Episode 14 - Going to Samaria

Pastor Dan and Director of Outreach Kellie Bibler talked about being sent to those different than us and what Jesus wants to teach us about the Kingdom of God. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hey everybody, welcome to the Sermon Prep Podcast. I'm Dan Metzgrim, the pastor at St. Mark's United Methodist Church here in Finlay, and back in for the second time?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Second time, special guest, Kelly Bibler, who is our director of outreach here at St. Mark's. Hi, Kelly.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hi. Thanks for having me back.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Absolutely. I don't think you had a choice. I just told you you're coming downstairs and doing a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

That's how it works, yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

That's usually how it works around here. Um, we are talking today, and part of the reason I'm wanted to have Kelly uh come on today is that she's actually going to be in the pulpit this week.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Um not by herself. We've got a couple of other people who are going to be coming and sharing some things uh with us this week. I'm I'm really excited about, but this week's topic is the idea of Jesus sending us out to uh groups of people, places that are different than maybe what we're used to or what we're comfortable with. Um he calls it Samaria. So he says in Acts 1.8, you'll go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Um I'll also get a little background what Samaria, um Samaria is, is it's this region that uh was right between um Galilee and Judea, and it was full of people that um a lot of the the good Jewish people didn't really care for. They were people who uh when they were um when the Jewish people went into uh their um captivity in Babylon, um, some of these people were left behind and they intermarried with other religions and other cultures and different people. And so then when the when the Jews came back, they found that some of these other people, like, oh well, you're now different than us, and you've you and you're worshiping in a different place than we do, and uh I don't know, we're just culturally different now, and they really weren't that different of people, uh, but they decided these people are the others now, and culturally they became very different from one another, and there's a lot of bad blood between them for a long time, and so um good Jewish people during Jesus' time, if they were going from Galilee to Judea or vice versa, they would walk around Samaria. Jesus tended to go through Samaria and not see them as um something less than, but uh simply as people who were different in different cultures. Yes, and so I'm guessing that we have some people like I don't know who what we compare to. I guess Michigan fans. I don't know, this is close as I can. No, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. You know what? I'm not sorry.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Um, I'm not sorry, and I agree.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Uh but the people who maybe they're not culturally that different than us, but yeah, like I don't know, there's just some differences or something like that. And that's a funny ha-ha kind of way of saying it, but we do. We we are different from one another in a lot of different ways. Uh culturally, um, we're different from each other in a lot of different, you know, whether it's race or uh the way that you grew up, whatever it might be, even regions of the country you you grow up in. Uh you're gonna encounter people who are different financially, maybe they have a different life experience than what you do. Um we're gonna hear this week from three different categories of people that we might see as different than us. Um, one is groups of people with special needs. Um we're gonna talk about people who are coming out of incarceration and addiction, and we're gonna talk about people who have um, for one reason or another, been in need of um of quality, affordable housing. And um we're just gonna talk about you know how it is that God sent us out to to these different groups of people. So um I wonder for you, like what have been some places where you've felt like maybe in your life God's called you to get outside of your comfort zone or maybe interact with are there people that you've ever felt like you've had you've interacted with who just that's a totally different life experience than me? Um maybe it's culturally different. What have been some ways where you've experienced something like that?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Well, I think the first example would be when I went to college. So I grew up in a small town south of Columbus, and then I went to OU for college, so I spent four years in Athens, and that is the heart of Appalachia.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, Athens is a different culture all by itself.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Absolutely. It's it's the the biggest mix of of arts and and economics and all kinds of things, but um that was really my first experience with seeing people who live in poverty and who are really struggling to just figure out their circumstances and overcome those.

unknown 5:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Um, so I that was probably my first experience with that. Um, I'm kind of known as somebody who just goes and does things and doesn't think about it. Good and bad. But um then after college, I moved to Lima. I moved to this part of the country and I knew no one. Yeah. So um I guess I was probably the different one, the different one there. But I would say my experience at OU and being in the in the heart of Appalachia and seeing the need down there and and figuring out um you know how you can meet those needs.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yeah. I I think of for me, you know, I grew up going to Arcadia, K through 12, small town. I was out in the country, like very, it was very monoculture, very much like everybody knew each other, everybody's probably I'm probably related the most to the community, that kind of thing. Um, so it was uh in and then you know, go to Bluffton maybe a little bit, but even then, not much, you know, not not a super diverse kind of kind of thing, and then going down to Asbury for seminary for a year, again, still very similar. Holly and I come back to Van Buren uh for our first church, and you know, it's still all very much, you know, Van Buren is is back in the BVC, right? Yeah, like right, and then find out that I'm that we're gonna move again. And I remember us praying like God send us anywhere except Cincinnati. Because for us, like we couldn't think of anywhere that would be more culturally different than what we were used to than a place like Cincinnati. We didn't want to a city, and it's like just different, and that ended up being like in some ways, Cincinnati was like our Samaria a little bit. We're just it felt like a totally different culture that we just wouldn't have any idea what to do. Absolutely, and it was gonna be far away from our family, stuff like that. So, of course, where do we get sent? We get sent to Cincinnati, and um, we've done we did two tours in Cincinnati, and uh yeah, I mean it was, and it was it was culturally different for us, but it ended up being really beautiful, and and some of the you know, some of our fondest memories and and places that we that we grew the most, and yeah, we had to figure out cultural stuff uh uh to an extent. Um, but it was uh I think I think it's a part of what Jesus does, and part of what Jesus does is he sends us to people that might be a little bit different than us.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I think getting out of Mount Sterling and going to Athens was the best thing that could have happened to me because I just got to meet so many people from different backgrounds and and different parts of the country and the world, and it really opened my eyes and and sort of helped me understand people that were different than me. And up until then, there really was weren't people that were different from me.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

So I think about Jesus teaching the disciples this. Um, our scripture this week is from Luke 17, where it talks about Jesus and the disciples. They're up in Galilee, and it says they were on the border of Galilee and Samaria, and it's while they're there that this group of ten lepers uh approaches them, which lepers were not supposed to do. So these are people who are from the wrong area and they're the wrong kind of people. They are people who everybody sees as untouchable, um, not just because of their disease, but also there's something spiritually unclean about them. If they have this disease, it must be because they're bad people. Like that's the way they kind of thought this sort of thing worked. Um, but what we see is this group of people still had a desire for Jesus. They needed Jesus. And so they approach Jesus and they cry out and say, you know, have mercy on us, heal us. I picture the disciples standing in the background or like covering their mouths with a cloth or you know, trying to get away from these people, and Jesus is just standing there and waiting for them to come closer so he can uh so he can bring healing to them. It had to have been such a culture shock for the disciples. Like it's one thing for them to go to their own families or to their synagogues and teach stuff, but these are some really difficult people to be around. Of course, Jesus heals them, and then one of them comes back and falls at Jesus' feet and um and thanks him, and he's not been made, he's not been made ritually clean yet. He hasn't gone and washed, he hasn't done all those things, but uh it implies that Jesus like embraced embraced this man. And um I think he's teaching the disciples something here in this moment that that's a part of what we're called to do. We're supposed to go to those to the people that others might not go to.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Um there's another great story in John 4 where uh the the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman who's you know unclean because of all not just because she's a Samaritan, but she's also a woman, and she's also had like a bunch of different husbands, and the guy she's with now isn't her husband, so she's kind of this adulterous woman, she's the the wrong kind of of person for Jesus to talk to. And that those are the people that he approaches. I think he's teaching us that over and over again. Um, so we've here at uh at the church, like that's a part of what we try to um try to do is make sure that we are reaching out to people who are not less than us, just different than us, right? Um and and go to them in some different ways. You and I were talking a little bit before about um Night to Shine. Yes. And how special that is, and how they're not less than us, if anything, like they teach us so much. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So what's what was your experience like with, you know, as we're working with like the special needs community and that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

So my first experience um with Night to Shine was just the amount of joy and sunshine and light that is in that room. Um, just watching everybody just sort of let loose and have fun and be unapologetically themselves. Um, and I think there's a lot to learn from folks who embrace who they are and just have that zest for life. Yeah. And I don't know, that's something that I I really learned was just enjoy where you're at in your life.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

And I think, you know, a part of what we're called to do, we can have this tendency to come in and be like, we've got to come in and you're not just different than us, but there's something about you that needs fixed that we need to come in and do. And that's not of what that that event's about. That event's about saying um, you are a beautiful child of God, precious in his sight, yes, and you're a king and a queen, and we're gonna lift you up and um and help you see who you are in in the eyes of the Father. And and I think that that's that's a part of what Jesus calls us to. Uh, you know, whether he's eating with tax collectors and sinners or he's uh going to Samaritans or or speaking with you know women who are who who've been pushed to the edge of society, he's constantly going to the other. And I think it's a part of uh what we're called to. We as a culture tend to stick together with the people who are like us.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

And we I think we have a hard time going to we we tend we tend to just stick with those, yeah. Like if you go to a place and you're you're trying to find your people to go and sit with, or you're you know, you're constantly sticking around people who look like you because we feel safe in that way.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

So uh we were talking about um my uh I'm guessing this happens in a lot of families, but we grew up with like Disney movies, and um my little brother watched the same movie over and over and over again. It was Pocahontas, and uh it which it's so funny, it's on VHS, you know, the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Um that's a whole that's a whole other podcast.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, that's a whole other podcast, really diving into what that was about. But um, but there's like the whole in that movie, the whole tension is around these groups of people who are different than one another, uh, but both see the other as inferior. And uh there's like this line in one of the songs, they're different from us that means they can't be trusted. And I think we still do that. We still do that with with others. Um you you might see somebody who, whether they're a different race or they're just they're dressed in a way that's like, oh man, who are you? And and we, you know, maybe you roll up your window or you lock your door or whatever it might be. Or we get intimidated or anxious, yeah, or we just tend to not pay attention to them in some way. Um, we we put them in the category of them, they don't get to be a part of us, and that's where that's where there's a real um uh a real thing that I think Jesus is trying to break through in our lives is that we're supposed to recognize that in the kingdom of God it's all us. It's all um you're gonna be you're gonna be in heaven with a lot of people who look different than you and have had different life experiences than you, and um we're supposed to start a little bit on earth to make earth look like what it's gonna be in heaven.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Well, he sees us all as the same, right? And the sooner we realize that, right, we're all the same to God.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

And whether it's life experiences or just a part of what you're born into or whatever it is, we might be different, but we're not less than, and I think that's a part of what he's calling us to see and to go to. And I don't know about you, but my experience has been every time I've had the opportunity to interact with somebody who would be, I might put in the category of different than me, it's always impacted me deeply. And I've I've learned more about what it means to be a follower of Christ and what it means to what it looks like to be a child of God. Like it's it's always it always changes me for the better when I get to interact with somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah, I mean it you become a better human. And I don't I don't want to hang out with people in my circle like me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love them and there's comfort in that, but I'm not gonna learn anything new from that. So when I meet other people, people that are different than me or different experiences or however that might be, I look at it as an opportunity to learn something, learn something from them and learn something more about myself.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

And when he's calling us to the Samarias, I mean, that's not only that's not only going to a place where people is different than you, but it that's also when he told them to go to Samaria, that was saying, hey, you're gonna have to change a little bit of how you see some people because you've grown up seeing these people as a problem or as an other. And I'm just telling you that I came to die for them too. And and and there's no hierarchy in this. Um, you know, one of the groups of people we're gonna talk about this week are those coming out of incarceration and addiction, and and that's been for me a huge learning over the last few years. Um, as I've gotten to do a little bit of work through Welcome to New Life, who you're gonna hear from on Sunday. Um, but just encountering some people who have had different life experiences that you and I might say, oh man, keep them over on the fringes and away from me. I don't want that in my neighborhood. And that's just like not what we're called to be or who we're called to be. And not only is it a thing where we can maybe have some ways where we're helpful to those who have had those experiences, but I've learned so much from people who have had those kinds of different life experiences.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Right. And um well, what if all God wants us to do is listen? What if what if that's what we're supposed to do? What if that's what our healing you know?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah, sometimes we're just yeah, supposed to hear them, hear their stories and let it affect us in some ways. This is a thing that guys especially have trouble with. I hear something and like how do I fix it? How do I fix it? No, sometimes you're called to just go in and hear somebody's story and hear them talk about what it means for them to be uh one of God's children and the things that they've gone through and all of that. So I there's so much to all of this that I'm really excited for us to talk about this Sunday. Uh excited for you to help facilitate that discussion a little bit. It's gonna be great. And um for us to just just hear from some people um who have who have some great testimonies of how uh God can change lives um through different groups of people getting together and interacting with one another, how we can help bring some change and share the good news with some folks who might have a different life experience and how they can change us and impact us. I think it's gonna be really, really awesome. So uh hope that you'll come and be with us this Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Kelly, thanks. You're welcome. Thanks for having me back again. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

We'll do this again sometime.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

I'm sure we will.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

So uh until then, uh enjoy your weekend, and we'll be back next Friday on another sermon prep podcast.