"Teachers"

2 Kings 2: 1-12 and Mark 2:2-9

Sunday, February 15, 2015

First Congregational United Church of Christ – Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

Over the past month thousands throughout the world have been captivated by the story of Mott Hill Bridges Academy and its principal, Ms. Nadia Lopez. This small public middle school in Brooklyn has been the featured by Humans of New York. Now, if you’re on social media you probably already know about Humans of New York. It has over 12 million followers on Facebook. Each day Brandon Stanton posts a photo of a real, live New Yorker with a brief quotation from the person. The photos range from the mundane to the fabulous and the quotations are often inspirational, funny, poignant. I grew up learning the art of “people watching” from my grandmother. We would go to the mall so my mom could shop and Grandma would sit with me on a bench and we’d people watch. We’d make up stories about the people we saw. Humans of New York is like the best people-watching ever.

So about a month ago, Mr. Stanton started a new project. He had met a young man named Vidal Chastanet who told him about his principal Ms. Lopez. Vidal said, “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us….she tells us that every time somebody falls out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

It’s no surprise that Vidal isn’t the only one who adores Ms. Lopez. Humans of New York began a fundraising campaign for the students of Mott Hill Bridges Academy. The original goal was $100,000. Ms. Lopez had a dream of taking the entire 6^th grade class to visit Harvard each year in the fall. She believed that these kids, most of whom had never been outside of New York City, needed the opportunity to stand on an Ivy League campus and dream about what they might become.

By the time the fundraising campaign ended earlier this week, they had raised over $1.4 million dollars. Now that’s a lot of trips to Harvard! The plan was to use some funds for the Harvard excursions, some for a badly-needed summer program, and some to endow a scholarship in Vidal’s name. They raised all of that money in less than three weeks. There were over 51,000 donors – most of whom donated just $10 or $20.

All of this was taking place at the same time Kansans were receiving news that the Governor plans to balance the budget on the backs of our children – cutting $45 million from already-strapped schools.

Several of us were privileged to hear Geoffrey Canada speak earlier this week at one of many excellent Black History Month events on campus. Canada is a world-renowned educational entrepreneur based in Harlem. As executive director of the Harlem Children’s Zone he has worked with thousands of at-risk children and families from birth through college. He calls the children in the program, “my children” and it’s clear he feels a keen responsibility for giving them the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.

Canada spoke about how the demise of public education in our nation isn’t a “black problem” or even a “poor-people’s problem.” Instead, it is an American problem. Sooner or later, he said, we will see that these problems in our educational system are going to affect all of us. Well, that’s certainly apparent in Kansas right now. Harlem and Brooklyn are pretty far away from here, but the systematic devaluing of our public schools seems to know no boundaries.

My mother and father were both career educators in public schools, so I am a little biased in my love of education and teachers….but I’d venture to say almost all of us have a story or two about a teacher who changed our life, yes? I am often astounded at the creativity, optimism, and tenacity of those who teach our children day after day, month after month. They are often unsupported. They work long hours. They certainly aren’t getting rich.

Canada told a wonderful story about one of his college professors. He wanted to study psychology but everyone told him he’d never make it through statistics. So he studied and studied and did his best on the first exam….and it came back with a 37. Out of 100. He took himself in to see the professor, who told him, “Oh, it’ll be okay. You just need a different textbook. Here’s a different one. Now, go and read this week’s chapter in the new book and do the homework.” He did. He failed. “Okay, now read it again in the new book and do the homework.” He did. He passed. And on and on throughout the semester. When Canada got to the end of the semester (with a passing grade) he realized, “Wait a minute. This guy basically just got me to read two textbooks. Of course I passed. I had to do twice as much work and he tricked me into it without wounding my ego. What a genius.”

There’s nothing like a good teacher. We heard a story earlier this morning of a brilliant teacher and his student. Elijah and Elisha wandering around the countryside. Elijah the teacher. Elisha the student. Three times, Elijah said to Elisha, “You don’t have to keep going with me. I’ve got a lot of traveling to do.” Three times Elisha refused to leave his teacher’s side. It reminds me of that other great story about accompaniment in the Bible – you know the one. Ruth and Naomi. Naomi travels back to her homeland after the death of her son, but her daughter-in-law Ruth refuses to leave her side, saying, “Do not press me to leave you or turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

When you find a good teacher, a good mentor, someone who help you live more fully into the life God is dreaming for you, you don’t want to let go. You will follow that person, no matter what it takes. Elisha followed his teacher all the way until his death. After three times of trying to lose Elisha, I guess Elijah finally figured out he wasn’t going to get rid of this enthusiastic student. So he said, “What can I do for you before I die?” Now isn’t that just like a good teacher? Asking, “How can I help you one last time?”

Elisha had his answer ready. No hesitation. “Please give me a double-portion of your spirit.” In other words, “Please, teacher. Help me to become more like you.”

And Elijah. I can kind of imagine his gentle teacher smile. I mean, surely he knew there would be no way for his spirit to be passed on to his student, no matter how much both of them wanted it to be. But he did what all great teachers do. He found a work-around. He said to his student, “Well, this will be difficult. But here’s what we’ll do. If you see me being taken from you, you will get your wish.”

In other words – I need you to do the hardest thing I can think of right now. I need you to watch me leave. You have been clinging to me all along but now it is time for you to figure out how to fly solo. Watch me leave. Stand on your own two feet.

And Elisha does it. It’s not easy, but he does it. He cries out like a small child, “Father! Father!” as Elijah is taken up in the whirlwind, but he watches. And as he does, he grows stronger, more assured of his own abilities. If he can do this hard thing, surely he can handle whatever comes next.

He stands there, alone at the edge of the Jordan. He rips his own clothes in two, so distraught over the loss of his dear friend and teacher. And then he notices the mantle crumpled on the ground. That great symbol of Elijah’s prophetic power. He picks it up and wraps it around himself. That mantle carried so many memories. Remember when Elijah was running from Queen Jezebel, afraid from his own life? He went to Mount Horbeb seeking God’s face. He was terrified by the wind, the earthquake, the fire. And after the fire, he wrapped his face in that mantle and went, tentatively sticking his head out of the cave. And it was there that he heard that voice of God in the silence.

If mantles could talk….this one would have a lot to say. And as it is passed from Elijah to Elisha, I think it’s notable that it was Elisha who had to pick it up on his own. Elijah didn’t bestow it on Elisha. He simply left it behind. Elisha was the one who decided he had earned it and boldly picked it up himself, claiming his succession. The student becomes a teacher. It’s the hope of every truly great teacher. And Elijah was certainly that.

Elijah, of course, isn’t the only teacher in today’s stories from the Bible. We also get to stand on the mountain with Peter, James, John and their teacher, Jesus. As Jesus is transfigured before his friends, he literally becomes a beacon of light. And Jesus, the great teacher, is joined by his teachers – Elijah and Moses – those great prophets who Jesus emulates.

The students – Peter, James, John – do what any students might do. They want to stay with their teacher as long as possible. They say, “Let’s build some small houses so we can stay here with Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. We can learn from them here.”

But that isn’t the plan. Jesus may be a teacher, but he’s more likely to be teaching out there in the real world, not sheltered away on some mountain. And so the disciples follow him back out into the world. A world as challenging and discombobulating as ours. Jesus and his students were no strangers to poverty, discrimination, misplaced priorities. They would have likely felt right at home here in Kansas where we struggle with misguided politicians who seem to be doing their best to send our state back in time. They knew all about governments made up of selfish rulers who mostly cared about staying in power, whatever the costs to the average person. They knew all about leaders who were willing to sacrifice some to appease others.

And can we pause for just a moment to make sure and say out loud how incredibly enraging it is that we now, once again, live in a state that refuses to protect the civil rights of its employees who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender? We must continue to protest – loudly and vehemently and in the name of Christ – until all Kansans, not just those employed by the government, but ALL Kansans are protected from discrimination both at work and at home. I was unable to make the protest in Topeka yesterday but I am very thankful that some of you were there. I wrote a letter to Governor Brownback and I hope you’ll do the same.

When Peter, James, and John followed their teacher off that mountain, I can imagine they might have felt a bit like we do now. Back to the grind. Back to the work of loving loudly in a world where the voices of hate and fear often seem turned up to full blast.

I think their hope must have come from that time on the mountain. That image of Jesus, transformed into a beacon of light and hope and healing and wholeness. That is what guided and sustained them. And it is what guides and sustains us even to this day. As we prepare to journey into Lent together, we know we are going all the way to the cross with our teacher. The story will not end until we’ve encountered some of the most hateful vitriol that the world has ever known. And yet, we follow. We will not leave our teacher alone.

We will not leave Jesus alone – not when the Roman government says he is unworthy of basic human, God-given rights because he is less-than, from an unprotected class. We will not leave Jesus alone – we will journey together and recommit ourselves to loving loudly in the face of discrimination. We will not leave Jesus alone – we will continue to speak up on behalf of the children in this state who depend on us to provide outstanding teachers and great schools. 

We will not leave Jesus alone because God has not left us alone. In the words of Rabbi Rami Shapiro, “We are loved by an unending love.” God did not forsake Elijah or his student, Elisha. God did not leave Peter, James, John or their teacher Jesus. And God will not leave us.

We have been blessed by outstanding teachers. What will we do with all that we’ve learned?