{"id":1353,"date":"2016-04-24T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1353"},"modified":"2019-09-24T14:15:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T18:15:42","slug":"take-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2016\/04\/24\/take-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

Acts 11:1-18<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the\u00a0meditations\u00a0only<\/a><\/p>\n

Good morning! It is a pleasure to join you again from this historic pulpit. My thanks to Dean Hill for this opportunity to speak with you again on the weekend of Earth Day 2016. It\u2019s become tradition that I preach on a Sunday near Earth Day because of my academic interest in social and ecological ethics. I\u2019m so thankful for the opportunity to share my passion with you today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like some young adults who live quite a distance away from their nuclear family, I try dutifully to maintain contact with my parents on at least a weekly basis via phone call. Some weeks it\u2019s more than once a week, some weeks go by and I realized I haven\u2019t called them in x-many days. Of course, my mom still keeps up with what I\u2019m doing by checking Facebook for my latest status updates, or chatting with one of my siblings whom I\u2019ve texted or messaged in the past few days. But nothing compares to taking the time to sit and verbally communicate with my parents for a half hour, or an hour, or more. By the time we reach the end of our conversation we say our typical goodbyes\u2026\u201dAlright. I hope you have a good week\/It\u2019ll all work out.\/I\u2019ll talk to you soon. Bye.\u201d However, my dad almost always ends our conversations with the same two words \u201cTake Care.\u201d \u201cAlright, talk to you soon, take care, bye.\u201d \u201cTake care\u201d itself isn\u2019t unusual in this context. It\u2019s a common phrase to use when saying goodbye to someone, especially someone that\u2019s close to you. But I like to think of it as my dad\u2019s way of saying \u201cI love you.\u201d \u201cTake care\u201d is a shortened version of \u201cTake care of yourself,\u201d a directive that not only indicates that the person you\u2019re leaving or ending a conversation with wants to you to be well, but also that you continue treating yourself well. It indicates that because you will not be together that other person will not be able to physically care for you, but he\/she wishes that you will carry with you the emotional care he\/she sends you with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking care of ourselves is hard, and often we must rely on others to help us do it. Or at least we need them to remind us to take care of ourselves. A recent article I came across on 101 ways to practice self-care linked from the website \u201cthe Mighty\u201d puts our human situation succinctly: \u201cBeing a human can be a messy, hard, confusing, painful experience sometimes.\u201d We can become so driven by outside forces \u2013 like getting good grades, or advancing in our workplace, or earning more money \u2013 that we lose sight of the need to give ourselves a break sometimes. Friends and family can often be helpful in reminding us to take care of ourselves when we need it most. To be gentle with ourselves when things don\u2019t go the way we want. To take a break when we need it. We can be pretty terrible at cutting ourselves some slack when we need it because we think there are standards or goals that everyone else is somehow accomplishing, and we\u2019re failing to do so. Often all it will take to gain some clarity is to step away from the situation, give ourselves 5, 10, 20 minutes to breathe, hydrate, eat, be silent, engage our bodies rather than our minds, or talk to someone who can remind us of who we are and that we have value by just being us.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, I have a good friend who encourages her close friends to periodically (once or twice a year) to have a \u201cdecadent day.\u201d She offers to help you plan whatever your day of \u201cdecadence\u201d might look like. You know, treating yourself to those things that you love to do and relieve your stress, but that you never find the time to do on your own. Fans of the television show Parks and Recreation may think of this another way \u2013 a \u201ctreat yo\u2019 self\u201d day. It might be going to get a massage, or watching Christmas videos all day while you bake cookies, or going to a place you haven\u2019t been to before because you don\u2019t have a car (but she does), or it could just be hanging out all day in pj\u2019s, coloring, and taking naps when you feel like it. Taking one day, every once in a while to focus on what it is you REALLY want to do and having a friend there to remind you that this day is not meant to be stressful or guilt-inducing, can help you hit the pause button on the rest of your life for a little while. You should care for yourself, and often others can be the gateway to help you recognize that.<\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s gospel reading, we encounter another instance of a \u201ctake care\u201d directive. Let me set the scene for you \u2013 we\u2019ve traveled back before Easter, just after Jesus has washed the feet of the disciples and shared in a last meal with them. The \u201che\u201d referred to at the beginning of the scripture \u2013 \u201cWhen he had gone out\u2026\u201d \u2013 is Judas who has just departed to betray Jesus to the Roman authorities. Jesus knows that the time is coming when he must give away his life for those that he loves, and that one of those that he has loved is turning against him. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of what is to come, Jesus turns to his disciples and issues them a new commandment, \u201cLove one another as I have loved you.\u201d This is slightly different than the older love commandment found in the book of Leviticus, \u201cLove your neighbor as you love yourself.\u201d This love is a mutual love that will strengthen the disciples in service to one another once Jesus is no longer with them. Not only will it help to strengthen their community, it will come to define their community, and Jesus knows that. Jesus serves his disciples both physically and spiritually in this one night. He washes their feet, showing them care in a way that was typically done by someone in a lower social standing. He also tells them what he has been demonstrating to them all along, and will culminate in doing through his crucifixion \u2013 that mutual care and love for each other is God\u2019s will for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus is essentially saying \u201ctake care\u201d in this message to the disciples. He is about to leave them, but before he does, it\u2019s important to emphasize to them how they should continue on without his physical presence when he is gone. However, the \u201ctake care\u201d here is not \u201ctake care of yourself\u201d like the version we often use today. Instead, it is \u201ctake care of each other.\u201d Care for the other in such a way one thinks and puts the need of the other before oneself, bringing the community closer together. <\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to the love commandment Jesus issues. Martin Luther, upon reflecting on this passage of John states, \u201cTo love does not mean\u2026to wish someone else well, but to bear someone else\u2019s burdens, that is to bear what is burdensome to you and what you would rather not bear.\u201d As Luther highlights, Jesus\u2019 command to the disciples is not easy or should be taken lightly. It\u2019s hard to love in the way that Christ wants us to love. So many of us don\u2019t love in that way. We don\u2019t put others\u2019 needs before our own. We fail to have empathy for those who are in difficult positions. We try to advance ourselves at all costs and neglect to see how that might impact others around us. One doesn\u2019t need to look far to see how individualism and egocentrism runs rampant in our country and even in our world. While it is important to value ourselves, we cannot do it to an extreme that excludes others to the point of oppression. Instead Christ\u2019s love, Christ\u2019s form of taking care, requires us to take on the burdens of others. \u00a0We must help those who need it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as Jesus meets the practical needs of the disciples by washing their feet, we might meet the practical needs of our community by bringing a covered dish to share on the first Sunday of the month for our community luncheon or by helping a new person in our community locate something as simple as the restroom. But the spiritual support that we supply for others is also a part of this. We can be a listening ear, we can provide prayers, we can offer spaces for people to laugh or cry, be there for moments of joy and of pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, \u201cTaking care\u201d cannot just be about being in community with other human beings, though. If you\u2019ve noticed any of the movements among Christian denominations toward environmentalism, the discussion is usually framed around \u201cCreation Care\u201d or Caring for Our Earth. In fact, the denomination to which I belong, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America\u2019s social statement on environmental care is found in a document entitled \u201cCaring for Creation.\u201d In it, the ELCA states that \u201cHumans, in service to God, have special roles on behalf on the whole creation. Made in the image of God, we are called to care for the earth as God cares for the Earth.\u201d This stewardship model, which places responsibility to tend and care for God\u2019s creation with humanity, emphasizes the notion of care. We are a part of God\u2019s creation, created from the same materials as the rocks, water, air, and creatures with which we share this planet. Even more than just caring for the planet that God created, we must recognize that we are in a relationship with the world around us by the very nature of our dependence upon Earth\u2019s natural systems that sustain us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Care is a verb that we can wrap our minds around when we talk about the earth. We have a sense, even if we don\u2019t actively practice it, of what care should look like. Care is also easier to understand or grasp than the idea of loving creation. Love has too many different connotations in English to make a clearly identifiable action. So in this case, when we talk about our relationship with the Earth, care seems to make more sense than love, but the sentiment is very similar. Care means that we should have consideration for another that is in relationship with us. Care means that we want what is best for the other. Care means that we claim our responsibility to a much larger network of others. Us taking care of the earth and the Earth taking care of us is a mutual relationship that we share.<\/span><\/p>\n

The earth cares for us in many ways. We might automatically think of all the practical and physical (utilitarian) uses that we have for the Earth, but we might not think of them as care, initially. The oxygen we breathe is a direct result of the respiration of the trees and other plants around us. The food we need comes from tending to the land and raising crops. The water we drink, although processed through water treatment plants, originates from the same water cycle that supplies our lakes, rivers, and streams. While we may not consider this care in the same way that we would through expressions of love from other people in our lives, we cannot exist without the essential natural goods that the Earth provides for us. We are connected to the Earth. These practical ways that the Earth supports us should be considered as care, and we tend to take them for granted. That is, we tend to take them for granted until things go awry.<\/span><\/p>\n

When water becomes undrinkable, like it did in Flint, MI, when crops are decimated by drought, like during the great drought felt on the West Coast of the United States, when our air becomes polluted by industrial practices, like methane release or coal-burning power plants, we become acutely aware of the ways in which our connection with the earth is essential for our health and well-being. Even aesthetically, when nature is disrupted by human activity that destroys ecosystems and displaces other creatures, taking away its beauty, we lose the renewed sense of awe and wonder nature can give us that can inspire us to be more creative and feel more connected to others and with God. When we fail to recognize the ways in which we need to love the Earth, to take care of the Earth in the ways we need to for mutual support, we all lose and fail to meet God\u2019s will. <\/span><\/p>\n

If we are truly to take care of ourselves and take care of others as Christians, then we must also make sure that we expand our notion of care beyond the human community. In fact, many of the systems that create oppression and harm to other human beings are also harmful to our environment. The impacts of global warming, which is caused by a global reliance on fuels, tend to disproportionately harm those who are the most socioeconomically vulnerable. Members of developing nations, particularly women and children, face greater challenges than those of us in developed nations because we have the capital to develop technologies that will mitigate some of the effects created by this global problem. But in addition to these impacts on other human beings, we are also damaging the ecosystems that support all life on earth, and the quality of the Earth\u2019s health as well. It is important to draw out the impacts of ecological degradation on other human beings, but it is also important to remember that the \u201cEarth is the Lord\u2019s and all that is in it.\u201d We are connected in a vast web of creation that finds its source in God. As we\u2019re reminded in today\u2019s Psalm reading:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Praise the\u00a0Lord! Praise the\u00a0Lord\u00a0from the heavens; praise him in the heights!<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars!<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Let them praise the name of the\u00a0Lord, for he commanded and they were created.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Praise the\u00a0Lord\u00a0from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!<\/span><\/li>\n
  12. Young men and women alike, old and young together!<\/span><\/li>\n
  13. Let them praise the name of the\u00a0Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We are only a small part of the whole earth that is called to praise God, the creator and sustainer life. Through our connection we have a responsibility to care for the Earth. We must pay attention to the ways we impact it. How often are we reusing items we possess instead of using disposable items? Do we walk or bike instead of driving to a nearby location? Have we thought about where our energy comes from and how its source may be impacting the world? These are burden some question to ask ourselves \u2013 and it would be easier to continue in the way we have been acting. But eventually, our actions will come back in a negative way and impact us. Our time to act in a caring way toward the Earth is now, not at some point in the future<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the gospel reading we are told that followers of Christ need not state who they are, because people will know them by their actions of mutual love. To be Christ\u2019s disciple is to love each other as Christ loved us. We do this not necessarily for our own benefit, but because it benefits the other. Although we must care for ourselves, we are often reminded by others why that care is necessary and are often helped to see the ways in which care can be expressed by the care offered to us by other people. All of these ways of caring are connected to each other. Ourselves, our human community, our world \u2013 we are all interconnected and our care must be connected as well. If our Earth is cared for, it will care for us. If our friends are cared for, they will care for us. If we care for ourselves, we are capable of caring for others.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So like my dad when we end our phone conversations, I will leave you with these two words – take care. Take care of yourself because God cares about you. Take care of those around you because it helps to share your burdens with someone. Take care of the earth because we\u2019ve already done so much to harm it, and it\u2019s the only one we\u2019ve got. Take care.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n

    -Jessica Ann Hittinger Chicka, University Chaplain for International Students<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Click here to listen to the full service Acts 11:1-18 Click here to listen to the\u00a0meditations\u00a0only Good morning! It is a pleasure to join you again from this historic pulpit. My thanks to Dean Hill for this opportunity to speak with you again on the weekend of Earth Day 2016. It\u2019s become tradition that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1968,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions\/1968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}