Sermon Title: You Gotta Have Heart
What’s interesting is that last week, the scripture reading ended with a cliffhanger, and this week, the scripture almost suggests that God desires for us to be courageously filled with love.
Brené Brown talks about this in a book of hers called Imperfection. She calls back to the original meaning of the word “courage.” Courage—the root of it is cor, and in Latin, it is the word for “heart.” So the way she defines courage, then, is this: “To speak one’s mind by telling all of one’s heart.” She then goes on to say that we need to be in touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we are, what we are feeling, and about our experiences. She says this is the definition of courage.
Ordinary courage, she says, is putting our vulnerability on the line. It’s also good to think of courage as also the way we think of it as well mostly is that courage as akin to heroics. Sometimes, we don’t just risk being vulnerable with others through our words, but we also risk being vulnerable by saving other people’s lives with our own actions and bodies.
Jesus preached in the synagogue in Nazareth. He spoke from the heart—from the very heart of God. He proclaimed that he had fulfilled the scripture. He came as a prophet who spoke truth. And, as we mentioned with our children, the people in the synagogue did not want to hear the truth he had to say. These were his lifelong friends and neighbors—people who took care of him, who kept watch on him when Mary’s back was turned in a different way or when Joseph was off to work, rebuilding the town of Sepphoris, just to the north of Nazareth. They were hoping that this meant they would have special favor. That this would mean that God would favor them more above others.
But instead, he gives this word to two groups of people as mentioned, and they are Gentiles. A recognition that Jesus’ message his heart goes out to more than just his own kind. That those as well who are Gentiles. Because the way of Jesus is an expansive and inclusive way. The Jesus way moves us from the heart
A beautiful image that I remembered yesterday when I was working on the sermon is two images, actually. One is a picture of Jesus and there is a ray of light, coming, descending from his heart. You might recognize this more from the Catholic tradition. But it’s still a beautiful image. That from Christ’s heart is the light of love
And, then, there is another image, within Catholcism that is a little more, stark in it depiction, but it is called the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Christ. Recognizing that Jesus operates from the heart and Christ wants us to operate from the heart. To have empathy for other people, not just some people but everyone. Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit feels everyone’s pain. Each and every person we see on our news, Jesus feels their pain and weeps with them and calls us to weep with them as well.
From the earliest days of our faith, Christians have known about this. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, that the greatest among these: faith, hope, and love. Love is the greatest. This is no ordinary love that is described here.
In Greek, there are many words in Greek to describe love. But the Greek here is agape. Agape is divine love. And this means that it’s not romantic love, it’s not brotherly love, it’s eros love. It is divine love. Divine love is different from these.
Paul explains to us what divine love is. I have translated it into two different versions.
I’m going to read both:
Divine love is patient.
Divine love is kind.
Divine love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable.
It keeps no record of wrongs.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
Divine love bears all things, believes all things.
Divine love hopes all things.
Divine love endures all things.
Divine love never ends.
Another way to translate this is, as well is:
God’s love is patient.
God’s love is kind.
God’s love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
God’s love does not insist on its own way.
God’s love is not irritable.
God’s love keeps no record of wrongdoing.
God’s love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
God’s love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ensures all things. God’s love never ends.
From the very heart of Christ, who is aligned and is the incarnation of God extends that love to all.
You know, one of the things I have always wondered and has mystified me is this negative connotation to this phrase or sentence, and it is the expression is this “You have a bleeding heart.” Has anyone ever said that to you, when you’ve had empathy for somebody?
But what better accusation than to be someone: that is too loving and caring for others. I want to have that accusation. I want to be considered too loving and too caring.
For the sacred heart of Christ is that. It is a bleeding heart. It is compassion and kindness. It too is hoping humanity will return to God’s desire for us to live in the grand harmony of the kingdom of God. The call for us is to be courageous and to speak and to be motivated from the heart.
One of my heroes is Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
He stood up to the apartheid government and preached a message of hope, a message of care for his people: Black South Africans and also for the White South Africans. He preached God’s everlasting compassion but also challenged White South Africans to see their fellow South Africans as a shared common humanity. It takes a lot of courage to speak to a totalitarian government.
But then, there is also another story. This is from an obituary in the BBC. In 1985, Tutu and another person bravely and dramatically rescued a suspected police informant as he was being assaulted and about to be burned to death by an angry mob in a town ship east of South Africas main city, Johannesburg. The clergy pushed through the mob and pulled to safety the bleeding half conscious man just before the petrol doused tire around his neck was set alight. Now Desmond Tutu later returned to rebuked the man’s attackers reminding them of the need of this the need to use righteous and just means for righteous and just struggle. What an incredible act of courageousness putting his body and life on the line.
Courage means we must be vulnerable with our words and actions. From our very hearts, we need to be aligned with Christ’s heart. I don’t think that can ever be said too much love. It is a wonderful reminder in these lives we live for us to operate out of heart.
Now, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I said that sometimes emotions get in the way of us thinking clearly about how to live in a society that is just, and has order and reason behind it. And still is true. We must look and assess how the actions we have influence the order and lives around us. That’s more of a talking about irrational thinking that turns us against each other. But you really can’t go wrong with love that is from a sense of uplift for other people. Dr. King wrote that from his letter from a Birmingham jail. That something that is good is something that lifts up a person’s soul and humanity. Sometimes we struggle with having the courage to do so.
As I was preparing this sermon, I was reminded of a musical Damn Yankees? Have you ever seen it? If you haven’t seen it, there’s a film version from the 1950s with Tab Hunter in it. It’s a wonderful production. It’s about a baseball team that is failing.
The baseball team, interestingly enough, is called the Washington Senators. And so the story goes that this team has once again suffered another losing season. Tab Hunter’s character makes a deal—he says he wants to have a good team, and he would sell his soul for it.
So of course, who comes to seal the deal? The devil.
But the story doesn’t end there. By the end of the story, the character played by Tab Hunter—Joe—finds a way to get out of the deal. He returns to his wife, his true love.
But there is a song in this musical that happens, not when he’s present but happens after the team lost. It’s scene in the locker room. There’s the manager. Four other players and they sing a song that’s called Heart. H.E.A.R.T. heart.
I hope these lyrics inspire you to live fully with love in your heart, to speak and to be vulnerable, to put your life on the line. Here is that song:
“You gotta have heart,
All you really need is heart.
When the odds are saying you’ll never win,
That’s when the grin should start.
When your luck is battin’ zero,
Get your chin up off the floor.
you can be a hero,
You can open the door.
You’ve gotta have hope,
Mustn’t sit around and mope.
There’s nothing to it but to do it—
You’ve gotta have heart.”
Miles and Miles of heart
Have heart. Amen.