Useful

People say I’m a pretty easygoing person – cheerful, caring, giving and all that. They say that I don’t have much of a temper at all.

A few people have learned over the years how to push my buttons, however. I don’t mean family things – where a father or a husband acts crabby or unreasonable because they are tired or overstressed or really hungry. I’m guilty of being not at all easygoing, cheerful, caring, giving or even-tempered at home. I’m not trying to excuse it – yet I do think most of us realize that we have less patience and kindness when it comes to our families. I know my family knows better than any how to push my buttons.

But there are also times when I lose all those good qualities in other situations. The biggest one is when it comes to manipulation.

I know that when I have felt that I was being manipulated or noticed others being manipulated – especially by someone who knew or should have known better – I have responded in ways that were not as kind or gentle as I probably could have or should have been.

So when I read this morning’s Bible reading – covering most of the short chapter of Philemon, I can feel my temperature rising.

When Paul wrote to Philemon, I know he had an agenda. He wanted Philemon to release Onesimus from his servitude – his slavery. I think he also wanted to challenge Philemon to do more. He wanted to challenge Philemon to accept someone from a completely different class as an equal.

I think Paul’s clever use of words and phrases really drove home his agenda. He played on Onesimus’ name, (it means "useful) calling him formerly "useless" but now useful. He played on Philemon’s sense of fairness, too. (Specifically he said, "I preferred to do nothing without your consent." and "If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. . . I say nothing about your owing me even your own self!")

Paul masterfully manipulated this letter into one that really had, I think, no appropriate response except for Onesimus’ freedom and equality.

Freedom and equality are what we want for all people, right? We know the two most important rules Jesus taught – Love God and love everyone. And I know we have to view scripture and what we learn from it through that lens.

Sometimes I think we manipulate this letter into one that is anti-slavery. I don’t think that it is. I think the letter is one that recognizes the equality we have in Christ, but it also doesn’t address the power one class has over another in the marketplace and in society. I think we go beyond the message of the passage when we manipulate it into something it is not.

I’ve been on a rant about misusing scripture before. Usually the context of that rant is "taking scripture out of context and using it to justify the exploitation or marginalization of some one or some group." This time the context may be different – but I still don’t want us to misuse scripture.

I think for some it might. But in hopes that I still have the attention of a few – let me go on.

This week someone asked me the question, "What’s the difference between manipulation and a good persuasive argument?"

But here’s what I mean by that. I think manipulation is clever and hidden persuasion -- playing heavily on guilt or fear as a motivator. A good persuasive argument isn't at all hidden -- it offers and opinion and words or ideas to back it up. Guilt and fear aren’t the motivators – reason and good sense motivate the response.

Today I want to teach something born out of our Bible reading. I don’t want it to be manipulative – I want it to be persuasive. I don’t want it to be useless – I want it to be useful.

Look how clever I am – bringing things back to Onesimus – and this morning’s sermon title.

Wait – I don’t mean clever in a hidden way – I mean it in a persuasive and visible way. Or something like that.

I want to talk about useless (or—by extension – "use less") and useful (or – by extension—"use fully.")

Useless	Useful
Demonizing your adversary	Listening to viewpoint that are not your own and learning from them
Using the word ‘Christian’ as an adjective. (Christian breath mints?)	Live like a person who follows Jesus – be a Christian (noun) And in the process, create or appreciate beauty, art, music or breath mints
Inserting the word "Biblical" before a word to tout it as "The way God wants it."	Always seeking to have our words and actions live up to Jesus’ two most important rules. (Love God and Love Everyone!)
Characterizing a group of people based on the actions of a few of them.	Seeking to understand others and to work with others to improve whatever the situation is.
Using anything to do with God to express hate	Living life expressing the reality that God is Love
Calling for "imprecatory prayer." (What’s that, you ask? It’s the kind of prayer calling for God’s wrath on your enemies. A Baptist minister in the US recently told the congregation to pray imprecatory prayers against Americans United for Separation of Church and State. (It's been around since 1947) The Executive Director of AU is an ordained UCC minister. The minister who called for the imprecatory prayer was angry that AU had filed a complaint with the IRS regarding the minister’s use of church letterhead and a church radio program to endorse a presidential candidate. We have freedom of speech – but one of the stipulations to churches being tax exempt as charitable organizations is that we can’t endorse candidates – we can talk about issues.)	"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27-28)
Excluding any of God’s children	Welcoming all of God’s children

I’m pretty sure – or at least I’m hoping - that you are starting to think of useless and useful things right now. Do you think you could keep track of your thoughts? Do you think you could write them down and get them to me? You could bring them into the church office, email me, or even post a comment on my blog.

Who knows – we might have another sermon, adult education class or soup supper discussion coming up on that topic.