"I Have a Blanket"

Pastor Nagle
01/30/2005

“I Have A Blanket” Micah 6:1-8 The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany January 30, 2005
If you want to keep your name on the voting rolls, you need to go to the polls every couple of years and notify the authorities if you change your address. If you want to get your name on the dean’s list, you need to maintain a particular standard of academic excellence. If you intend to stay a cheerleader, you have to show up for practice and games. If you want to maintain your membership at the club, you have to pay your dues. There are standards, requirements, expectations for lots of things in life. Do you know what is required to be a child of God? To stay on God’s good side, what do you think you have to do?
If you ask most people, the number one answer is to be obedient. That’s the word on the street. If you obey the commandments, if you do what you should and avoid the opposite, you’re very likely in. The number two answer is almost the same. To be in God’s pleasure, you need to be moral. Number three, go to church. And then there’s a tie for fourth place, among praying, reading the Bible and giving money. Now, your own answers may vary somewhat, and maybe you would switch number one with number two. But those informal results are close enough. Be obedient, be moral, go to church, pray, read the Bible and give money. You’d think all that would be obvious to anybody. But it wasn’t that clear to Micah.
Eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Micah was one of those people God chose to make sure people understood how things were supposed to go. We call people like Micah prophets—not because they were able to see into the future, but because they were spokesman for God. People who pro-claimed. Micah, Isaiah, Amos, Hosea. These were the great names of the socially-minded prophets who declared that people’s usual lists of what pleases God were simply wrong. Micah said, If you really want to know what pleases God, listen up: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Which makes those words from this morning’s first lesson some of the most important in the entire Old Testament. Some of the most important but some of the most ignored, because they’re some of the most misunderstood, since it isn’t always clear what I should do with my blanket.
It surely has been cold lately. Whenever I bump up my thermostat or fire up my gas logs or pick out one of my many sweaters, I’m reminded just how cold it is. But I’m also reminded that not everyone has the luxury of extra sweaters or alternative heating systems or the money to stay warm. So that’s why I’ve decided to give away one of my blankets. To help people stay warm. In times like these, it seems the right thing to do. Everyone would agree with that. Or almost everyone. At least some of the time. Maybe.
For in truth, some people scoff at my attempt at caring, saying that the temperature is so low and the city is so big and the needs are so great that my single blanket won’t do much good. As a symbol, it’s very nice, but as a practical application, I might as well put it back in the closet. That’s what some people say. Other people encourage me to give up my blanket but say that, more important, is the giving of money. Whenever I’m cold, I should write a check for a hundred dollars or a thousand and make it available for those in need. That’s what some people say. But still others argue that’s only a temporary fix and that, if I really want to make a difference, I’ll work to change society so that there aren’t many people who are cold in the first place. All of which is probably true, but it all goes deeper than I want it to. See, I just want to get rid of my blanket. To do something good with my blanket.
But someone else asks, How do you know your blanket will be used for good? What if the person who gets it already has a blanket? What if the person who gets it misuses it? What if the person who gets it isn’t appreciative? What if the person who gets it isn’t Lutheran, or isn’t Christian, or actually curses God for the way things are? Well, I have to admit that I’m not really thrilled about my blanket being given to someone who might sell it at a yard sale in order to get a couple of bucks to feed an addiction or slake a thirst. Maybe I need to re-think this whole blanket-giving matter. And you know what— the prophet Micah would agree. Not keep the blanket from being given, but say that, before the blanket is given, it’s important for you and me to look at life itself. To understand what God means when he says that we’re to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. Oh, but it’s not an easy thing to deal with, because it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and challenges the very core of who we are.
According to Micah, doing justice means making sure that everyone’s basic needs are met. That the simple requirements for living are accessible to every person. Nothing terribly radical about that. Our constitution says the same thing. It’s a right and noble thought. That each of us should be committed to the care of those around us— especially when some of those around us aren’t able to care for themselves. The old. The weak. Those with physical and mental challenges too huge for simple relief. The children. The cold. The poor. Though in truth, some people bristle at the notion we should take care of the poor, because it seems obvious to them that a lot of the poor don’t have to be poor. That if they’d work hard and be responsible people and invest their money wisely and buy cheaper food they wouldn’t be poor. They say, if the poor would just stop being poor, they wouldn’t need my blanket in the first place, would they? Which makes sense to some people today, but that’s not at all what God spoke through Micah. God says, More than being concerned about whether or not you’re being ripped off, start with an assumption that there are people in need. Don’t make them prove their need at first. Don’t make them match your definition of need at first. But give your blanket first, for then you have a basis to talk. Are you not both attached to that blanket?
About that blanket. I already said I’m going to give one away. In truth, I have extra blankets and bedspreads someone could use. But I do need to figure out which one I should choose. I won’t give the best one; I just bought it after Christmas. I’m not going to give the frayed one; it’s not presentable. I’m not going to give the antique one; it’s too valuable. I’m not going to give the yellow one; it goes with my wallpaper. I’m not going to give my favorite one; anybody could understand that. Wow, which of my blankets can I give up? It seems a reasonable, if privileged, question. But the answer that comes from God through Micah turns the whole matter around, saying—you don’t have to worry about which of your blankets to give because you don’t have any blankets. There may be blankets in your linen closet, but they aren’t your blankets. All that we have belongs to God, and is only held in trust by us. Which is technically correct, but I don’t know many people who’d press the issue. I mean, I bought blanket number 1. I stitched quilt number two. My kids gave me comforter number three. I inherited quilt number four. Yeah, everything probably comes from God, but don’t I have any say in this whole matter?
The first lesson today is presented in the form of a court trial. On one side is God; on the other side are God’s people. God’s charge is that his people have violated the covenant he had with them, have stopped doing what they should and have enjoyed doing what they shouldn’t. God says that people have gotten selfish and turned inward and become mean-spirited. God says that people spend more time trying to obey the commandments than they do loving those around them. But they don’t do well loving the people around them because they don’t do well following the commandments. And worst of all, the people have forgotten all the good stuff God has done for them, even from the beginning of history. God has done all that he has done, and promises to keep on doing it, and the people have trouble deciding which blanket to give up. And it’s not even our blanket! That’s what the first lesson says.
But I’d have to say that we here aren’t all that bad. I mean, in the wake of the awful tsunami, we’ve given over $10,000. And our record of helping the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the imprisoned, the refugee and the challenged is noticed by many. In some ways, we’re a leader in sharing blankets. But Micah reminds us that, more important than the sharing of blankets, is the necessity of seeing the face of anyone who needs that blanket, anyone who gets that blanket. And to say to that person, let’s work together to see what God intends for all of us next. Admittedly, the faces of tsunami terror are so far distant that we won’t be able to have that conversation. But there are people closer by with whom we can speak. If we want to. Which we may not want to. I’ll tell you, it’s easier to write a check than to give a blanket. It’s easier to anonymously donate a blanket than to physically hand over a blanket. It’s easier to hand over a blanket than it is to talk about why there is no blanket. It’s easier to talk about why there is no blanket than it is to wrap your arms around someone who is cold. Someone who is, in any way, cold. Afraid. Picked on. Forgotten. Unable. Scorned. Like you used to be.
Do you remember when you were cold? God spoke through Micah and said that we’re to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. But I’d add—and to remember when we ourselves were cold. For when we remember that, we’ll see justice as making sure that everyone has a chance. And we’ll see kindness as compassion and commitment and dependability. And we’ll see walking with God as being troubled by whatever would trouble him.
What does it mean to be the people of God? The survey says that the number one answer is to be obedient. But I ask, obedient to what? And the number two answer is to be moral. But honest and decent in what? And what good does going to church do, or praying, or reading the Bible, if it doesn’t help you figure out this whole matter of blanket-giving?
The beatitude not included in this morning’s gospel is one which should be: Blessed are the blanket-givers. And blessed will you be when you let God help you think through all that it means.