Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

    Aug 13, 2017

    Beauty and the Beast OR Transforming Ugly

    Passage: Acts 9:1-22

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Series: The Gospel in Disney

    Category: Discipleship, Current Events

    Keywords: community, love, transformation

    Everyone loves a good before-and-after story. Beast’s monstrous exterior was a reflection of the cruelty in his heart, but he was made human again by experiencing Belle’s love. Saul of Tarsus was a “beastly” figure transformed into a saint by the love of Christ, and the Holy Spirit still works in us today to soften our hearts and help us embody the love of Christ in a hurting world.

    Everybody loves a good “once upon a time.” We read them to our children, we line up to see them in the theaters – again and again and again. These stories are entertaining and fun and scary. They get us going emotionally. They are timeless classics because they capture the essence of humanity. And If we just “tune our heart,” we can see in them timeless, blblical truths as well that move us ever closer to the heart of God. We just need to have eyes to see and ears to hear – and help our kids to do the same thing. And if we can begin looking with those eyes in the things that entertain us, maybe, just maybe, we will begin to see God-signs and God-actions all around us!

    Today’s “once upon a time” is Beauty and the Beast, and the 1991 version of the movie does a great job of summarizing the story…

    (NOTE:  There are 2 clips from the 1991 animated Disney film that were played as part of this message.  The clips give another dimension to the message of the day.)  TECH – Play clip – 00:1:16 through 00:3:17 (ends with “who could ever learn to love a beast?”)

    The Beast and Paul the apostle have much in common. Saul’s beastliness may not have come from being obviously self-centered and narcissistic and then being cursed by an apparently wicked witch, but he was every bit as beastly and scary as Disney’s cartoon creation. In today’s story, Saul has not yet been converted. He is on his way to arrest people who were disciples of Jesus – people that had responded to Jesus’ loving call and grace-filled teaching. He believed that they threatened the faith that he held dear.

    This Jesus did not live as a committed Jew should have lived. Turn the other cheek? Love your enemy? You are blessed when you are poor? Healing on the Sabbath? What nonsense! And dangerous nonsense at that! Saul was going to see that these people were controlled and the wrong-headed teachings were silenced.

    Do not be fooled, friends. Saul was arrogant – he was a Pharisee. He was a keeper of the Law – one who measured everything by whether he found it to be consistent and consonant with the Law as he understood it. Very either/or in his thinking. There was no room for any thought or action that did not match perfectly with his – with that of the Pharisees. To a large degree, Saul’s righteous arrogance was every bit as self-centered as that of the Beast – it just had a different source.

    Beast and Saul of Tarsus were SCARY and just plain MEAN.

    But love.

    Love intervened in both stories: selfless, unconditional, grace-filled love. Saul was literally overwhelmed – literally knocked off his high horse – by the power and depth of God’s love, his Law-blinded heart taught by his blinded eyes to see the truth of the love of Christ – so much so that his name just had to change to show the enormity of the change within.

    Beast’s changed heart was the result of Belle’s amazing ability to see beyond the surface and her desire to find substance and meaning in life – and to offer her truly spiritual gift of transforming love with abandon. Look at how threatening her situation was. She was terrified of Beast. Yet, her deep love for her father moved her to offer herself in his place and her natural love for others carried her and Beast to a new way of being. Belle acted. Whe was not complacent nor resigned. Hers was no “pie in the sky by and by” attitude. She did not wait for someone to rescue her. She acted. Belle’s powerful love transforms Beast….

    TECH: Play clip 00:57:55 to 1:02:40 (end with Teapot saying “he finally learned to love.”)

    How does this apply in every day life? In every day discipleship? I’d like to use 2 recent events to illustrate.

    Beloved, it is human nature to see the world through our personal preferences, our experiences, the things we have learned either intentionally or through a kind of sensory osmosis as we have absorbed what is said and shared around us. Things we hear or observe and neglect to question or analyze thoroughly. Things that feel right or good but could be based on prejudice or fear or manipulation. Things that feel right or good because of our long-held prejudices or the things that make us afraid. You know what I mean:
    • The fear that someone will hurt us or our family.
    • The fear that someone will come and make it impossible for us to get a job.
    • The fear that someone will influence our thinking or our children’s thinking and change what we believe to be the truth.
    • The fear that our lives are less stable because – well, because things are changing, period!

    This first illustration is from a news item I read this week. The story has stayed with me, and I didn’t save it because I didn’t think about it in terms of today’s message until after it was gone from the news, and I can’t find it! But it’s a great story. In a town somewhere in the US, the residents and business people were becoming more and more agitated because someone was defacing property with graffiti. And it was getting out of hand.

    A resident of the town took a breath and began really looking at the graffiti and recognized that there was beauty in the creations. She began looking for new graffiti and then began looking for the artists, for by this time she viewed them as artists. She struck up a conversation with one and then another, and pretty soon she was in relationship with these young people and became even more aware of their artistry. She learned from them and listened to their hopes and dreams.

    Then she acted. She opened a gallery for graffiti artists in the very center of the community. People began to come to see the artwork and talk with the young people, and then big, public outdoor projects came out from under the bridges into public view. Soon, the residents were engaging with the young people.
    It’s not a fairy tale. Not everyone is a fan, but many more people see art where once everyone saw vandalism. And the young people have learned to show respect for other people’s property. Through one conversation at a time and an opportunity to get to know each other’s heart – to relate – understanding has bridged the chasm.

    Ugly transformed. And I don’t mean just the graffiti.

    So, consider what happens when The Other comes to the community. Whether the person is homeless or an immigrant fleeing injustice or war or an economic system that has kept them bound and in horrific, devastating poverty, many of us see only Other. And we become afraid.
    • What will happen to the value of my property?
    • They are going to drain our community’s resources – health care, access to food, mental health resources.
    • They are going to take away jobs.
    • Their food smells funny.
    • They smell funny.
    • They look different. They are different
    • What if…..?

    As we notice more and more people in the community, what began as a little bit of discomfort or fear can become a sense of threat. And we do not see them as equals – or as people who have fled something really awful. We see them as potentially dangerous – even as potential terrorists.

    Now, don’t get me wrong. There are sometimes people who are threatening. There are people who make terrible choices or who manipulate and are truly threatening. And we must be sensible to act in ways that assure safety and well-being for each other – and especially for our children. As we build relationships, we build community. That is the reason that our Community Kitchen is such an important ministry. Community is built around those tables. We must resist the temptation to treat “them” with disrespect, or maybe worse, to ignore “them.” The problem comes when we assume that most everyone who is different is a threat.

    How in the world does that fit with a faith and an understanding of God that clearly values each and every human being – not just those who look, talk, think, or worship as we do. We are called to see Christ in the other.

    Before I close, speaking of transformation, it will be very easy for us to demonize North Korea as we watch the drama playing out right now in living color. Clearly, the leader of that country is rattling very scary sabers, and our leaders are rattling right back. People around the world are fearful of what could happen when the rhetoric is ramped up the way it is at this moment.

    We have tools at our disposal to work toward transformation, chief of which is prayer. In my own life and some of you have shared with me that in your lives, too, we have found prayer to transform our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray – not because we are praying for what we want in the relationship or situation but for God to turn our hearts and minds toward forgiveness or toward understanding. Beloved, our prayers for the Korean people are just as important – and maybe more so – than our prayers for our own country.

    During World War II, Japanese Americans were interred because we feared them – people who were part of the fabric of American life. I am praying that our fear and national pride do not result in our repeating a terrible injustice because we feel helpless. I am also praying that peace will break out instead of war.

    Saul hid behind the wall of the Law and the practices of the faith that he understood, and those who didn’t believe or practice his form of orthodoxy were the object of punishment – like Stephen who was stoned to death while Saul looked on.

    Beast hid behind the wall of a terrifying castle, breathing fire and reigning terror on anyone who approached his domain.

    Both were transformed by the power of love – unconditional, grace-filled, other-focused, seeking love that had the power to transform ugly to a thing of great beauty.