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Trading Places"

April 22, 2007

Text: Romans 12:9-18 
 

Rom 12:9-18 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.   12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.  

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

NRSV 
 

Mark: Friends, just listen. 

Youth voice: I don’t know why old people can’t understand us!

Older voice: I don’t know why young people can’t understand us!

Y: Old people—like when you’re 30—just don’t know how to have fun!

O: Young people live just for the moment, and don’t think of the consequences of their actions.

Y: Old people wish they were young again, like me.

O: Young people wish their lives away, and can’t wait until they’re older—what a waste.

Y: Old people always complain about their aches and pains.

O: Young people always complain about their relationships and what they’re going to do with their lives.

Y: Old people wear polyester.

O: Young people wear clothes we can’t even describe.

Y: Old people should get a clue.

O: Young people should get a clue.

O & Y: I don’t know why [old/young] people can’t understand us! 

Mark:

What we have here, in the words from the movie “Cool Hand Luke,” is a “failure to communicate.” 

It’s not just a young-old thing. It’s a human thing. We stereotype according to religion, race, politics. We judge others by educational and financial standards. 

What we need is the gift, the privilege, of trading places with another person. To be able to wear their shoes for a little while, feel what they feel, look at life through their eyes. 

Sort of like this… 

…Takes off robe, puts on a “Greg” suit coat, monologues using 1^st person, as if he is Greg. Just touches on some of the stuff from what Greg wrote in the “interview.” Then concludes with, “This is what it feels like to be Greg Weeks.”  That’s the cue for Greg to enter from back, in jeans and t-shirt and cap on backwards, dribbling b-ball, and starts by saying, “BOY, it feels great to be young…” and goes into same monologue, ending with, “This is what it feels like to be Mark Sheets.” 

Greg: Mark, did I do you justice? [Mark talks]

Mark: Greg, how about how I portrayed you? [Greg talks.] 

Greg: What did you learn from being me? [Mark answers, then Greg answers.] 

Greg: Wouldn’t it be something if everyone in this congregation could have the privilege of experiencing what we experienced? 

Mark: Yeah…[Mark walks through congregation, talking.] 

Greg: You know, if we could do that with each other, we’d be doing what Paul said in today’s passage. 

Mark: Really? Preach on, brother. 

Greg: All righty-roo. Look at this verse: 

“Let love be genuine… Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” 

As Paul was writing this, the church in Rome was in its infancy. He had written a lot of “theological” stuff prior to this, as a foundation for the church [“saved by faith”]. And now he’s talking about the “personal” stuff that must be built on the foundation—how people in a church must relate to each other, if they’re going to be the “family” Christ intended them to be.

Paul tells you and me to “let love be genuine”—literally, it means “let your love for someone not be hypocritical.” How can you do that? You step out of your shoes, temporarily, and put on the shoes of another. You might be in the deepest depression of your life—but as a Christian, if someone has been blessed with a gift and is happy, you set aside how you are feeling and you “rejoice” with that person. And if you’re the happiest you’ve ever been in your life, but there is someone in this church who’s sad, you set aside how you feel and you enter their world—you “weep” with them. THE Christian act is setting aside your perspectives, priorities, and—yes—even prejudices, and entering the world of another person. Maybe that’s what Paul is meaning when he also says in the passage the wonderful words, “Don’t claim to be wiser than you are!”—don’t offer advice or wisdom, but offer yourself, being there for another person, to feel what they’re feeling, to see what they’re seeing. I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THAT YOU MAKE CHRIST’S LOVE REAL WHEN YOU TRADE PLACES WITH ANOTHER PERSON. 

Mark: But wait. How can people here do this? We had a week to prepare this dialogue sermon. We interviewed each other, listened to each other. How can people here do this? 

Greg: Wow, that’s a great question. How DO you think you can understand what those around you are going through? [Mark and Greg go through congregation, asking.]  

Mark: Greg, I’m so impressed by how “cool” [?] the folks in our church are. These are AWESOME answers! It makes me remember the way our passage ends today. 

Greg: How’s that? 

Mark: If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 

Greg: I’d never heard it that way before: “so far as it depends on you.”  

Mark: Yeah—it’s up to us to start, to take the initiative. It DOES depend on each of us to take the first step, and trade places with a brother or sister here. 

Greg: What would happen if we did? 

Young voice: You know, there’s more than one way to look at things, isn’t there?

Old voice: Sure is—and through God’s grace, I will believe that your way is just as right as I think mine is. I might not agree with everything, but I respect you.

Y:  Cool. And that’s just the way I feel about you.

O & Y:  “SO FAR AS IT DEPENDS ON US, WE WILL LIVE PEACEABLY WITH EACH OTHER!”