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 Colossians 3:8-17
I would like to by sharing two simple writings that had a significant impact on my thinking when I was young. First, from William Wordsworth, these familiar words that have become part of the American consciousness:
The best portions of a good person's life are the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
Second, this poem by Joseph Norris. It contains a brilliant idea, dramatically stated:
Drop a pebble in the water,
And its ripples reach out far,
And the sunbeams dancing on them,
May reflect them to a star.
Give a smile to someone passing,
Thereby making his morning glad,
It may greet you in the evening
When your own heart may be sad.
Do a deed of simple kindness,
Though its end you may not see,
It may reach like widening ripples
Down a long eternity.
As I was preparing this sermon, I began to think all the acts of kindness that have been done to me. I could have listed a thousand, ten thousand, if I had taken the time. My sense is that most of us do not understand the profound, life-changing impact a simple act of kindness can have on others.
I'm going to tell you about one act of kindness that came to my mind immediately. It was something that happened on the day my father died. On that day, I was on vacation with my family on a little island off the coast of Maine. Word came from New York that my father had died.
The news quickly spread around the island, Thomas Caliandro had died. Hurriedly, we gathered our things together and packed up so we could return to New York as soon as possible. I started putting our suitcases out the back door of the cottage.
Our neighbor from next door, Gail Wood, drove up and began putting our bags into her car. She didn't say a word. I had called a water taxi to shuttle us to the mainland and Gail drove us down to the boat.
Three weeks later, we returned to the cottage to close it up for the season. We arrived late on a Friday afternoon. There was no food in the house, but Gail came walking across the back yard with a big, big bowl of lobster stew so we would have something to eat that night. I don't even remember what she said, but I remember her simple act of kindness and its profound effect.
We never know the long ripple effect a simple act of kindness can have. But we do know that a lack of kindness can cut the other way. I wonder if we're aware of the damage we can do on the other side of that coin.
I happened to be on an airplane the other day. I wonder if a fellow passenger, a young woman, was aware of the negative effect she had on me and the other passengers on that plane. I was one of the first persons on board. I took my assigned seat on the aisle. Soon other people began to file on. A young woman, about 24 years old, appeared. She was well-dressed and attractive, but she was in such a hurry, so impatient to get ahead of the other passengers so she could get to her seat.
I suddenly became aware that she was going to sit in my row. Before I could get up to let her past me, she kneed her way through me and over me and sat down in the window seat. She took the blanket and pillow that were there, wrapped herself up and burrowed in. I thought, "this is going to be interesting."
When the plane was airborne, she leaned over to me and said, "When they bring the meals, tell them I want one." When the food came, I did that. She woke up. I was there. She was there. It was strange and uncomfortable. She was eagerly eating everything on her plate. I wanted to try to communicate something. Since I wasn't going to eat my dinner roll, I said, "Would you like my roll?"
"No, thank you very much," she answered.
When the plane landed, I stood up and waited for the passengers to file out, as you always do. But again, she pushed her way right through me. "I want to get out of here," she said.
She was well-dressed, attractive and she appeared to be bright. I wondered if she was aware of the negative ripple effect her attitude had on so many other people. I am sure she was not aware that, with a simple choice, she could have practiced a small degree of kindness that would have exerted a positive effect on others. And kindness is such a simple thing to do. You can decide that you're going to be kind, and you can be kind. It's that easy.
My experience with that young woman was far different from another experience I had one afternoon in a supermarket. The woman in front of me on the checkout line had three huge bags of oranges. So I said to her, "You must make your own fresh orange juice."
"Yes, I do," she said. "My husband would say to me, 'Honey, if you really love me, you'll give me fresh orange juice every morning.' He's gone now, but I decided I'd continue the tradition. It's a kindness I do to myself."
Isn't that lovely?
Now, where does kindness stand in the great scheme of things? Some of you might say, "Arthur, you ought to be preaching a sermon on something more important than kindness." No, there isn't anything more important. In the scheme of things, kindness is high up, way up, at the top.
What would society be like, what would life be like, if everyone were unkind? We would be in a literal living hell.
Because I was preparing this topic, I spent the last week in New York being very much aware of the kindness I saw around me. In New York, our streets and subways are jammed. New York packs people in tighter than sardines in a can. But I noticed incredible civility this week and much, much kindness. I saw deference to the elderly, deference to the disabled and deference to children.
Oh, yes, perhaps five or six percent of the people who live here are the other way - they are pushy. But pushiness is not the real spirit of New York City. How many times, over the years, have I seen people stop what they are doing to help strangers in trouble or need?
What does Scripture say about kindness? Most of you would agree with me that First Corinthians 13, St. Paul's chapter on love, is the greatest writing ever on love - in any language, in any history, in any culture. It's extraordinary. That's where we find the words:
Faith, love and hope abide, these three; the greatest of these is love.
In the middle of that chapter, Paul describes the details of love. Here is what he says:
Love is patient and is kind. It's not boastful, it's not rude, it's not arrogant, it does not push itself around.
And in Paul's Letter to the Colossians, he tells us that the first wave of love, the first expression, is kindness:
You chosen ones of God, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness and humanity.
What does Jesus say about kindness? Some of you Bible scholars will say, "Well, He said nothing about kindness." Oh no, you are wrong! Jesus might not have used the word, but He spoke about kindness nonetheless.
When Christian groups and leaders try to figure out what Jesus' "bottom line" is all about, they often turn to the phrase, "I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody gets to the Father but through me."
Many Christians beat people over the heads with those words, but I don't think it was Jesus' intention to threaten people. I'll tell you what I think his priority was. We find it in Matthew, Chapter 25, in the beginning of the 31st verse, where Jesus talks about those who will be welcome into the heavenly kingdom. He speaks of the separation of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. He's talking to his disciples. He says to them, in essence:
Remember the time that I was in prison and you came and visited me? Remember the time I was sick and you attended to me? Remember the time I had no clothing and you gave me clothing? And the time I was thirsty and you quenched my thirst? The time I was lonely and you were there for me?"
The disciples looked at each other as He was talking. They didn't connect with it.
Then they said, "Lord, we did none of these things for you."
He said, "Oh, yes, you did."
They said, "How?"
Then Jesus said, "Any time you did it to any other human being, you did it to me. Any time you showed respect and caring for another human being, you also did it for me." So the essence of His love is that we must be gentle and kind to one another.
How can we make that happen? As a suggestion, let me point to something that was said by Mother Teresa:
Let's do something beautiful for God.
Those words tell us that even when we disagree with people, even when we are angry, we can do something beautiful for God because we can choose to be kind.
Some of you will remember Dr. Paul Tournier's name. He was a Swiss psychiatrist, a man of profound spirituality and a committed Christian. He wrote very sensitively and beautifully. In one of his books, he talks about a debate he had with one of his colleagues.
This other man said, "What everybody wants more than anything else is to have freedom and equality." Tournier agreed. Those things are indeed important to people. But Tournier added that people need also need to be important, to be needed, and to be someone.
"Take me seriously," Tournier said. "Even if I don't have a university degree, take me seriously. Even if I'm a laborer, take me seriously. Even if I am Black, take me seriously. Even if I am a woman, take me seriously. Even if I'm an immigrant, take me seriously. Even if I have no money, take me seriously. Even if I'm a little child, take me seriously. Recognize me as a person with something valid to say. Take me seriously. I am not a nobody. I am a somebody."
We are all children of God, and can lead with simple acts of kindness.
You know, we're all going to die. We're all going to have a funeral or memorial service. Why don't we make it our goal, our pledge to each other, that we will so live the rest of our lives that the ministers who speak on our behalf will say, "She was a kind woman" or "He was a kind man"?
Drop pebbles of kindness into your life circumstance and let the ripple effect happen. Let us pray.
Lord, You're kind to us. You're gracious to us. You forgive us. You treat us with wonderful gentleness. May we receive and absorb your kindness, and give it away. Help us, Lord, to be kind and to have faith in the power of a kindly life. AMEN |
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