The Gospel In Disney:
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame

Read Luke 17:11-19:
What does it mean to be a leper in Jesus’ day? What was life like for them socially? Those described in scripture as lepers usually were suffering from such skin conditions as psoriasis and ringworm, and very few from Hansen’s Disease. Yet, they were still shunned and forced to stay isolated from others in their own communities and even from their families because people misunderstood what their ailments really were. In fact, as we heard in the scripture the lepers stop at a distance and call out to Jesus for his help. It was required of lepers to shout, “Unclean, unclean” if anyone came too close to them. So when Jesus heals the ten lepers and sends them to the priest, who is the one in their society who can pronounce them clean is it really surprising that they just ran, forgetting their manners of returning to express thanks? They were being allowed to return to life in their family, their society, and even their synagogue. Who wouldn’t run to achieve this? Who wouldn’t run to become embraced as a full member of their community again?

James 2:14-18:
The next passage focuses on the topic of faith. So often in the church faith is seen as having the right beliefs about something. Faith often becomes a contest about right thinking. Who has the proper understandings about life? About the church? About our religious tenets? James gives us a little different understanding of what it means to live our lives as people of faith.

Read James 2:14-18

Sermon:
I have been very fortunate in my life. Everything about me has been part of the mainstream, part of the norm of my culture. I am the proverbial WASP- the white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant male. I was good at sports, playing on several high-school teams. I have had the right sexual orientation. In fact, we just made the definitive connection this summer that my ancestry dates back to the Mayflower. How much more mainstream can one be? I have never known prejudice based simply upon who I am, or how I have been created. So as much as I try to be compassionate and identify with those who experience glass ceilings, racial profiling, don’t ask don’t tell, I haven’t a clue as to what it really feels like. I can imagine it must be hard to be diminished simply because of who you are. I can imagine that it must be frustrating, even infuriating to be denied opportunities in life simply because you are not part of the mainstream. But I cannot ever feel personally what it is like for those who do.

Today, we reflect upon one of my favorite all-time Disney movies, “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.” The movie is about lepers. Not in the physical sense of having Hansen’s Disease, but in the social sense of being someone who is not only pushed to the fringes of society, but who is fully rejected by their society. The main character is a hunchback named Quasimodo. There is not time to share the full story with you that is based upon Victor Hugo’s book by the same name. Let me simply say there is a man in the movie named Frollo, who finds his purpose in life to rid society of all the unclean, imperfect people in it in the name of God. He seems to have the same first century Jewish mentality that Jesus’ challenges as false, that anyone who is created imperfect has been created this way because God is punishing them. Frollo had Quasimodo’s mother killed when he was a small baby, and was about to have Quasimodo killed because of his deformities also when a priest from the church steps in and prevents him from doing so. Even though Frollo does not kill the hunchbacked baby, he relegates him to a life in the bell tower of Notre Dame, far away from the life of the city. Quasimodo, which literally means half-formed, is pushed to not only the fringes of his society, but locked away from participating in it. How easy it is to treat someone as less then human when you can give them a name that denies that they are fully human. Quasimodo simply observes life from his bell tower, but he wonders and dreams about what it would be like to be able to be a part of his world. To be treated with the same respect and dignity as anyone else.

This first clip is Quasimodo sharing some of his disappointments and dreams for himself.

Show first clip: Song “Topsy Turvey”

The hard part about being pushed to the edges, not being allowed the same chances and respect as others is more than us not seeing them as fully human, but preventing another from living out of the fullest and deepest sense of their humanity. To feel rejection instead of love is devastating, but to not be able to express love and compassion is beyond comprehension to me. To be prevented from following your talents and utilize your skills is devastating, but to not be able to dream and have hopes because you are told you do not deserve them is beyond what I can imagine.

In the movie, we see that this rejection of people goes beyond simply how we look, but also extends to who we are. Another main character in the movie is Esmerelda, who is a gypsy. She, too, is pursued by Frollo because of her ethnicity. As she is being chased she runs into the cathedral, where she is told to claim sanctuary. The church is a place where people can claim sanctuary from the outside world’s prejudices. Please hear this. The church is a place where we are suppose to claim sanctuary from the outside world’s prejudices. The church is a place where someone can claim their humanity and have themselves treated as being fully human. In the movie clip we are about to see, Esmerelda sings a song to God, because she does not understand what Frollo, what the world is doing in the name of God.

Show clip: Song “God Help The Outcasts”

In the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we find a parable about the sheep and goats. The sheep who do the will of God and the goats who do not. What determines which group you are assigned by Jesus is dependent upon how you live your life. It is Jesus’ affirmation of the words in James which says, “I will show you my faith by my works.” By how I live my life. Jesus says it this way. “When you help the least of my brothers and sisters, when you have helped those the world often overlooks, places in towers, pushes to the fringes, you have helped me. When you give people sanctuary from prejudice and rejection, you have met me.

One of the greatest joys Nancy and I felt when we were appointed to Prescott was in hearing about how you, as a faith community, had decided to remain in the downtown area because this is where the ministry is. You knew you had to rebuild as the present facility was rapidly falling into disrepair. So you wrestled with whether to sell this property and move out to the fringes of the city and build a new campus, or to remain here. You chose to remain and serve those who are often relegated to the towers. Those who often are pushed to the fringes of the community so that they are not seen. And the old cliché fits, “Out of sight, out of mind.” You chose to stay and recognize the humanity of those who are often overlooked. You chose to embrace them and allow them to know they are important children of God. Our church became sanctuary.

I believe that God, through Christ, continuously calls us to service and care of the outcasts, because once you are loved, you are no longer an outcast. Once someone cares about you, you become an important part of communal life, and are no longer told you are insignificant and not fully human.

I know, for example, that it is hard for some to see the poor and homeless congregating outside Open Door. To see some who are shabby and dirty, some who do not act proper being what people see when they drive by our church. What will they think? But I have to say to you, I believe it is a badge of honor as it celebrates who we are as we send a very important message to our community. We care for all of God’s people. We are sanctuary from what the community thinks. I find it an important witness when we find someone using a nook or cranny of our facility to get out of the cold and the elements and we do not simply and easily dismiss them back to the streets where they may suffer harm. I wish we had the resources to place everyone in a shelter, and maybe someday we will. Scripture tells us that all things are possible for those who trust in the Lord. But until that time, we do the best we can to help those along the way who do not have the blessings we have received.

Nancy and I, and I am sure I speak for Carol, find it a blessing to be allowed to be the pastors of this church who decided to stay in the mission field doing what we can to help the faces of Christ in our midst.

Our Ministry Report today, wants to focus on just a few of the ministries that we do that shows our faith by our actions, that shows what we are continually able to do because you decided to be the presence of God’s love and compassion in this place and time.

Webmaster Note: The Ministry Report is available for viewing on the Slide Shows web page.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on July 29, 2007.