Speak the God You Know

 

It was a really, really rough week for me, personally. I came down with a nasty head cold Monday morning that kept me in bed almost all week. I made myself get up Friday and pound out this sermon, praying that I would actually be well enough to travel to Valdosta to preach it.

And I was and I did. 

See what you think.

Texts: 1Sam 16:1-13; John 9:1-41

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There’s a portion of one of the canticles in Morning Prayer that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

It’s from the Second Song of Isaiah…which quotes from the 55^th chapter of the prophet:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

In both the first reading from this morning in First Samuel…and in our Gospel…there’s a theme of people thinking they know more about what God wants and what is right with God than what is really true about God and God’s thoughts.

Samuel initially thinks that Eliab…the very tall eldest son of Jesse…is the man God wants as the new king of Israel.

Tall men are important men, right?

Wrong.

Fortunately…Samuel was able to park his own prejudices to follow God’s lead…and he anointed David.

Then in our Gospel…Jesus and the disciples come upon a blind man as they’re travelling.

The disciples…caught up in the cultural beliefs of the time…want to know who sinned to cause this man to be blind.

Thankfully…we are living in times now where we know “sin” isn’t the reason for a physical difference.

Sadly…there are still places and people who profess belief in Jesus…who think that one can be healed of a disability.

I have friends who tell stories of well-meaning family members taking them to tent revivals hoping for a cure.

The experiences not only failed to change them…in many instances…they left my friends angry and embittered toward religion.

While the story of the blind man is one in which this man gains his sight…for the first time in his life…this passage is telling us more about everybody else in the story.

And it’s saying a lot about the way people respond to change.

The blind man is pleased…maybe even a bit overwhelmed.

He has never been able to see his surroundings.

He heard the voices of people…but now he sees faces.

This is a new experience…and he’s just getting used to this reality.

Meanwhile…the people in his village see him and they don’t recognize him…even though he’s been living with them as a beggar his whole life.

But now that he’s not dependent on them…they don’t know who he is.

The religious figures are up in arms when they hear it’s this Jesus character again…and they demand to know more about all of this from the blind man.

Still not satisfied with his answers…they call out his parents. And his parents are like, “Hey…he’s an adult talk to him about it.”

With each new group…with each inquisition…the blind man’s recounting becomes firmer and with more conviction.

And as his faith and trust in the truth of his story grows…everyone else…from his family…to his synagogue…to his community…refuses to see…and will not accept his answers.

It’s as if they have become blind to the light that is glowing through his now opened eyes.

In the end…he’s cast out.

This is a tale familiar to anyone who has dared to speak their truth…to tell their story…only to be faced with hostility and rejection from the hearers.

One might hear the acronym “L-G-B-T-Q-I-A” in place of “blind” and substitute “the Christians” for “the Jews” and get the same idea.

          Too often…faith communities have turned their backs on members when they “come out.” This change in the person’s identity challenges other people’s prejudices…and they are unwilling to accept a new reality.

In our current climate…there’s a real concern about the identity of Christianity.

In an interview a few years ago…Russell Moore…the editor of Christianity Today and former head of the Southern Baptist Convention…talked about a pastor who was confronted after preaching a sermon on the Beatitudes.

The parishioner was angry about “blessed are the peacemakers” and that the preacher had presented Jesus as having empathy.

“Where did you get those liberal talking points?!”

The preacher…a bit stunned…responded…”I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ.”

You’d think the parishioner might apologize at that point but no they did not.

“That doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak!”

As Moore said, “When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself becomes subversive to us, we’re in a crisis.”

I have heard many people say to me that they don’t want to identify as “Christian” because of the growth of the White Nationalism Movement within Christianity.

They don’t want to be seen as having any part of the church that cheers on war…thinks nothing of those who have lost access to healthcare coverage…and demands that women be silent in church and society.

I get that.

I don’t want to be part of that church either…and certainly not that version of Christianity.

If we look back at the Gospel lesson for a moment…the thing that we see is that as this poor blind man is being interrogated by everyone…Jesus is nowhere to be found.

It’s when the man has been turned away by his community that Jesus comes back to seek him out.

This is when the man makes his confession that he does believe in Jesus…”The Son of Man.”

He believes in the Jesus who heals.

He believes in the Jesus who sees.

He believes in the Jesus who sought him out and did not cast him away by telling him:

“Go figure out how to get through life, buddy.”

This is the Jesus who…like with Nicodemus…tells us he didn’t come to condemn the world…

But he is going to judge it.

He’s going to look for those of us who will profess our love of God…and demonstrate that love of God by the way we love our neighbors.

He’s searching for…and calling into service the people who see the needs in their community and find ways to meet them.

The ones who don’t let our human differences of skin color…ethnicity…language…gender… ability…orientation…or identity get in the way of extending kindness… especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty.

We know a Jesus who loves…deeply and unconditionally.

If this is the Jesus we know…we have nothing to fear in asserting that truth in the face of a culture or even a church that is blind to that Jesus.

Because even if we face rejection by others…we can have confidence that Jesus will be there to whisper,

“Well done, good and faithful one.

Keep the faith. And keep going!”

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

"My Kingdom Is Not From This World" A Sermon for the Last Sunday After Pentecost

 If you have been following this blog with the texts of my sermons, I would hope that you have figured out that while I am a Christian, I do not support the Christian Nationalist agenda that is mobilizing to take control of our government. I do not support the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. I do not support mandate that teachers trained in math or science take on the additional role of being a pastor. I do not want public schools to take the place of the church in any way, shape, or form.  If you want your child to learn about Jesus and to become familiar with the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit...please...PLEASE...bring them and yourself to church. We would LOVE to see you on Sunday morning! 

This sermon for "Christ the King" Sunday was my anti-Christian Nationalist sermon in its most explicit sense. There is simply no basis for anyone to ever claim the Jesus of the Bible as one who ever wanted to have a 'nation'; hence all these efforts to use the power of the state to indoctrinate children into the Christian faith run totally counter to what should be our practice as Christians. Our role is not to dominate, but to serve. And through our service, we show the love of God as manifest in Jesus. 

When I preached this sermon at St. Barnabas, not a single person said "Amen." How about you? 

Text: John 18:33-37

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All hail the power of Jesus’s name…O King Divine!

Crown him with many crowns!

Because… on this last Sunday of the eternally long season of  “After Pentecost”…we celebrate Jesus Christ as the King of kings…the Lord of Lords…the most mighty of the mighty….

He’s the top dog!

The big Kahuna!

But…

….he never lifted a weapon.

….never called for bloodshed.

….never proclaimed himself “mighty” or a “king” in that strong man sort of way.

Jesus was never into that type of power.

So as kings go…he’s a really strange one!

That’s why he completely confounds Pontius Pilate.

The brutal and pompous Roman Governor had just arrived in Jerusalem.

He and his army were there for the Passover celebration to make sure those uppity Jews didn’t get any strange ideas about challenging the Empire.

In this Gospel exchange…Pilate is suspicious of Jesus.

 

He seems to have heard a rumor that there was this

Interloper…some weird itinerant rabbi doing amazing deeds among the people.

Some were saying this new guy was a “king.”

Kings…in the minds of the ancient world…weren’t like a King Charles in England…who is just a constitutional figurehead.

A king in the days of the Roman Empire would have much more authority.

They could amass armies and invade territories and pillage and plunder.

Given that there was a lot of discontent among the Jews…and the Zealots were looking for a means to overthrow the Roman Empire…anyone claiming to be a “king” was seen as an insurrectionist.

Pilate was probably expecting this “King of the Jews” to be a more brash and brazen character.

But the Jesus who appears before Pilate doesn’t come in fighting or shouting.

He’s in a simple tunic …not even carrying a stick let alone a sword.

His only weapon is his words. And his words were love.

We might hear the scoffing and incredulous tone in Pilate’s voice:

“Are you…hmmmm….(air quotes) the King of the…ugh…Jews?”

Unphased…and unwavering…Jesus does what a good rabbi does. He responds with a question.

“Do you yourself know this about me or did you get it from somebody else?”

Now Pilate is not only puzzled…but Jesus has just insulted his prejudice.

You see: Pilate despises the Jews…and Jesus just suggested that by asking if he’s the King of the Jews…Pilate must be a Jew himself…looking to address his king.

Pilate angrily dismisses this ridiculous idea that HE is a Jew.

But he’s still operating out of this mindset that a “king” must be some kind of a strong man.

And yet…here’s this non-combative guy playing mind games with him.

He demands to know what’s this really all about?

Why have the Roman sycophants of Judaism turned Jesus over to him?

And that’s when Jesus really messes with Pilate.

“My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over…”

“My kingdom is not from this world.

I am not the leader of any nation.

I am not an authority riding on horseback…or wrapping myself in any flag of any kind.

I do not need nor do I seek power over anyone.”

This is the revolutionary vision of Jesus…the totally countercultural way in which Jesus asserts his kingship.

It’s what we’ve been hearing every week from Mark…which then gets picked up by Matthew and Luke…and each one of them adding a little more to the story here…fleshing out this scene over there.

It’s the Jesus of John’s Gospel…the Jesus who is the Word made into mortal flesh to live…teach…heal…and die as one of us.

Every time the people tried to make Jesus a king in the way it was understood in the First Century…Jesus would somehow manage to dodge the crowd and make his escape.

When he was famished and out in the wilderness and Satan kept whispering in his ear that if he would just give up on God and worship this Tempter of his soul instead…he could be king.

Not just of one country.

He could have the whole world be a single Jesus Nation!

And Jesus said no to it all.

“My kingdom. Is not. From. This. World.”

It’s one of the most curious things about the Christian faith.

Those of us who follow Jesus…have met and come to know God through the life…ministry…death…and resurrection of Jesus…are aligning ourselves not with dominance…and some bullying political power source.

We are following a compassionate man.

A king who rules not from a throne…but from the cross.

We see in this one we call our Savior:  a man who sits down with those who others see as the expendables…and the unimportant of society.

This king was born on the road…in a stable full of animals… to human parents living under an occupation.

From the very start of his earthly life…Jesus’s kingship was to live and move and have a kinship with the vulnerable of creation.

This is not very king-like…even by our standards here in the 21^st Century.

Conventional wisdom of the rest of the world counts the life of this Jesus as weak.

So then what do we make of this idea of the poor and weak…and the willing-to-suffer Jesus being our “king of kings”?

Why is our king not a warrior?

It’s a really tough and sobering question for the church…which was only made more difficult when the Emperor Constantine in the 4^th Century had his big “a-ha” moment…and converted to Christianity and decided that the worldly kingdom of the Roman Empire was now also the kingdom of God.

The Church has gone through ups and downs and schisms and break ups…as generations upon generations call for it to remember as the old hymn says that it’s true “one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” (Hymn #525)

And the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world.

The citizenship we hold in this kingdom as ones aligned with Jesus calls us to a different land…and bigger understanding.

We are ask to see beyond borders and barriers.

It’s not about any one nation;

it’s about being called into a relationship that lifts our hearts and minds…our bodies and souls…to a place where there is no longer “us” and “them.”

The kingdom of Jesus is a spiritual and mental shift to put aside all our earthly aspirations to dominate another.

Our citizenship in this kingdom is about transformation…and learning once and for all that we are all siblings…adopted children of God…created for the purposes of helping each other…caring for the disenfranchised among us…rejoicing with one another in good times…while holding space and being present to each other in our moments of pain and doubt.

In African culture…this is called Ubuntu…a recognition of the humanity of another person.

The late Nelson Mandela used Ubuntu as the philosophical practice to help move South Africa beyond its sinful past of apartheid.

It speaks to the idea of human kindness…mutual caring…and connection that builds up a community.

That takes an intentional effort to make it happen.

It takes each person having the willingness to do the work of living and growing into our faith by seeking “peace and justice for all people and respecting the dignity of every human being.” (BCP, 305)

Being at someone’s hospital bedside…taking food and clothing donations to the shelter…preparing meals for people: all of these are examples of the way we put our faith into action…and build and strengthen ourselves and each other. Demonstrate what it means to follow a king of Love.

Growing up into the people of God…standing taller on the side of Love…even in the face of those bullies who call our compassion “foolish” or “weak” in fact makes us stronger…and better citizens of the kingdom of Jesus.

Because to those who are the marginalized…our weakness looks bold and bright and amazing against a backdrop of anger…fear and hatred.

The more visible we are as the followers of a Jesus who served rather than sought to be served…the more we conform our lives to his ways…the more we will be a helper to those seeking love and acceptance.

Earth will become just a little bit more like heaven.

And there will be much rejoicing in the kingdom of Jesus.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.