new colleague in the next office who is making a big splash, and who makes your work look old and dull.
You can resent your neighbor who is slim and athletic while you struggle to lose that extra five pounds around your waist.
The result of your insecurity is that a whole lot of people seem "alien" to you. The world appears to be full of "strangers."
And again, maybe that's because you're a little bit alien to yourself! There are parts of yourself you find hard to accept. And because you're not secure who you are, you're not free to love others.
In other words, you follow a kind of "contrary Golden Rule": you dislike some other people because you dislike some things in who you are. Your lack of success, your unsophistication, your waistline — these unwelcome thoughts remind you how you are alien to yourself.
In this case, the traditional teaching of Christ is just what you need. For when you remember that Christ loves you as you are — warts and all! — then loving the stranger is not so hard.
When you see how Christ can free you from your insecurities, you're able to overcome them, and you're able to live up to your baptismal vow to "seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself."
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.