"VISION CORRECTION"

Over the last three weeks, I've heard many media commentators make the statement 
that most of us will always remember where we were and what we were doing when 
we heard the news of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. That's probably 
true. I was in my car on the way to an appointment with an optometrist. I was 
long past due to have my vision checked.

I find that personally ironic because, since Sept. 11th, the way I "see" a lot 
of things has certainly been challenged. My physical vision has been corrected 
with new eyeglasses. What kind of correction does my internal "vision" need? 
What kind of correction does your "vision" need? Now that we have had a taste, 
in our backyard, of some of the pain, fear, grief and chaos that others around 
the world have lived with every day for years and years, we as a people...we as 
a church...are challenged to change the way we "see" a lot of things.

The inability to see things clearly...to maintain a proper focus...to be aware 
of what exists in the peripheral areas of our sight - these are not unusual 
conditions. Lots of us have gotten glasses or contacts or had laser surgery for 
vision correction. Our Scripture reading this morning challenges us to consider 
what kind of correction our way of seeing the world - and the people in it - may 
need.

The story is about two people: a poor man named Lazarus and an unidentified 
"rich man." It's interesting. In our culture, the rich are usually well known 
and easily identified by face and name. The "poor" are usually nameless and 
faceless in our collective imagination. Here that trend is reversed. The poor 
man has a name.

There is a name in the original biblical languages for the poor and needy. It is 
"anawim" - which means "the true people of God." In our story, this "anawim" 
named Lazarus lays at the gate of the rich man's home, hungry and wounded. The rich
 man - who wears the finest clothes and eats the finest foods every day - 
comes and goes and lives his life...oblivious to the needs or even the presence 
of Lazarus.

The rich man is not depicted as "evil." His wealth was not necessarily gained by 
any dishonest means. He doesn't do anything to Lazarus to hurt him. He just 
doesn't do anything to help him. He doesn't notice him. His focus is on himself. 
He can't see who is around him. His inner vision is impaired. His view of the 
world is strictly the "I" of the beholder.

Since Sept. 11th, our country's eyes have been focused on the victims, the loved 
ones and the heroes. We've given blood and money, we've prayed and cried over 
images and reports of the wounded and the needy.

What some of us may have come to realize, though, is that these people - wounded 
and in need - have been around us all along; we just didn't see it. It's been 
said that "the world changed" on Sept. 11th. But the truth is that the world didn't
  change; our perception of the world changed. What had been snippets of 
movie-like news footage of nameless, faceless people before has now become the 
flesh and blood, the familiar names, of people "like us." So now we notice.

Our story today tells us that "a great chasm has been fixed" between the rich 
man and Lazarus...between the "haves" and the "have nots"...between the "anawim" 
and the oblivious. Without correction in our ways of seeing the world - the 
people - around us, we find ourselves on the far side of that chasm, separated 
from God. For God is not found behind the gates, in the fine clothes and the 
rich foods. God is found in the hungry, the wounded, the hurting, the longing of 
human hearts...whether they are in Bosnia...or the Sudan...or North Korea...or 
New York City...or in the pews or outside the doors of this church, in this 
place.

So what does that mean for us? Truthfully, I'm not always sure. This parable is
  designed to have us reflect on how we respond to people like Lazarus. The 
parable is about defining compassion. A compassionate heart sees need and moves 
to help. If we find it difficult to help or even to see someone in need, then 
this parable exposes the hard quality in our hearts that God desires to soften.

Still, I think we have to consider how we view "compassion" very carefully. A 
co-dependent, enabling, knee-jerk reaction to come to the "rescue" for everyone 
is unhealthy and counter-productive. Mostly that will "help" others to remain in 
their misery and will bring us into misery as well.

And aid to those in need can't be limited to simply "throwing money" at people, 
even though in the short term that may sometimes be necessary. There are 
numerous organizations whose commitment is to aid and educate those in poverty 
so that they can stand on their own. That should be our goal whenever possible: 
not just to throw a band aid over an infected wound but to help provide healing 
and restoration.

I heard someone tell a story the other night that is attributed to Ghandi. Some 
people in India once decided to go and have a picnic by a beautiful river. They 
were there enjoying their lunch when suddenly a person came floating by, 
flailing and coughing and crying out for help. They rushed into the water and 
pulled her out. Then, moments later, another person came floating by...being 
pulled along by the river's current, in danger of drowning. They also rescued 
him. 

Then another person came...and another. Soon the people from the picnic had 
organized themselves into teams. Some were going in to pull the people out of 
the river. Others had rushed to the village and brought back blankets and dry 
clothes. Others built and tended a fire to provide warmth to the victims. 

This went on for days until finally, three members of the group came and said, 
"You all are doing wonderful work. Keep it up. But we are going to go further 
upstream to find out what is happening to these people and stop it if we can."

True compassion calls us to look not only at the symptoms of someone's pain but 
also at the cause. Had the rich man merely thrown crumbs at Lazarus, that would 
have been only a first step. Lazarus would have needed much more care to reach 
restoration. To truly know God means continual involvement in the lives of needy 
people. This text challenges each one of us to ask, "What am I doing?"

This past week, I've been looking hard at what this church is doing. I've been 
testing our vision and examining how we need to see things. I believe that, in 
the next few years, our focus must be on better learning how to see and address 
the hunger and wounds of people in our pews and just outside our doors. Why did 
we have 515 people in worship on the Sunday after the attacks? Because there are 
a lot of people in St. Louis who, when all else fails, may turn to us for 
comfort and guidance.

There are a lot of hungry and wounded people around us. Their hunger is not
  always for food. And their wounds are not always visible to our physical eyes. 
We must develop, spiritually and organizationally, internal "eyes" that can see 
past facades and excuses and denials...so that we will know how best to address 
the needs of the people in here...and "out there."

My vision of this church's immediate future has been clarified. Underlying much 
of our planning and focus heretofore has been a concern for the need to acquire 
a building of our own. Right now we rent. That means we face some challenges 
and, let's admit it, annoyances in having to work cooperatively with the 
Methodist church. That means that, in this 100 year old sanctuary, the sight 
lines are bad, the acoustics are problematic, we can't rearrange things to have 
cool stuff like video projection or special lighting, the air conditioner barely 
works, when it works.... It would be so much "nicer," easier, exciting to have 
our own space.

I was chatting about all this with a member of our church not long ago and she
  said something that, at the time, made me feel angry because, well...it pushed 
my buttons. But...since then I've taken what she said to heart and have 
experienced a little "vision correction." She said, "What would it say about us, 
as people, if those things just didn't matter - if it didn't matter that the 
sight lines are bad or that we're hot sometimes or that we have to schlep 
supplies back and forth more than we'd like? What kind of people would we be if 
it only mattered that we were changing lives through ministry?"

We say that our "vision" is changed lives. Well, we have a lot to learn and a 
long way to go in terms of how we can truly enable more and more people's lives 
to be changed. Our resources and energy must, at least for now, be poured into 
adding another worship service in the spring, into the additional staffing we 
need now, into more leadership development, into structured spiritual 
development and into the growth into commitment that we need in order to be
  the church that God is calling us to be. Not a cathedral...or a basilica...or the 
pinnacle of prestige in the city. Fine clothes and rich foods, every day, are 
not what define the true people of God. Feeding the hunger and helping to heal 
the wounds of a person named Lazarus is the only way we can truly manifest, 
communicate and celebrate God's surpassing love!

Today church, we are all being asked to submit ourselves to an "I" 
examination...and to allow Christ Jesus to provide us with the "vision 
correction" we may need. Amen.

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