LET’S DO IT

A sermon by George R. Pasley

Luke 4:14-22; 1 Corinthians 12:14-21, 26

First, let me ask for a report from the sewing group…

We have been anointed to preach Good News to the poor and TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled.

Then let’s hear a report from the cooking class…

We have been anointed to preach Good News to the poor and TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled.

Now let’s hear a report from the KYI building…

We have been anointed to preach Good News to the poor and TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled.

The force of the words we use have great power.

This week I spent some time delivering Rotary Club dictionaries to the third graders on our island. That always turns out to be an amazing project, because those of us who get to do that get to watch them discover new words.

Of course, and any third grader will tell you that words have destructive power, and we certainly saw plenty of that in the insensitive comments of Pat Robertson regarding Haiti, and in the flurry of words that were fired back at him.

But these words of Jesus, quoting from the Old Testament prophet, “ He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor"- why, they are a different category of word all together.

They are liberating words.

They set people free from despair;

They lift people out of the oblivion of the disregarded

And place them into community;

They give those who hear them a new life,

A life centered on the goodness of God,

And they do this because they are the words of the one

Who gives life and sustains life.

But it’s hard not to notice:

The quality that makes these qwords so powerful lies in one simple fact. God chose to put flesh and blood on these words, and make them come to life in the form of deeds of mercy and justice.

That was liberation when it happened, and we still rejoice, living in it’s glory.

Every time we do the sort of things that Jesus did, we extend the reach of the words he preached long ago in Nazareth.

When we help repair a construction site at KYI, we proclaim freedom to the prisoners.

Every time we serve the Lord’s Table, we let the oppressed go free.

Every time we open the doors to the Food Pantry, we preach good news to the poor.

Every time we thread a needle and make something for a mother experiencing hard times, we proclaim Jubilee.

Every time we suffer with the people of Haiti, we share the compassion of Christ himself.

So let-‘s do it- let’s assemble these hygiene kits, and let’s rejoice in Jubilee, confident in the goodness of God.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.