The Honeymoon Bubble

According to a report released by the state Department of Health, a Rhode Island surgeon recently operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain. The man was hospitalized in order to undergo a procedure to drain blood from his brain. Health officials say a CT scan image was improperly placed on an x-ray viewing box, leading the surgeon to believe the left side of the man's brain required surgery instead of the right. The surgeon discovered the error when he drilled holes in the left side of the man's skull and found no internal bleeding. The procedure was correctly repeated on the opposite side of the patient's head.

Its father’s day and every father’s day I tend to have my mind wander to an odd medical situation known as Wrong side surgery. Although it sounds almost comical, wrong side surgery is an unfortunate reality for far too many people throughout the United States. Careless surgeons have amputated the wrong leg, performed a mastectomy on the wrong breast, operated on the wrong knee, and even conducted brain surgery on the wrong side of the brain. I don’t know about you, and I’m not sure if you can understand my preoccupation, but you see my dad at one point almost had himself his own Wrong side surgery.

3 times the people asked my dad how his right leg was doing, it was his left that needed surgery... after the third time the nurse made the mistake, fed up, he demanded that the nurse find a sharpee pen. One hour before going under he wrote on his left leg "THIS IS THE LEG" and on the right one "If you operate on this leg I will sue you." You see My dad was a lawyer.

Growing up it was hard having a lawyer for a dad,
Your friends begin to be careful with you as to not get sued. My friend Timory got a motorcycle, and my dad took Timory aside and told her “you realize if you kill my son on that motorcycle I’ll sue your parents.” Yeah…so…I never got to ride the bike. I did however hold on with rollerblades on. Somehow that was different.

It was weird what it did to my psychy… I felt like superman: I’d fly into the family room from after school, and get ready my bulletproof dad. “Dad Lets sue the school for million for detention being dirty… its really dirty… I bet if I licked the floor I’d be completely sick… we’d make millions.”

But it still was hard. I remember one day despite my lack of blood sugar this didn’t stop my dad from crossexamining me as he gave me a ride home.
How was your day
Fine
What did you do
Nothing
You’re honor if I may approach he must have done something today…
My mom would act judge “answer the question Geoffrey.”
Went to school.

Nowadays despite the pains of my childhood, its actually nice to have a dad for a lawyer. Why… Protection. My dad is wired as a lawyer. He’s interested in the best possible way to keep you out of the most amount of trouble. This is good for me. Because he totally has protected me from punkasses. I’m a protected man.

I personally had my protection popped this week. I created this space between me and the world and I called it “the honeymoon bubble” I left my little honeymoon bubble this week and began working again. Back to the grindstone! I could have stayed in my honeymoon bubble forever … like a calgon bath… The honeymoon was good … real good. Nice to take a rest and spend it with Crystal… So Amazing. Problem is I’m not independently wealthy…so life has brought me back to reality.

So here I am back to reality, Back in church, and out of the honeymoon protection bubble, I probably still am protected as much as I can be from punkasses. BUT back in life noetheless.

Life… that’s really what you guys want to know about on this father’s day… right? You came to church…. You want to know about life. Specifically… I think I’m hearing a little of your hearts and I think you want to know a little about eternal life. Am I right?

Well… Like my dad… there was this lawyer that wanted some protection. He wanted some protection in the world beyond. And like you…he had a question that many of you you Luke 10:25-37… "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"
Jesus answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"

He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."

"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."

Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?"

Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. (Jerusalem to Jericho was a distance of nineteen miles northeast, a deep and very fertile hollow. The road, being rocky and desolate, was a notorious haunt of robbers, then and for ages after, and even to this day. There was once a man sent down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves) They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. (Jericho, the second city of Judea, was a city of the priests and Levites, and thousands of them lived there. The two here mentioned are supposed, apparently, to be returning from temple duties) Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

A Samaritan (A Samaritan was one excommunicated by the Jews, a byword among them, synonymous with heretic and devil, so someone that wasn’t anywhere close to a believer, not in the church.) traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"

"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

The lawyer wanted protection. What was that protection? He wanted assurance that he would have eternal life. Jesus said the only protection that you’ll find is in love. And THAT may look entirely different than your books have taught you.

--------

I feel as a church we are moving to a new place in our minds. A place that isn’t like church as we know it. Or maybe it’s what church is supposed to be. The idea is that church… isn’t Sunday, church isn’t music, it isn’t me talking, it isn’t the food we eat after. Church is us. Us, living out our lives, and Sunday is just a time to come together to recharge, renew, and love each other in this ‘show’ type of way.

We are not a show. Our faith is not a show. Our religion is not a show. But somehow we have learned, and been trained that church IS a show. Sunday morning… we pay admission with our tithe, and get our 2.5 hours of spirit. Get a good concert, maybe some amazing art or poetry, definitely an amazing message (wink), and top it off with a free lunch and coffee. We have learned that in order to really be “effective” in church we must hold the microphone. Or be versatile at the guitar. Or even as advanced as we are, be a great dancer, poet or artist. Our Sunday morning is a recharge for us. A day where we can refocus our energies on the goodness of God, worship Him, and definitely feel amazing about the grace we have in Jesus Christ. But a recharge for what?

Sunday morning should be your recharge. You should come in here and let the Holy Spirit wash over you. You should rejoice with your friends and family here in the wonderful things. You SHOULD enjoy the show. Pray for people in the sad things. Be free to express yourself in worship towards God, with all of the ways and emotions that God draws us into. But don’t let this day go in vein. Don’t let this “show” go in vein. Use it for what it’s meant for: A springboard into your life. To inspire you to really do the things that God is calling you to. What is he calling you to do? Participate in Life!

Life … ahhhh life. Wouldn’t it be great if our life didn’t have beat up strangers on the road. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we just could live in our little honeymoon bubble forever? No one bothering us; no one taking their toll on us; us, just going on our merry way to Jericho. No interruptions along the path.

We would love to station guards on the path to Jericho, so that no one gets robbed, and no one needs to bother with tending to people’s wounds. The robbers would go to jail, and the guards would keep things nice, so that we all could continue on our way to the temple without fear of someone draining our pocketbooks, or efforts, or maybe even robbing us. I’m wondering if some of us would hope that those guards would do their job a little bit better because it’s not our job to tend the wounds of the people. Is it?

The thing is, I want to be refined, direct. I want to be the most effective person I can be. I don’t want to put out more effort than I need to. And I want to love the most deserving of people. Who can I exclude, so that I don’t have to worry myself with efforts of spending my life putting energy out towards people that don’t deserve it? Who are the people I need to love? God if you only just tell me which people I need to love, then I can focus my life and be the most effective for you and your will.

“I love you God…. And I love people….but there are so many of them… so if you could just narrow it down so that I can focus my efforts on that small group, I think I’d be much more effective.” And maybe that’s true. And Maybe that’s what the lawyer was really trying to get at.

But Jesus switches the question from “whom am I to love?” to “Who is the one that shows love?” I’m asking “who do I love?” the real question is “who is the one that shows love?” The answer: the one who shows mercy.

You see, love is not a quantifiable, measurable, act or duty to a specific few; especially if those few that share your same idea structure. It’s something that you are. And it’s something that you show. It’s something that you respond to. Love is inconvenient. It lies dying on the road asking you to tend to it. Love costs money. It takes your resources. And its possible that the person God is asking you to love this week believes something entirely different then you.

Love is the great equalizer. If you are the most righteous of people or a punkass, the dying man on the road has the same need. And the story ends the same way if you show mercy.

Yes, Love IS the great equalizer. It is what has gathered us here today. And has made us all Sons and Daughters of God. Because there was one who came to bless this heartless world of ours with His incomparable love--first in words, and then in deeds which have translated His words into flesh and blood, and poured the life of them through that humanity which He made His own! Along the road WE have been stripped beaten and robbed.

Is this story designed to magnify the law of love? And to show who fulfils it and who cannot? And who did this as never man did it, as our Brother Man, "our Neighbor?"… Christ… The priests and Levites had not strengthened the diseased, nor bound up the broken (Ezekiel 34:4), while He bound up OUR broken hearts (Isaiah 61:1), and poured into all wounded spirits the balm of sweetest consolation. He hungered, but He fed thousands; He was weary, but He is the Rest for the weary; And today He saves him that went down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves.

You see, to live your life truly, means that you have to live outside the comfortable walls of your safely guarded bubble. Popping the protection! You have to begin pressing on the boundaries of your world and interact with people that are inconvenient. And on top of that: YOU…SHOW…MERCY!. Even if they wouldn’t have … YOU DO!!! Because that’s what life is about: it’s what gives electricity to the soul. It’s the recharge you feel from God as you leave this place. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit to pay attention to humanity, and life… and ultimately CARE!!!! Because Jesus Christ did that for you. No matter who you are, no matter what you believe. Jesus Loves you and has put us all on equal terrain. Love IS the great equalizer. How will you spend your week. Protecting yourself from life? Or paying attention and engaging it?

Let the Spirit of God dwell you today and throughout the week. Do what you can to pay attention to humanity, and life. And BE a neighbor as you go along your road.