Well, it's SUPER BOWL Sunday! I GUESS that's why a FOOTBALL image came to mind as I was studying our Scripture Lesson from LUKE for today. I apologize to those who have NO INTEREST in football, but THAT'S where my thinking WENT as I read about Jesus telling His people about ELIJAH ignoring the people of his OWN land and helping a widow from a FOREIGN land in a time of drought, and ELISHA ignoring the diseases of his OWN people and HEALING a man from SYRIA. And I thought to myself: Boy, Elijah and Elisha BOTH RAN out of BOUNDS, so to speak! You see: MANY in Israel in those days believed that the GOD of Israel was supposed to be KEPT in Israel, KEPT within the BOUNDS of the JEWISH faith. And HERE were these great PROPHETS taking care of FOREIGNERS! THEY were running OUT of BOUNDS, according to the thinking of their day! AND, according to the people of Nazareth, SO was Jesus, when He did His miracles ELSEWHERE. He TOO was running OUT of BOUNDS!

It REMINDS those who say that the United States should JUST take care of all the problems IN the Unites States, and FORGET about giving FOREIGN AID to OTHER countries. It reminds me ALSO of those in CHURCH who ask: WHY are we feeding 500 children a day in MEXICO, through Every Dollar Feeds Kids, when WE have kids right here in CONNECTICUT going HUNGRY? They're saying the same thing: THAT'S running OUT of BOUNDS!

Well friends, all I can say is: It's LUCKY for US that Elijah, Elisha and Jesus ran OUT of bounds and PREVAILED. You see: if they HADN'T prevailed, WE wouldn't be sitting here today, because we TOO were once considered to be OUT of BOUNDS. After all: MOST of us are NOT of JEWISH descent. Most of us are of GENTILE descent. And one of the EARLIEST conflicts in the church, WAY back, right after the time of Jesus, was whether or not they should preach the gospel to GENTILES, OR, whether people had to become JEWS before becoming followers of CHRIST. BUT, we KNOW who WON! And the faith was preached to GENTILE people, and ultimately, to US. In fact, the primary THEME of the Gospel of LUKE, and its COMPANION book, the Book of ACTS, is the TELLING to the story of Jesus to NON-JEWISH people. It's the CARRYING of our FAITH, like a football, OUT of BOUNDS.

That reminds me of a story about a small, Christian college that had an annual event called Christian Emphasis Week. And EACH year, the student Christian group from that college would invite a SPEAKER to campus, who would PREACH several times during the week and hold discussions with the students, ALL aimed at DEEPENING the faith of students and creating a mood of religious REVIVAL on campus. ONE year, however, the students got MORE than they bargained for. You see: they invited a speaker to Christian Emphasis Week whom NONE of them had heard SPEAK. He DID have a reputation for being dynamic and exciting, but they had not HEARD him. And indeed, he WAS exciting! On the very FIRST night of Christian Emphasis Week, the campus chapel was OVERFLOWING with Christian students. Of course, the "Animal House," fraternity types had stayed AWAY, but the CHRISTIANS came. And the speaker BEGAN by opening the Bible and reading a BRIEF passage of Scripture. THEN, he CLOSED the Bible, turned, and THREW it across the stage and OUT an open window. Well, the students just SAT there in STUNNED silence! Were their eyes playing TRICKS on them? Did the PREACHER actually throw the BIBLE out the window? And then, the preacher turned and LOOKED at them and shouted: There goes your GOD! And he proceeded to preach a very CHALLENGING sermon on the difference between worshipping the BIBLE and worshipping the GOD who is REVEALED in the Bible. But UNFORTUNATELY, those Christian students didn't even HEAR the preacher's message! You see: HE had stepped OUT of BOUNDS, as far as THEY were concerned, and they were OUTRAGED! They LEFT that night muttering, BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! Well, it didn't take LONG for WORD to spread all over campus about what had HAPPENED in the chapel. And SO, the NEXT night, ALL those CHRISTIAN students stayed AWAY. Strangely enough, however, the Chapel was FULL once again. Only THIS time, it was PACKED with party-going, FRATERNITY types, THOSE who would NEVER call themselves RELIGIOUS? And though they had ONLY come because they were CURIOUS; STILL, they came. And THAT night, the preacher chose to PREACH on the subject of FORGIVENESS. And BEFORE he was finished, he was holding the entire CROWD in the palm of his hand. They MAY have been OUT of BOUNDS as far as those CHRISTIAN students were concerned, but the preacher changed a LOT of lives that night!

Well, in a way, JESUS performed something JUST as shocking in his HOMETOWN of Nazareth. At FIRST, it seemed like just a NORMAL service. Jesus opened the Scriptures and read a very FAMILIAR text. He read from the prophet Isaiah about GOOD NEWS being preached to the POOR and RELEASE to the captives. And THEN, He PREACHED. Now, Luke doesn't PRESERVE for us the entire SERMON. He ONLY tells us the main POINT of that sermon: TODAY in YOUR hearing, this scripture has been FULFILLED (v. 21). Now at first, the congregation responded warmly and enthusiastically: Good SERMON, preacher! Beautiful words! Heads NODDED, and people murmured in agreement. They were PROUD of this hometown boy who was SO eloquent. But SOON, a QUESTION began to STIR among them: IF Isaiah's prophecy has REALLY been FULFILLED this day, then WHY has NOTHING happened? HOW come Jesus hasn't performed any of the MIRACLES that we've heard He performed in Capernaum? So, WHAT does He MEAN when He says: Today, in YOUR hearing, THIS scripture has been fulfilled? You see: it was THEN that Jesus threw the Bible out the window, so to speak - or at least threw their UNDERSTANDING of the Bible out the window. It was THEN that He began running OUT of BOUNDS! I mean: THEY thought that Isaiah's words were ONLY for THEM: only for Israel, only for Nazareth, only for the local folk. And NOW, Jesus was throwing THAT understanding of the Bible out the WINDOW by saying that God's CARE for the poor and the oppressed has ALWAYS been for the OUTSIDERS, just as much as for the INSIDERS. And furthermore, when the INSIDERS try to RESTRICT God's grace to just themselves, they cut themselves OFF from the very GRACE they claim to OWN. You see: JESUS was like that PREACHER at the college that night! He was running OUT of BOUNDS! And SO, He UPSET the people of Nazareth, JUST as He would LATER upset the LEADERS in JERUSALEM, who would NAIL Him to a CROSS.

BUT, the fact is that Jesus DID run OUT of BOUNDS, because HE accepted and loved EVERYONE! He loved ALL people! HIS love was a RADICALLY-INCLUSIVE love! NOBODY was too SINFUL! NOBODY was too SICK! NOBODY was TOO far gone! NOBODY was TOO outcast! NOBODY was TOO evil! NOBODY was TOO much of a foreigner! NOBODY was TOO secular! NO! EVERY single person whom Jesus MET was offered His UNCONDITIONAL, UNMERITED, UNENDING love. And by OFFERING this amazing kind of love to EVERYONE, Jesus was breaking down the BOUNDARIES, the BARRIERS that divide us from God, AND from each other! And SO, NEVER again, for the FOLLOWERS of Jesus Christ, would ANYONE be TOO far OUT of BOUNDS to be WORTH our time and effort. WE are to love ALL people with the RADICALLY-INCLUSIVE love of JESUS! Now friends, we SAY that very EASILY, but WHOSE kidding WHO? How OFTEN do WE establish boundaries and BARRIERS? And we ALL DO it! I'm EMBARRASSED to tell you the STORY that I'm about to TELL you, but it's TRUE! SO, I'm going to TELL it.

A couple of years ago, my daughter, Lyndsey, was working in Bridgeport and Waterbury for a community development agency called ACORN. IN her work, she met a HOMELESS woman, Beth: a single mom with 3 children. And Lyndsey came to me one day and said, Dad, we need to HELP this woman get her own apartment and get BACK on her feet. Can you get the church to collect some household items for her? And do you think the church can give me $500 to help her get started? And will you and mom MATCH that amount? And I can put in some of my OWN money. THEN, I think we'll have enough money for her to get an apartment, and give her a new START. I'm ALSO trying to get her a JOB in Waterbury. SO, will you HELP?

I said: Wait a minute, Lyndsey! In THIS kind of work, you need to learn the art of DETACHMENT! You CANNOT take ON the problems of EVERY person you MEET. You'll go NUTS, people will take advantage of you all over the place, and you'll BURN OUT in NO time! Besides, I can't be giving CHURCH money from the Deacons' Fund to HER. SHE'S not from our church, or even from our TOWN! And $500 is a LOT of money! In other words, I was telling Lyndsey: THIS woman is OUT of BOUNDS! Well, if you know Lyndsey, you know that she does NOT give up EASILY! Before I knew it, she had Carolyn Mansolf, and Graham and Lois Hall, finding household items from amongst the Church Tag Sale stuff. And she had Janet Mellon calling me from Southington Social Services to talk about using the MANNA FUND to help this woman, Beth. Well, needless to say, we ended up HELPING her. I received a THANK YOU at the time, but LATER on, I received a LETTER, which was NOT written specifically to ME, but to the WORLD in general. And IN this letter, Beth talked about her CATERING business, which had been doing really WELL before the accident. She ALSO talked about volunteering in the community before the accident, offering free workshops for low-income women, and organizing people who lived in poverty, so that they would have a VOICE in city government. But THEN, the accident happened, and it left Beth critically injured. WHEN she finally woke UP, DCF had taken her children and charged HER with ABANDONING them, charges that were later dropped, because the accident was NOT her fault, and she couldn't HELP it that she was hospitalized. For 3 months, she was in a hospital or rehab center. And when she finally got OUT, THOUGH she was on DISABILITY, she DIDN'T make enough money to pay her back rent, as well as her CURRENT bills. SO, she ended up EVICTED, and HOMELESS. But she says that she DIDN'T get angry, except at those who assumed that drugs and alcohol led to her homelessness. And she wrote THESE words to the WORLD: the SHAME is not MINE to carry but YOURS, for the stereotype of how YOU have portrayed ME, the homeless: as a LAZY, undeserving ADDICT, NOT a strong MOTHER, who will lay down her PRIDE to make SURE that her family HAS what they NEED to survive… My STRENGTH lies in my CHILDREN…. Being HOMELESS did NOT mean that my LIFE was unbearable. It made me appreciate what's most IMPORTANT in life: love, compassion, perseverance, and most of all, FAITH. My SADNESS lies in YOUR ignorance to believe that it CAN'T happen to YOU. One ACCIDENT, illness, lack of adequate childcare, loss of a job, and MY story becomes YOUR story… As LONG as there is BREATH in my body, I will remain HOPEFUL. And to ANYONE in the struggle to survive, NEVER, EVER let ANYONE take your dignity, or make you feel UNWORTHY….

You see, friends: I had labeled this woman OUT of BOUNDS. And it took a 20-year old to REMIND me of what JESUS has taught us SO clearly: that NO ONE is OUT of BOUNDS for the Christian. And SO, AS our YOUTH prepare to go off next month on their MISSION TRIP to New York City to work in SOUP kitchens, I HOPE that they will remember Beth, and look at EACH person they meet with a new RESPECT and LOVE. And for US, as WE prepare to make some CHANGES in our worship schedule next year, I HOPE that we will remember that ONE of our SEVERAL reasons for doing so, is to REACH OUT and share CHRIST with a LOT of people who are considered, by many, to be OUT of BOUNDS and NOT worth our time and effort: the UNCHURCHED, or only SLIGHTLY-churched. Friends, NO one is OUT of BOUNDS. EVERYONE is WORTH our effort! And WE need to reach EACH and every person we CAN for Christ! And if THAT means making a little SACRIFICE, then we NEED to MAKE it!

In closing, let me tell you the REST of Beth's story. My daughter NOW works in Boston for a group of homeless and domestic violence shelters called PROJECT HOPE. And one day, as Lyndsey was visiting one of their shelters, THERE was Beth. Only THIS time, Beth was NOT a client; she was RUNNING the place. She's ALSO now a STUDENT at Springfield College. I'll tell you: it's a good thing we ran OUT of BOUNDS and HELPED Beth, don't you think? Maybe we ought to be running OUT of BOUNDS more often! Amen.