June 92, 2003 (All Cracked Up)

There once was a man who owned a very nice house. He took great pride in the appearance of his house and worked very hard to keep it in good repair. One day a crack appeared on his bedroom wall. “What’s going on?” he exclaimed. He immediately called a painter to come over and rectify the situation. The painter came over. He removed the cracked plaster, put new plaster over the crack and freshly painted it. The wall looked as good as new. The man was once again king of his castle. He paid the painter. He was happy. The painter was happy. The painter went home.

About sixty days later, however, the crack reappeared. This time it brought along its aunt, uncle, niece and nephew cracks. There was a whole family of cracks on his wall. The man again cried out in frustration, “What’s going on?” There was no way he was calling that same guy back. He figured he’d better find himself a new painter. So he called around and found himself a different painter. This new painter came over, removed the plaster, put up new plaster, and painted over it. Once again the wall was restored. He paid the painter. He was happy. The painter was happy. The painter went home.

About forty-five days later, however, the crack reappeared. This time a whole neighborhood of cracks showed up. There were cracks breaking out all over the wall. He stormed out of his bedroom screaming, “What’s going on?” This time the man was determined to find a painter who would fix the cracks on his walls. He called everyone he knew and finally found a painter that everyone agreed was the best in the city. When this new painter arrived, the man quickly brought him into his bedroom. The new painter looked at the wall and then turned and said, “I am sorry, sir, but I cannot help you.” “Can’t help me?” the man cried. “I don’t understand. You’re supposed to be the best painter in town. Why can’t you help me?”

The painter made it clear that the problem had nothing to do with the cracks at all. “Nothing to do with the cracks?” the man wondered. “I see the cracks. You see the cracks. All God’s children see the cracks. Why can’t you fix the cracks on my wall! What’s going on?” The painter went on to explain that the cracks were only symptomatic of a much deeper problem. The real problem was that the man’s house had a shifting foundation. A little bit at a time, over a number of years, the shifting had taken place. And while this shift was unfelt and unknown to the man, it was the cause of the cracks suddenly appearing on his wall. The painter explained that if he painted over the cracks in the wall, in a couple of months he’d be back to do it all again. Unless the man stabilized the foundation of his house, the cracks would never go away.[i]

Cracks in the wall. When we look out at our world, we see that there are cracks in its walls. There are cracks in our social fabric, cracks in our moral and ethical behavior, cracks that have broken relationships and divided homes. We have cracks in our walls. We see them on the news and we read about them in our papers. Violence, addiction, abuse and corruption are among the cracks whose names we know all too well. There are places in our communities and in our world where the cracks keep people isolated from each other, places that are still cracked by racism…cracked by sexism…cracked by prejudice and hatred. Too often these cracks have become so big that people and communities have fallen right through them.

Cracks.
12 million American children are not sure where their next meal is coming from.

We feel a little like our man from the story. We see all these cracks and we want to do something about them. We have great concern for the struggles of our neighbors. We try to reach out to the needs of a cracked culture. But the needs are so great. Often, as soon as one crack gets fixed, a new one pops up, bigger than the last. And yet we run around trying to fix the cracks…painting over them…trying to make them disappear…because we want to create a world where no one falls through the cracks.

We go to meetings to discuss the size and shape of the cracks. We form task forces to find better methods of fixing the cracks. We fly to conferences where professional painters give talks on the latest techniques and the most modern solutions of covering up the cracks. We volunteer at shelters and kitchens where those affected by the cracks come for food or shelter, hoping to find a temporary solution to their struggle. We are moved to respond. God’s love for the world calls us to respond with compassion.

However, just tending to cracks is not enough. Like the cracks on the wall from the story told at the beginning, the cracks in our culture are symptomatic of a deeper problem. The divisions we see and the fractures we feel are a result of a shifting foundation. We have allowed our society to shift away from the very foundations God intended them to be built upon. To solve some of the deepest divisions in our world, we must be willing go below what is on the surface. We must not just be content to cover up cracks. We must help to rebuild the foundation.

“What’s going on?” That is the very question that framed much of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As he looked upon the world he encountered, he just had to ask, “What’s going on?” Cracks were everywhere. Jesus lived in a land dominated by the Roman Empire, and the world’s first superpower ignored the poor, neglected the widows, abandoned the orphans and left vast numbers of the population destitute, diseased and dying. Jesus encountered a world that had slid off of its foundation. The religious institutions of the day had become corrupt. They used religious language and religious law to bolster their power and exclude the most vulnerable. Theirs, too, was a society cracked by prejudice…cracked with corruption…cracked with moral and spiritual weakness. Jesus came into a world that had fallen away from God’s founding principles.

Jesus was a foundation builder. God sent him to get the world back on the right foundation. In our reading tonight, we find what Jesus declared was the proper foundation for all of creation. It is important to remember that in Luke’s gospel, our reading tonight is Jesus’ first sermon. It is his first public proclamation. In it he tells the world who he is and what his ministry is all about. This is his coming-out party. In these words, he declares the purpose of his ministry. Here he tells all who would listen how to get themselves on the right foundation, how they could experience God’s Kingdom on earth as it was in heaven.

Imagine yourself in Jesus’ place. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment. You enter the great meeting room. The room is full of people. It’s standing room only. As you look around the room, you see members of your family, people from the neighborhood, friends from work. You see some people you have not seen since childhood. There are also many you do not know. Some you recognize only from their pictures in the paper or from their appearances on the nightly news. Some of the most important leaders of your community pack the front rows. Behind them are the business people and other “pillars” of the community, all dressed in their Sabbath best. As you look to the back of the room, you see folks who look hungry and tired. There is a man wearing his work clothes, his face and hands dirty, and the tired look on his face makes you wonder if he has just finished the night shift. There is woman holding her baby with another one on the way. She is standing next to an elderly man in a wheelchair. There is a group of teenagers, most of whom have given up on religion because it no longer could, or cared to, relate to them. As you take the stage to address this room full of people—the very rich and the very poor, the famous and the nameless, the powerful and the forgotten—what word would you offer to them that would both inspire and challenge them? What would you say to the people about God or about the world they live in? What message would you deliver? How would you help them relate to a life that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be?

It was into these circumstances that Jesus offers hope to a hopeless world. It is here that he lays the foundation of a New Kingdom. Once again, hear the words Jesus proclaimed:

He preached about a world that would make room for those who had been excluded. He said the foundation of God’s Kingdom is built by touching those nobody else dares touch. It becomes manifest when those who have been forgotten are called by name. Jesus declares that the foundation of God’s creation is much more than just simple charity. It’s built on compassion, it’s formed in justice, it’s centered in right relationship. It is the creation of the beloved community where all God’s children are invited to the table and there is enough for everybody. Jesus is our foundation, and he taught us how to be foundation builders.

Tonight you have the great privilege of commissioning a group of our own. They are being sent because they have heard Christ ask us, “What’s going on?” We are sending fifty of our youth and fifteen of our adults out into the world to help rebuild its foundation. You send them out in the name of our church. You send them out in the name of our Lord.

They are going to respond to the cracks. They are going to fix the cracks they encounter with hammer and nails, paint and brushes, saws and wood. They go to help mend the brokenness of our world with smiles and hugs, prayers and songs, laughter and tears. This work is a part of what Jesus was talking about in our reading tonight, the proclaiming of the Good News.

Bearing witness to the world that we have been touched by the love of God found in Christian service is Good News.

But we do not send them out to just paint over cracks. We are sending them out to help rebuild the foundation of our society. Their trip will strengthen the foundation of their lives, making them better centered in the love of God experienced in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Their journey will strengthen the foundation of our society by building a world that sees poor people…building a world whose foundation is compassion…creating a foundation in our culture where all are invited to sit together around the table that God has set for all of us. They are being called to be foundation builders, to help create a foundation for our world built on people who are not just content to paint over the cracks, but rather built on a foundation of people who are willing to live their lives in ways that will one day bring an end to homelessness, hunger and poverty.

There were two remarks made by a couple of the students going to Memphis that have given me great encouragement and convinced me of the foundation-building potential of this pilgrimage. The first came from a student who said that since she went to Memphis last year, she cannot look at a homeless person the same way ever again. She now sees a person, a child of God. The second came from a young man who told me that Memphis did not need him to go as much as he needed to go to Memphis. He knows that this trip will not be so much about the work he will complete as it will be about the work God will do in his heart and soul, making him a foundation builder for God’s Kingdom more fully present in our midst.

Memphis will be a better place because we have responded to the call. We are confident that Birmingham, too, will be a better place because of the lives they will live when they return.

We have heard God’s call. We have been equipped with the physical materials to fix the cracks we encounter. We have been equipped with the spiritual means to help strengthen the foundation of our lives, our church, our community and world.

[i] I am indebted to Dr. Tony Evans of the Urban Alternative for this sermon illustration.
[ii] Statistic provided by the American Friends Service Committee.
[iii] Statistic provided by the American Coalition for the Homeless.
[iv] Statistic provided by the Food Research and Action Center.