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Guest Sermon

Tarrytown United Methodist Church

June 8, 1997

Wayne Danielson

Home Improvement

Luke 6:41- 42. “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye’ when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.”

Luke 6:47-49. “Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them — I will show you what he is like. He is like the man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundation on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house, but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man who built his house on soil, with no foundations; as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!”

Luke 6: 36-38. “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

LaVonne is out in Guam right now visiting Kristin, who just graduated from the University of Guam. I had to stay home and work on UT’s accreditation report, which is due at the printers July 16. So we both have had a two-week break from working on our home improvement list. Nevertheless, it seems to me that we have been spending a lot of time on home improvements lately — you know, those little things that need doing around a house, even a new house. Things like —

Changing light bulbs,

Putting in air filters,

Fixing that leaky faucet in the master bathroom.

No matter how hard we work on these tasks, we never seem to finish them. Have you ever noticed that the home improvement list is the only list that you never get to the bottom of? At least, I’ve never got to the bottom of one.

A few weeks ago, I almost decided to call a moratorium on all sentences beginning with the words:

“We need to ...”

“We ought to ...”

and

“When are we going to ....”

I didn’t try to declare the moratorium, because I realize that sentences like this form the foundation for all good marriages, and if we didn’t say them we might not have much to talk about. But I certainly thought about it.

Why is it so hard just to sit out on the deck and enjoy the evening without thinking about the burned out light in the Japanese garden?

Why is it so difficult just to plop down in the library and enjoy a good book without noticing the red wine spot on the carpet that seemed to appear by magic after our last dinner party?

Why is it so difficult just to lie in bed at night and drift off to sleep without hearing the drip, drip, drip of water being wasted by that blankety-blank leaking faucet?

I don’t know the answer, but it certainly has been a problem lately.

As a matter of fact the home improvement list recently got so long we decided to devote an entire looseleaf notebook to it. The notebook is called “The List,” and it contains a page for every room in the house, the garage, and the attic and for every area on the outside of the house and in the yard. The book consists of 29 pages in all, and it is still growing.

Now whenever we hear ourselves starting out a sentence with —

“We need to ...”

“We ought to ...”

“When are we going to ....”

I just say — “Put it in the book.”

Put it in the book. It’s a great system. Sometimes we just walk around the house and yard crossing off things we’ve done — that’s fun — and adding things we need to undertake — not so much fun. Having the book relieves some of the pressure of remembering everything, but it doesn’t solve the basic problem of home improvement itself, namely, that it has no end.

Here are some of the things we need to do in the dining room:

• Get a new table centerpiece for summer.

• Polish the brass candlesticks.

• Polish the silverware.

• Reverse the Chinese screen. (The Chinese screen has a winter side and a summer side, and even though it’s June, the winter side is still showing.)

• Get a new vase for gladiolas.

• Repot the white flowers under the mirror.

• Lower the drapes one inch on the right. (Oh, LaVonne finally got tired of waiting for me and did that one herself!)

Here are some things for the library:

• Get that red wine spot out of the carpet.

• Give some books away. (That’s hard for me to do.)

• Replace the Madame Butterfly print. (That’s hard for LaVonne to do, but it’s really got to go.)

• Find a red and green throw for the chairs by the window.

• Get some new CD’s. (We’re both tired of classical guitar music.)

• Find the missing dealies that go under the drinks. (Wayne has forgotten where he put them.)

You can see all the important things we need to do.

Our home improvement book does have a sense of humor. Its final item says, “Build a swinging bridge across the canyon.” I think I had that idea, and it was so far out, we both laughed about it. Now, when we think of something really outlandish that we’d like to do, I say, “Put it in the book right after the swinging bridge.” You’d be surprised at how many entries we have in that section.

The book has one other thing to recommend it. It’s a “we” book. That is, it makes it clear that we share the obligation of completing these home improvement tasks. That’s good, I think. It’s not just a list of things the other person in the marriage needs to attend to.

Hmmm.

Maybe it would be interesting to make that kind of book.

I could put LaVonne’s name on the cover, and in it I could write down all the things I think she needs to do to clean up her act. And fair’s fair, she could make a book with my name on it and write down all the things she thinks I need to do to improve my character. After we work on these books for a while — assuming that we’re still married to one another — we could add books for all the children and grandchildren, and when they come to visit we could remind them of all the things they need to do to become better individuals. For that matter, we could add all the people in our workplaces — we both know lots of people with serious problems they ought to attend to — and we could make lists for them, too. Like the Lord High Executioner in Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera, The Mikado, we could say “I’ve Got a Little List....” We could make lots of lists. We could extend the lists to include our neighbors, the church, the Austin City Council, Capital Metro, the State Legislature, Willie Nelson, Oprah, the Congress, the Supreme Court and the present occupants of the White House. With some additional thought we probably could go international and make self-improvement lists for most of the countries of the world.

That’s a pretty big order, isn’t it?

But to hear us talk sometimes, we sound like we think we’re capable of doing it.

We’re not.

And besides, the book has already been written — the Bible is the great “to do” list for humankind. The Bible is the greatest “home improvement” book ever written. In its pages, all of us can find ways to improve much of what needs improving in our own lives.

In our own lives.

That’s the key to the Bible’s message, isn’t it?

It seems to me that the Bible is quite uninterested in teaching us how to improve the character of other people. It is mainly interested in teaching us how to pay attention to our own character.

Jesus says this often, most notably and most directly, perhaps, in his famous teaching about the two carpenters. I always thought it was interesting that this teaching seemed to come from Jesus’s presumed occupation as a designer or builder, an archon:, in the Greek. Jesus may have seen examples of this behavior as carpenters working together on a job tended to criticize one another’s work and one another’s appearance:

The message is plain enough. We ought not to keep home improvement lists for one another. We ought to keep them for ourselves.

Changing others, molding and modeling them into the people we would like for them to be, is a difficult if not impossible task. Our overflowing prisons are testimony to this truism. We need to pay attention to those we can change, namely ourselves. Changing ourselves is difficult, too. But it is not impossible. Indeed, the good news, the gospel of the New Testament writings, is that change can happen. We can change our own lives. We can make the home improvements in ourselves that need to be made. We can find the happiness that we seek. And if enough people learn to do this, one by one, the world itself will be transformed.

One by one.

That’s the way the world changes, isn’t it? We’re impatient. We want to organize into vast groups of people, vast armies, and force people immediately to do things right. This seldom works. We need to be patient, as God is patient. He says one by one is the way to do it. It takes longer. But the resulting change is stronger, able to stand up. Jesus, again calling on his background as a builder, put it in these powerful words:

How do we change ourselves? How do we build deep foundations? How do we foster enduring values? How do we create permanent change for the better in ourselves? What tasks should go on our own self-improvement lists?

A very important task, perhaps the most important of all, Jesus says, is to live a life of compassionate devotion to others. His teaching is this:

Jesus teaches us that a kind of symmetry exists in all our relationships. If one thing happens, then something reciprocal takes place.

Children learn that if they take turns, others will generally take turns back.

They learn that if they share, others will usually share in return.

They learn that two, playing together, is lots more fun than one playing alone.

The opposite is also true:

Children learn that if they are selfish, their friends are selfish in return.

They learn that if they don’t share, others won’t either.

They learn that if they hit, others hit back.

They learn that quitting the game and taking their ball and going home means that the fun is over, and they will spend the rest of the day by themselves.

If, somehow, we fail to learn this rule of reciprocity in childhood, we generally have second chances to learn it as adults.

If we condemn others, we will be condemned in return.

If we blame others, we ourselves will be blamed.

If we speak meanly of others, others will speak meanly of us.

On the other hand —

If we are compassionate, we will receive compassion in return.

If we give someone a gentle hug, we will get a gentle hug back.

If we speak a kind word, we will hear a kind word spoken in return.

One soft kiss evokes another.

Jesus said it quite simply: “The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

Whether it is Christmas presents or love, the value of what we receive is about the same as what we give. As far as I can tell, this teaching is a universal law. However, it is a lot easier to ignore this teaching of Jesus. It is a lot easier to blame the other fellow. It is a lot easier to wait for the other person to make the first generous move before we make a generous move ourselves. It is a lot easier to keep home improvement lists for other people than to keep them for ourselves .

I gave a talk on this subject in another Austin Methodist Church some years ago. I guess I got going pretty well on turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving up your cloak when someone asks for your shirt, being generous, being forgiving. Doing this is surely God’s business on earth, I said, and that’s what we should be about.

After the sermon, as I stood in the doorway of the church shaking hands with the people as they came out, a tiny gray-haired woman approached me with her blue eyes snapping:

“I can’t stand those texts,” she said. “I try to do most of what the Bible says, but I just can’t turn the other cheek. I think Jesus got it wrong somehow. And if I ever get to heaven, I intend to talk to him about it.”

I wished her luck. I often feel that way myself, even though I am sure that I’m wrong.

Home improvements.

The most important kind, the most difficult kind, I think, are the personal lists we keep not for others, but for ourselves.

My personal home improvement list is a long one. I guess you could say I have lots of cracks in my foundation and lots of shaky values. I’ve been known on occasion to criticize those

who criticize me, for example. That’s wrong, I know. And I’m trying to do better, but I sometimes think I am simply a slow learner. My personal home improvement list runs for much more than 29 pages. But I have pared it down to just a few items, the most important ones. It occurred to me that some of these might be on your list, too. Here are:

The Top Ten Items on Wayne’s Personal Home Improvement List

10. Let people learn for themselves. Be helpful, but don’t try to do everything for them. Don’t preach. Ask questions. Share.

9. Listen. Sometimes people don’t want your help. They just want to talk. Sometimes your job is just to nod, and say “right,” and keep the conversation going.

8. Be here now. Avoid being off somewhere in the future or somewhere in the past. The only time we have together is right now. Use now wisely. Pay attention.

7. Just say yes or just say no. People want to know what you think and what you will do. It’s ok to tell them. As a matter of fact, it’s the right thing to do. An ambivalent answer is often no answer at all.

6. Ask for what you want. Hinting never works well. Just say, “Please pass the potatoes.” What can happen? You’ll either get the potatoes or you won’t. Is this so bad? Remember that it was Jesus who said: “Ask and you shall receive.”

5. Express your love. Hinting never works well. Actions can sometimes be misinterpreted. Just say, “I love you.” What can happen? The promise is that you’ll get back what you give and then some. It could happen.

4. Pray all the time. I don’t need to explain that. I just need to do it.

3. Trust others. As a rule people like you. They’re not out to get you. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Believe in them, and they will believe in you. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” works. It really does.

2. Be courageous. If you stand for the right, someone will come and stand beside you. You can count on this.

1. Remember that at all times you are in God’s hands. What can happen? Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We’re on his home improvement list permanently.

What is on your home improvement list?

Do you need to polish the candlesticks? Repot the flowers? Get a new centerpiece for the dining room table? We all have regular home improvement lists. Personal home improvement lists of the kind I’ve been talking about are probably a little more unusual. But it seems to me that if they are based on listening to and following the words of Our Lord, they might do more to improve our homes than the other kind. What do you think? I’m sure of one thing: keeping my own list is better for my character than keeping a list for other folks. And one of these days, who knows? I may be able to cross off a few of those Top Ten items. But as for turning that Chinese screen around, I think I’ll wait on that until LaVonne gets back from Guam.