Dr. Jan Rivero – Sunday, August 21, 2016
Coloring for grown ups has become a thing. If you don’t believe me, drop in at Barnes and Noble. I was there yesterday. There in the foyer you will be greeted by two full racks of coloring books for adults. Apparently coloring is good for the soul. Listen to these titles (I’m not making these up). The Mindfulness Coloring Book. The Meditative Adult Coloring Book. The Calm Coloring Book. Coloring for Tranquility. About fifteen years ago, way before coloring for grown ups was a thing, in a rare and historic moment, I beat the fad. I took up coloring mandalas. I would put on calming, meditative music and color away. It was nice for a while, but over time I found it less relaxing and more restricting. It made me feel limited, confined. It took me some time to figure out what happened. Then one day I realized that staying inside the lines has never been my strong suit.
I blame Jesus. And I blame myself for taking him seriously. That story we just heard about the poor dear woman who for eighteen years could not stand up straight – was that for real? Did he really think that a woman mattered? Did he really believe that she was worth getting into it with the leader of the synagogue, sacrificing his reputation over the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath? Was he serious about putting people above the rules – or at least understanding that the purpose of rules was to serve and protect people not to oppress them? Did he really mean to challenge the status quo of his faith community? Was his intention to turn the tables on the culture of his day? If the answer to any of those questions is “no” then I have misread him and the church has misled me. And I guess, in turn, that means I have erroneously engaged people – most of them college students – for decades now in the spiritual act of coloring outside the lines.
Let’s consider for a few minutes what happened that Sabbath day in the synagogue. I can’t be certain about this, but as I read the story, it sounds as though Jesus was not the only one challenging the norms. Generally it was the men who worshipped in the synagogue, so I’m curious to know how the hunchback even got in there. Now sit with that image for a minute. A disabled woman in the midst of a group of worshipping men. That the men were not harassing, mocking and bullying her is noteworthy in and of itself. She must have heard about this Jesus of Nazareth. She must have thought, “Things cannot get any worse for me, I might just as well try to get in to see this man.” I suspect she snuck in like a gate crasher at a rock concert. Under cover. Head down – something that wasn’t really very hard for her to do.
And there she was, bent over in the midst of the crowd of worshippers. Even though she could not raise her head to see his face, Jesus noticed her. He didn’t call her out, exactly. It wasn’t like Bob Barker on the Price Is Right: “Hunchback woman, come on down!” I imagine it was much more subtle. “Good lady, I see you are unable to stand tall. You cannot lift your head to see the clouds in the sky or the birds in the trees, much less the face of the one who stands before you.” And with compassion in his eyes and tenderness in his heart he reached out to her and said “You are free from what keeps you bent over. You are unencumbered by from the ailment that limits your vision and your movement in the world. You are liberated from your oppression. Stand up tall. Be free to see the world and all its possibilities.” And Luke says, “At once” – immediately, in the moment, just like that, in the blink of an eye – “she straightened up and praised God!”
The most amazing thing happened that day when the woman colored outside the lines of her own limitations and went to worship. The most miraculous thing happened in that moment when Jesus colored outside the lines placed on him by a well-intending church and healed the woman. Hmmmm…. sit with that for a while.
Where would the world be without the men, women and children who color outside the lines? We know many stories from history books, but there are thousands of others that didn’t make the news. They transcend age, race, nationality, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, even field of study. Their stories are liberation stories, tales of actions taken and victories won that set people free from the oppression that kept them bound.
Emmeline Pankhurst was a 45-year-old widow when she founded the Womens’ Social and Political Union in 1903. Coloring outside the lines she mobilized women and some men to work and protest for women’s voting rights. Between 1908 and 1914 she was imprisoned thirteen times, and each time released after going on a hunger strike, only to be arrested again when police found she had regained her strength. Together this band of liberationists risked all they had for others – for generations of women to come to have the privilege of voting. So this past week we celebrated the 98th anniversary of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote.
We know well the stories of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and other heroes and sheroes of the Civil Rights Movement. But a lesser known name is Bayard Rustin. Born in 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, he was raised by his Quaker grandparents. He grew up believing that all human beings are part of a single family, one race – the human race. With that upbringing, he probably didn’t imagine he was coloring outside the lines when he staged an impromptu sit-in at a restaurant with his high school football team. In 1947 he led a group of whites and blacks on what was called a “Journey of Reconciliation” to liberate blacks from racial segregation on inter-state buses. Rustin was the driving force behind the historic March on Washington, where King delivered his iconic “I have a dream” speech. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach began flying F15 Strike Eagle fighter jets for the U.S. Air Force in 1988. He flew scores of missions, receiving campaign medals for fighting in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He received a meritorious service medal and nine air medals, one of which was for protecting ground units while being barraged by anti-aircraft artillery fire during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2008, after twenty years of faithful and decorated service, while serving as a flight instructor, he admitted to a civilian he was gay, and was dismissed from the Air Force. His challenge to the decision in court raised the visibility of the oppression and injustice suffered by gays, lesbians and transgendered. His coloring outside the lines ultimately led to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by Congress in 2010, liberating soldiers to be themselves and serve their country.
Annie Clark entered the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2007. During Week of Welcome, before her first year classes had even begun, she was raped at a fraternity party. After the student court failed to convict and expel her perpetrator she was the lead complainant in the Title IX and Clery complaints against UNC. She and another victim began the non-profit organization, End Rape on Campus, and their story is highlighted in the movie The Hunting Ground. Annie and her colleague, Andrea, are coloring outside the lines as they liberate college women and men across the country, raising awareness of the epidemic of sexual assault on campuses, and pushing forward the Campus Accountability and Safety Act.
We live and work in a community where there are children of God longing to be set free, wanting an equal shot at life, hoping upon hope to stand tall. They are immigrants. They are refugees. They are homeless men and women. They are children of incarcerated. They are black. They are white. They are gay. They are straight. They need us to color outside the lines on their behalf.
We sit on the edge of a University where students are stretched, challenged, taught to think outside the box and encouraged to color outside the lines. We have the privilege of engaging the University community and working together to address the problems of the world as Christ followers. Our work is to bring about God’s beloved community. That community can only exist where people, like the woman in Luke’s gospel, are healed and set free to thrive and live abundant lives. So as this new academic year begins, I pray that we will all do some coloring outside the lines, helping those bent over to stand tall, healing those who sit on the margins, giving hope to those who are oppressed, to the end that God’s vision may become a reality on earth. I’m certain that’s what Jesus would do, and, like coloring for grown ups, it is good for the soul.
Let all God’s people say: Amen.