“Friendship is unnecessary — like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value.
Rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival...”.
Rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival...”.
(C. S. Lewis)
i feel like a sea. Ya know what i mean?
In case not, let me explain. The Dead Sea is an anomaly. Water comes into it via the Jordan River, but it doesn’t empty out of it. Because of this, the water is incredibly salty and nothing can Live in it. i feel kind of like that….
i need for there to be a flow in my Life, a giving & receiving, a coming & going, a learning & sharing, a balance. i don't do well when it's all one way or the other....
Located on the 6000 kilometer Great Rift Valley running from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey to the Zambezi Valley in Africa, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. Unlike oceans, it is composed of 53% Potassium, 37% Magnesium, and 8% of Sodium Chlorides (that's a salinity of 33.7% or 8.6 times more salty than the oceans), enabling people to float. Acquiring a bit of skill, one will even be able to read a newspaper in the water.
One thing that i always enjoyed about my Life (and especially when i was single and traveling a lot) was meeting new people. i don’t know if it’s the fact that they don’t know me and don’t know much about me or if their story is new to me, but i am glad (generally speaking) to meet new people. It seems to invigorate me and keep me interested in Life.
Now, don’t get me wrong. i Love old people, too (that was really just a cheap way to call my long-time friends “old”…i apologize for that, and, LORD, help the pygmies in Africa…). Anyway, i digress….
Sometimes, i need an old friend. Someone who knows me, who i can’t lie to and get away with it, someone who knows my past and uses that to inspire me and not to judge me. Someone who has history with me and can tell my daughter stories on me, someone who has witnessed the growth that has occurred in me, someone who remembers me from decades gone by in their own Life and can recall the good and the hard times we’ve shared. Those kind of friends are essential, and i am a rich man in that regard. Very rich. The list of people who are on my friends list is long and deep and good….
New friends, though, are good, too. It is fun, energizing, and interesting to meet new people and to make new friends. i look forward to hearing their stories about what they’ve overcome, to learn who they share Life with in daily & sacred ways, to listen about their families, to discover their passions and gifts and talents, to notice their idiosyncrasies, to experience their fellowship. i enjoy eventually moving their names from the new friends list to the old friends list.
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Scripture Text Reference (Romans 16 — Partially quoted below) for When The Roll Is Called Down Here:i commend to You our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the ekklesia which is at Cenchrea that You receive her in the LORD in a manner worthy of the saints, and that You help her in whatever matter she may have need of You — for she herself has also been a helper of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who — for my Life — risked their own necks and to whom not only do i give thanks but also all the ekklesias of the Gentiles. Also, greet the ekklesia that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beLoved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked hard for You. Greet Andronicus & Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles and who also were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beLoved in the LORD. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beLoved. Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the LORD. Greet Tryphaena & Tryphosa, workers in the LORD. Greet Persis the beLoved, who has worked hard in the LORD. Greet Rufus, a choice man in the LORD, also his mother — and mine. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brethren with them. Greet Philologus & Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the ekklesias of Christ greet You. Now, i urge you, brethren, keep Your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which You learned and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our LORDChrist but of their own appetites, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of Your obedience has reached to all. Therefore, i am rejoicing over You, but want You to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. Timothy my fellow worker greets You, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. i, Tertius, who write this letter, greet You in the LORD. Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets You. Erastus, the city treasurer greets You, and Quartus, the brother.
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Sermon Text for When The Roll Is Called Down Here:i hope You will not feel guilty if Your heart was not all aflutter during the reading of the text. It’s not very interesting. It’s a list…a list of names…a list of strange names. i always tell my students in preaching class, “When You’re preaching from biblical texts, avoid the lists. They’re deadly — Don’t preach from the lists!”
It seems that Paul is calling the roll. That’s a strange thing in itself. i have never worshipped in a church in which anyone got up and called the roll. It could be very dull. Well, it could…it could be interesting in a way…
Calling the roll sometimes is not all that bad. Last December, i was summoned: “Superior Court, DeKalb County, Georgia” to serve on the jury. On Monday morning at nine o’clock, 240 of us formed a pool out of which the jurors for civil and criminal cases would be chosen.
The deputy clerk of the superior court stood and called the roll: 240 names. She did not have them in alphabetical order — Ya had to listen. And while i was listening, i began to listen…
There were two Bill Johnsons. One was black, and one was white, and they were both "Bill Johnson."
There was a man named “Clark,” a Mister Clark, who answered when the clerk read, “Mrs. Clark.”
And he said, “Here.”
And she looked up and said, “Mrs. Clark.”
And he said, “Here.”
And she said, “Mrs. Clark.”
And he stood up and said, “Well, i thought the letter was for me, and i opened it.”
The she said, “We summoned Mrs. Clark.”
And he said, “Well, i'm here. Can i do it? She doesn’t have any interest in this sort of thing.”
And the clerk said, “Mr. Clark, how do You know? She doesn’t even know she’s been summoned.”
This roll call is pretty good.
There was a man there whose name i wrote down phonetically because i couldn't spell it. His name was Zurfell Lishenstein. Zurfell Lishenstein. i remember it because they went over it five or six times, mispronouncing it. He insisted it be pronounced correctly and finally stood in a huff and said, “i see no reason why i should serve on a jury in a court that can’t pronounce my name!”
The woman next to me said, “Lichenstein? i wonder if he’s a Jew?”
i said, “Well, i don't know…could be. Does it matter?”
And she said, “i am German. my name is Zeller.”
And i said, “Well, it doesn’t matter. That was forty years ago.”
And she said, “He and i could be seated next to each other in a jury.”
i said, “Well, You were probably just a child when all of that happened years ago.”
And she said, “i was ten years old. i visited Grandmother. She Lived about four miles from Buchenwald. i smelled the odor....”
Calling the Roll. You know, a person could get interested in Paul’s calling the roll, even if it’s no more than to say, “i wonder how Paul knew all those people, since he had never been to the church.” i wonder if, back then, You could buy mailing lists? After all, he wants to raise money in Rome for his Spanish mission, and he is politically wise — and he says, “Tell this one “hello” and that one “hello.” ”
Some scholars think this doesn’t even belongs in Romans. He’s never been to Rome.
But i could get interested in the roll call, because it gives a kind of sociological profile of the membership of the church. Now, i don’t expect You to remember, but — in the list — there is a husband & wife, Aquila & Priscilla. There’s a man and his mother: Rufus and his mother. There is a brother & sister: Nereus and his sister. There are brothers: Andronicus & Junias. There are sisters: Tryphaena & Tryphosa. There is an old man: Epeanetus. Isn’t that an interesting profile of the church? There’s a single woman: Mary. There’s a single man: Herodion. Not a lot of nuclear family there at all, except as Christ has called them together. It’s an interesting list — sort of. Not very....
But for Paul it’s not a list. Don’t call it a list!
He’s packing his stuff. He’s in the home of Gaius, in Corinth, who is host to Paul and host to the church in Corinth. And Paul is getting ready to go West to Italy and to Spain. He’s about to move to a new parish — one far away. He is now about sixty years old — fifty-nine years old, i would guess. He feels he has one more good ministry in him.
Most churches don’t want a person fifty-nine years old, but those churches had no choice because Paul started his own. And he wants to have one other ministry, because he got a late start. He was probably about thirty-five when he started.
He doesn’t have much to pack — his coat and his books and a few other things. And, while he is throwing things away to trim down the load for packing and moving, he comes across some notes and some correspondence — and he sits down among the boxes and begins to remember.
Don’t call it a list….
You’ve done it Yourself. When my wife & i finished our service at the student church — when in seminary — on our last Sunday there, they gave us a gift. It was a quilt some of the women of the church had made, and they stitched into the top of the quilt the names of all the church members. And every time we move and we come across that quilt, we spread it out on the bed and we start remembering.
We remembered something about every…there’s Chester, who voted against and persuaded the others to vote against my raise. There’s Mary & John, who put new tires on our car. There’s Loy, very quiet and never said anything. There is his wife, Marie. There is this marvelous woman, Lois, who Lived with that man who drank and became violent, and yet she was always faithful and pleasant — and he was dying with cancer when we went. my first funeral there — You remember? And this is the way we go over the quilt….
Don’t call it a list. Paul said, “Don’t call it a list!”
Aquila and Priscilla — they risked their necks for me. Andronicus & Junias — we were in jail together. They’re great Christians. There’s Mary. Mary worked hard. She was there when everybody else quit. She’s the one who always said, “Now Paul, You go on home. i'll put things up. i'll put the hymnals away and i’ll pick up all the papers and straighten the chairs. You go on home. You’re tired.”
“Well, Mary, You’re tired too.”
“Yes, Paul, but You’ve got to ride a donkey across Asia tomorrow. You go on. i’ll pick up here.” Mary worked hard.
Epaenetus — the first person converted under my preaching, and i didn’t sleep a wink that night saying, “Thank God, finally somebody heard.” The first one to respond to the Gospel. What a marvelous day that was.
Tryphaena and Tryphosa — obviously twins. You hear it, don’t You, in the names: Tryphaena & Tryphosa? They always sat on this side, and they both wore blue every Sunday. i never knew them apart, really. One of them had a mole on her cheek, but I didn’t know if it was Tryphaena or Tryphosa. I never did get them straight.
And Rufus — tell Rufus “hello” and tell his mother “hello,” because she’s my mother, too.
Isn’t that something? Some woman earned from this apostle the title “mother.” Can’t You see her — this woman able to be mother to Paul? Probably stayed in their home. She was a rather large woman — always had an apron — a lot of things stuffed in the pocket of the apron. Hair pulled back in a bun. Fixed a good breakfast. Paul said, “i’m sorry — i can’t stay. i have to be on my way.” “Sit down and eat Your breakfast! i don’t care if You are an apostle — You’re gonna eat.” “Tell my mother hello!”
This is not a list….
i remember when they brought the famous list to Atlanta. The workers set it up in the public place — block after block — to form a long wall of names: Vietnam names.
Some of us looked at it like it were a list of names. Others went over closer. Some walked slowly down the column. There was the woman who went up and put her finger on a name, and she held a child up and put the child’s hand on a name. There was a woman there who kissed the wall at a name. There were flowers lying beneath the wall….
Don’t call it a list. It’s not a “list.”
In fact, these names in Romans 16 are, for Paul, extremely special, because — even though he says “hello” — say “hello” to, say “hello” to, say “hello” to…what he really is saying is “Goodbye.” O, he’s going to Rome, he says, but before he goes to Rome he has to go to Jerusalem. He’s going with the offering, and he’s going into a nest of hostility. And so at the end of chapter fifteen, he says to these people, “Pray with me. Agonize with me that i won’t be killed in Jerusalem, that the saints will accept the money in Jerusalem…that i’ll get to come back and be with You. Please…pray.”
These are not just names.
Do You have a piece of paper? Do You have a piece of — Well, use Your worship bulletin. Would You write in the margins somewhere or at the bottom these words, “i Thank my God for all my remembrance of You.” i Thank my God for all my remembrance of You, and write a name. You choose the name. You remember the name. Write another name and another name and another name.
Before i married and was serving a little mission in the Appalachians, i moved — in my service — down to a place on Watts Barr Lake between Chattanooga and Knoxville — a little village. It was the custom in that church at Easter to have a baptismal service, and my church immerses and it was held as baptismal service in Watts Barr Lake on Easter evening at sundown. Out on a sand bar, i — with the candidates for baptism — moved into the water and then they moved across to the shore where the little congregation was gathered singing around a fire and cooking supper. They had constructed little booths for changing clothes with blankets hanging, and — as the candidates moved from the water — they went in and changed clothes and went to the fire in the center. And finally — last of all — i went over, changed clothes, and went to the fire.
Once we were all around the fire, this is the ritual of that tradition. Glen Hickey — always Glen — introduced the new people: gave their names, where they lived, and their work. Then the rest of us formed a circle around them, while they stayed warm at the fire.
And the ritual was each person in the circle gave her or his name and said this,
“my name is ____, and if You ever need…If You ever need somebody to do washing and ironing...”
“my name is ____ if You ever need anybody to chop wood...”
“my name is ____ if You ever need anybody to baby-sit...”
“my name is ____ if You ever need anybody to repair Your house...”
“my name is ____ if You ever need anybody to sit with the sick...”
“my name is ____ if You ever need a car to go to town...”
And around the circle, and then we ate, and then we had a square dance. And, at a time they knew — i didn’t know, Percy Miller — with thumbs in his bibbed overalls — would stand up and say, “It’s time to go.” And everybody left, and he lingered behind and — with his big shoe — kicked sand over the dying fire. And my first experience of that, he saw me standing there, still. And he looked at me and said, “Craddock, folks don’t ever get any closer than this.”
In that little community, they have a name for that. i’ve heard it in other communities, too. In that community, their name for that is “church.” They call that “church.”
Have You written any names? Do You have a name or two? Keep the list. Keep the list, because — to You — it’s not “a list.” In fact, the next time You move, keep that. Even if You have to leave Your car and Your library and Your furniture and Your typewriter and everything else — take that with You. In fact, when Your ministry has ended and You leave the earth, take it with You.
i know, i know, i know. When You get to the gate, Saint Peter’s gonna say, “Now, look, You went into the world with nothing — You’ve got to come out of it with nothing. Now what have You got?
And You say, “Well, it’s just some names.”
“Well, let me see it.”
“Well now, this is just some names of folk i worked with and folk who helped me.”
“Well, let me see it.”
“Well, this is just a group of people that — if it weren't for them — i’d have never made it.”
He said, “i want to see it.”
And You give it to him, and he smiles — and he says, “i know all of them. In fact — on my way here to the gate — i passed a group. They were painting a great big sign to hang over the street, and it said, ‘Welcome home....’ ”
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