Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn New York, and was about the same age as my grandmother, born in 1897. She was a sort of bohemian, living in Greenwich Village and hanging out with folks like writer Eugene O'Neill. She was a free lance news reporter; and a suffragette, marching for the rights of women to vote. Much later in life Abbie Hoffman tagged her as the original hippie. She was an agnostic. In her 20's after at least one abortion, two common law marriages, and after giving birth to her daughter Tamar, she began a spiritual awakening while living on Staten Island. When she was 30 years old, she was baptized with her infant daughter, ( much like we baptized Vanetta and Faith right here a few months ago).
With a man named Peter Maurin she founded the The Catholic Worker movement: first, it was a newspaper which was started to make people aware of church teaching on social justice. Day said the word "Worker" in the paper's title referred to "those who worked with hand or brain, those who did physical, mental, or spiritual work. But we thought primarily of the poor, the dispossessed, the exploited." It first appeared on May Day, 1933 to make people aware of the social justice teaching of the Catholic Church as an alternative to Communism during the Great Depression. Its stated goal was to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. One of my mantras throughout my ministry. The newspaper grew into a "House of Hospitality" in the slums of New York during the depression, today, there are more than 100 Catholic Worker Houses around the world.
Dorothy Day was a follower of Jesus who had spunk. But her life was not easy. She knew tragedy, both personal tragedy, and that of her community. She saw the pain and suffering of the GREAT Depression. And that is the time during when she first heard the message of Jesus, and took it seriously. She heard the message and took it very seriously. She did not PLAY CHURCH. She FOLLOWED JESUS with the intention of CHANGING THE WORLD.
You see, Jesus listened to God. That's why God sent Jesus to Earth. The folks were not listening. God's people were not listening. They had these laws and these religious practices. They worshiped in these holy places, but they were PLAYING at RELIGION. They WERE NOT GETTING IT. So God sent Jesus to try to SHOW THEM HOW TO DO IT.
In our scripture for today we see a couple of simple examples, for those reading at home, we used Luke 6:1-11 from The Message Translation. It tells two stories. One where Jesus and his followers get in trouble for picking grain as they walk on the Sabbath and another where Jesus cures a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath as well. Jesus tells the powers that be that he is there to do good and he won’t be stopped by silly rules.
Here's how Dorothy Day was like Jesus: The choices where simple for her too. She read her bible and it told her to:
1) Feed hungry people.
2) Comfort the sick.
3) Stand by those who are oppressed, and work for justice.
She found these instructions in the Sermon on the Mount and she lived her life by them. But funny thing, she got in trouble with her Church because of it.
There is a great film about Dorothy Day called "Entertaining Angels" starring Moira Kelley. We watched a great clip from the movie. It begins with Dorothy at a banquet receive accolades and applause. The scene cuts to Dorothy, on her knees, scrubbing a toilet. One of her staff scurries upstairs to tell her that the Cardinal is downstairs. For those who don’t understand Catholic Hierarchy, the only one higher up than a Cardinal is the Pope. The Archbishop is there to ask her to drop t he name Catholic from her organization because she is standing up for the wrong people, unions, the poor, etc. She responds that “I thought we were being the Church”. He also expresses a concern for her insisting on living with those who are poor. He says, after saying “they didn’t teach us about people like you in the seminary”, "I couldn't do it, and I wonder how long you can.".
Now friends it would be easy for us to look at Dorothy Day's life and say: "Boo Catholic church of 1930's," or even "Boo established church of today." And somehow get some "holier than thou attitude" that we are doing things better. Let's don't fall into that trap, ok?
Let's be bigger than that. Let's have some humility. Because, actually, a little later in the story, Dorothy has to come down off her high horse too, and listen to her friends in her own community a bit, because she gets a bit dictatorial.
Instead, let's ask ourselves this question. What might Jesus be trying to tell us with this scripture and with this story of Dorothy Day? What are the ways that we "Play Church" rather than "being church"?
What does this mean for The Village? How might Jesus challenge us, if he walked into our doors today?
You see I think he might tell us, "what are you doing inside here?" Why is it, that you get the biggest crowds on a Sunday morning to come together and worship me? You sit inside here and wait for people to come join you.
Why don't you get out there and tell people that God loves them? Use your imaginations to find ways to connect with people who think they want nothing to do with religion. You know - those people that are so turned off by religion. Those people that think church folks are judgmental and that church is boring. Go to them. Go to them at the bars and the sports arenas and the concert venues and engage in conversation, and try to find a way to slip me into the conversation, and let them know that I love them. Be radical. Tell them I love them. Tell them I forgive them - and I can give them the strength to change their lives and find meaning.
Dorothy Day did it by giving people food. People were hungry for food in 1933, and some people in Toledo are hungry for food, and we need to spend time feeding hungry people too, and next Sunday we will have our monthly opportunity to do just that at St. Mark’s. But more people are hungry for meaning. Their lives are empty. They feel lost and worthless. We feel lost and worthless, and unlovable. But we know that God loves them and us. We've gotta find some ways to get that message across. There are folks out there that need the message of God's love and they are not going to go to any other church in town - but they might come to The Village. But only if we find ways to connect with them.
God will help us.
And it will take time. But here is my question: Are you willing to take some risks for the sake of the folks out there who need the love of God that we experience you have in here?
Because here is the thing. Dorothy Day was able to stand up to the Cardinal of the Holy Roman Catholic Church because she was answering to a higher power. She was working for Jesus, and Jesus told her to feed the hungry and ask why they are hungry.
I believe Jesus is asking us to do something just at risky in our day. I believe Jesus is asking us to find ways, in our daily lives, to say to some of those hurting broken folks we encounter out there: "I follow Jesus. I follow Jesus who is loving and forgiving and who knows we all make mistakes and who always gives us another chance. I'm part of a community where we are making a difference in the world and I'd like to pick you up next Sunday and take you there with me."
Can you think of one person who has lost their way, and who needs a course correction in life? Maybe don't start with the person who is least likely to say yes to invitation, think of the person who is most likely to say yes. Will you start by praying for that one person, and then call that person this week and invite them to come with you next week? And offer to pick them up.
But even more than that, will you pay attention to those openings in the conversation when you might take a HUGE risk and say, "You know, God wants better for your life. God wants you to have deep joy." Or maybe you will say: "God has already forgiven you, it's just about you needing to forgive yourself."
I don't have all the answers. It's going to take some time for all of us, friends. This is a process. And here at The Village, we are on this journey together. And I'm glad you decided to be here today. Dorothy Day was a woman who hung out in Greenwich Village with a lot of lost souls, but she was sure that there was something more she was supposed to do with her life,. In time, she found that something more. I am convinced that God has more people that God wants us to reach with The Village. For each one of us I know there are 10 more hurting and confused folks out there who need to hear the simple message: God loves us and forgives us. I started this project with the purpose of finding you. Now, I hope you, will help me - find them. Together, we can follow Jesus and change the world.
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