When I was in college, I was leader of the campus environmental group, and went with a group of fellow students to an environmental organizing workshop in Ogden, Utah. There, I attended a workshop on environmental racism. Environmental racism is based in the fact that minorities are much more likely to live in environmentally degraded areas and be impacted by environmental problems; more so, even, than people who are simply poor. It was an important topic, as it related to why people of color had up to that point been left out of the environmental movement. Unfortunately, the workshop soon turned into a contest to see who could use the most politically correct words they learned in their environmental justice class.
But as the discussion went on, the facilitators, both students of color, worked in some of the themes – that we needed to realize the impacts this has in communities and stop ignoring this in the environmental movement. It caused me to reflect about my own agenda for environmental advocacy; national parks, large carnivores like wolves and grizzly bears, old growth forests and wilderness areas. I had often judged those who didn’t support these issues for their lack of compassion for someone besides themselves, but I had to ask.. have I ever lifted a finger to right the injustice of communities of color who were being most impacted by pollution of air, water and soil in their own back yards? My wilderness ethic was just fine, because it related to the nice places that I got to go spend time, but for the first time I realized that perhaps this was just an extended form of selfishness.
When it came my turn in the discussion – I said. “I’m a racist. I’m sorry, but after hearing about this issue, and thinking about who is benefitting from my environmental work, and who is not, it seems like I’m using all of my education and standing to support issues that do nothing to move the needle for those most impacted by environmental problems. Therefore, I am an environmental racist.” Shock and awe followed, and the sharks circled me, trading off between disdainfully mocking my ignorance and patronizing me. The leaders just smiled – of all these white folks, perhaps they had cracked, at least a little bit, one of them.
These days, I feel like I’m back in that room at Weber State University – surrounded by people facing the urgent problems of our day, many who will be affected by those decisions, like Muslims, or immigrants, or people of color, or the LGBTQ community. And a bunch of us who will likely not be impacted by the decisions are trying to figure out what to do about that. This time, I am trying to talk less and listen more, like we did at last week’s forum here at Edmonds UMC, where Jessica, Hashim, and Josefina shared their perspectives of being Gay or Lesbian, Muslim, or an immigrant in America at this particular point in time.
But now the tables are turned, and it is my turn to talk, and not listen. The problem is, as I prepared the sermon this week, the words – unlike usual for me – did not come, and I felt like the letter to the Corinthians applied to me in spades this week.
“I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
This letter to the Corinthians speaks to a people who are spiritually lost. The Jews keeping hitting the “refresh” button on the tried and true prophesies and news sources, looking for a “sign” that never seems to come. The Greeks, or gentiles, prided themselves on being wise in the ways of the world, which became a sort of intellectual elitism. Paul knew that this preoccupation with signs or worldly elitism not only cut them off from really knowing God, but it also threatened the Christian unity so important to the early church. Paul doesn’t elevate either of the Jew or Gentile over the other, doesn’t fall for the creation of an “Us” and a “Them” theme that gets used so often. Instead, he reminded them that they were bound through Christ, and that this alone would open the door between them and the restorative hand of God.
Can you see the similarities? How many times have those of us from different backgrounds come into current discussion from a place of division rather than unity? We are worried about everything from foreign terrorism to domestic fascism, about economic well-being, about whatever problems we see in the worlds we live in. There is so much that is changing right now, and there is no small amount of uncertainty, and fear, and worry, about what that means. Black Lives Matter! Blue Lives Matter! Health care is a right for all! We need to protect our borders! We need to be a country who welcomes all people! We need to restore those who have lost opportunity! The conflicts are raging. Never, since perhaps the Civil Rights era or the Vietnam War, has America been so divided, and the gulf is seeming to grow by the day. It’s in our churches, in our families, in our communities, in our nation, and in the entire world. This is a great time of discord – which from what I know about Washingtonians, is very, very uncomfortable.
But we really can’t avoid the conflicts, because there is a lot at stake, things that we as Americans, and as Methodists, have a civic and spiritual duty to respond to. There are important social issues like health care, civil liberties, women’s rights, and the environment, and ethical questions such as yesterday’s Muslim ban. There are wildly competing visions, side by side, for what it means to live out our faith as Christians. There will be real impacts, especially on those vulnerable populations at the margins, those people who lack the privilege to be in rooms like this, or the halls of Congress, debating their fate. We stand at the gateway, here, having so much power to impact so many political and ethical decisions that will mean life or death for so many people.
How will we respond?
To be truthful, I really have nothing that seems quite good enough. I must sit here and confess to you, my friends, that, as good as I am at words, all of them seem to fall short. I came away from hours of sermon preparations yesterday feeling neither wise nor intelligent, but full of unanswered questions. I have no magic nuggets to bring brilliance to the questions of our times. I have no medicine for the struggles that so many, friend and stranger alike, are feeling at this moment in history.
Which brings me to the beginning of my sermon.
And I must begin where we all do, I suppose:
On my knees
with nothing
as nothing
in darkness.
So, let’s go on a spiritual journey together, shall we? Let’s start where so many are right now, for a thousand different reasons. In the dark.
Now imagine, for a moment, that you are one of those people who might be scared or hopeless right now. Maybe it’s not so hard to imagine, or maybe you’re feeling resistance to imagining that at all. But I know every one of you knows and loves someone who is there, so if not for yourself – go here for them.
The thing about being in places like this, as you can see if you are really there, is that it’s hard to imagine anything else, and it’s hard to imagine a way out. This is a place of being stuck, of not being able to breathe, of oppressive weight. Maybe you are feeling that too. There is fear here. There is sadness, anger, despondency. You may feel powerless, and blind to the paths leading you back to light. That is understandable. This is the beginning of understanding suffering.
So, let’s go on a spiritual journey together, shall we? Let’s start where so many are right now, for a thousand different reasons. In the dark.
Now imagine, for a moment, that you are one of those people who might be scared or hopeless right now. Maybe it’s not so hard to imagine, or maybe you’re feeling resistance to imagining that at all. But I know every one of you knows and loves someone who is there, so if not for yourself – go here for them.
The thing about being in places like this, as you can see if you are really there, is that it’s hard to imagine anything else, and it’s hard to imagine a way out. This is a place of being stuck, of not being able to breathe, of oppressive weight. Maybe you are feeling that too. There is fear here. There is sadness, anger, despondency. You may feel powerless, and blind to the paths leading you back to light. That is understandable. This is the beginning of understanding suffering.
You are not alone, as many others are suffering similarly. For those of you in the depths of this suffering, or know people who are there, let there be a prayer of comfort for your, that God may attend to you in your suffering. For those of you new to this place, who may be feeling uncomfortable right now, let this discomfort by the crack through which the word of God might reach you. For in this darkness, there is a longing, and a hunger for something new in your life – for truth, meaning, security, and a sense of power in your life. For God. So, hopefully, each of you is sitting in the comfort of God, or feeling a sense of longing for God. Both will work for what’s next.
So What’s next? This darkness, this void, this nothingness is the beginning of the journey. Right now, in this place, I want to suggest that you are at a crossroads. This is a crossroads that you or a person you know, that people in our families, in our communities, and in our nation are facing right now.
One path leads towards peace, happiness, and strength; One path leads back into the darkness. Which path shall we take? And how shall we know the way?
If we consider Paul’s letter, there is hidden in the text a compass, but it’s not an easy one. For if you look up on a hill, you no longer see God coming down with “right and wrong” or “Yes or No”, you don’t see judgement of who is good, and who is bad. You see neither wisdom of man nor wisdom of the prophets. You only see a cross, and the Christ, along with the words:
In the Text of Micah today, the Israelites, too are at a crossroads. They are choosing between the world and God, and the prophet is there to judge how it’s going. It’s not going well. Those in power are cheating and taking from the less fortunate. Some men are elevating themselves above other men (not to mention women), and the language they use towards one another is violence, lies, and deceit. They have turned away from God, and have started down a pathway back into the dark.
So how is this a pathway back into the dark? It begins simply enough, we feel powerless over things that scare us. We simply want to overcome our powerless feelings amidst things that make us anxious. We tell ourselves, or each other, that we deserve to be secure, to have control over what happens, to not have to be afraid. We feel a sense of urgency, like we have to do SOMETHING. And, it seems reasonable enough that we if can gain some sort of edge over our problems, then we can have the power to protect ourselves from our fears. This is called projection of power – we insert a strong narrative into our fears to defeat them, because we feel like we lack the power to defeat them ourselves.
The next step is to look for the cause of our problem. Depending on which way we go, this is often where the slippery slope back into darkness, or worse, appears. We must be very careful here. This is, in fact, where we are in America right now – there is an enormous fight raging about how to define the problem, and who gets to define it, and what that definition gives them a right to do.
It is here that the most important part of the journey lies. We turn from being lost, from suffering, fear, and pain, and we turn towards either hate, or love.
Of course, the cross is always there. The reminder of Christ that connects us through love of one another and faith into the renewing grace of God. People often think of the cross as “Jesus suffered and died for our sins”, but there’s a deeper truth to be learned here that doesn’t fit into an easy sound byte. God sent Jesus to be joined in our suffering, both from what we bring on ourselves and what others do to us, which is a sort of sin. But God doesn’t do this to judge us, God does this so that we aren’t alone in the dark. God joins our struggles, suffers with us when we hurt ourselves or others hurt us, and then shows us the way back to God. Christ is always there waiting to walk beside us and lead us home.
But too often, we are led along toward another option entirely, especially when we are hurt, afraid, and angry: Hate.
Because, as we can see, over and over and over again, there are always people who desire power out there. They are waiting for us to get to that point in our despair and turn away from our faith in God, and instead put our faith in them. They know that this moment when we most doubt God, or our neighbors, is when we are looking for something, or someone, outside of ourselves that can project power over the problems we have. And they are always all too willing to do that. So, we take the pathway towards hate. We name an enemy, we call them a “them”, and we begin to tear them apart.
We do it a thousand ways, on both sides of the political aisle and all over the religious spectrum. It’s the playbook of politics of our country – I know, I was there, learning it from those who helped write it.
· We are Legitimate Americans and they are terrorists
· We are holy before God, and they are sinners
· We are good Christians, and they are bad Christians
· We are hard workers and they are lazy
· We are Smart and they are Stupid
· We are educated and they are ignorant
· We are enlightened and they are racists
· We are great and they are bad
· We are law-abiding, and they are criminals
· We are Good and they are bad
· We are just, and they are unjustified
· We deserve to win, and they deserve to lose.
So, are you with us, or are you with the terrorists, the sinners, the lazy, morons, the greedy, the stupid, the racists, the losers, the criminals. Pick a side, because if you don’t pick ours, you will lose.
This is what’s known as the politics of fear and manipulation. And it’s everywhere. We must not be fooled by this, because as soon as we turn away from a love all people, from compassion, from the mercy and justice of Christ, and turn towards hatred of others, from an “Us vs Them” mentality, we are committing sin.
We cannot give in to this world of hate. As Christians, neither can we stand on the sidelines when sins are committed against even the least of our brothers and sisters. We must look to the cross on that hill in this dark time, and we must follow that cross to do what God Requires of us
So let us emerge from this darkness, and let us remember, that as Christians, We are:
A people who remember that Greatness is not about who can get the most. Greatness is about who has the courage to stand up for the least.
A people who will remind others that human vanity is something more divine than we could ever imagine. Because, when a consciousness filled with fear, brutality and doom takes hold of the world around us, we will through our faith tell the even stronger story of love, mercy and life. And we hold steadfast as a people who do not so easily sacrifice courage for fear, because America has always been at her greatest when she had the courage to stand up for the oppressed.
A people who will remind our leaders and others that "Me first" is not really a thing, in any religion, and challenge those who say that and claim to represent God. Because we know that God doesn't pick winners and losers, because God is too busy picking up the lost and renewing the fallen.
A people who will work for justice, even if we are not sure what we are doing or if it will even make a difference. We will do this because someday, in the future, in some place we can’t see, we will have created life that otherwise would have not been there, and some part of us will be redeemed.
A people who will listen to all sides as openly as we can, and then we will be convicted by truth and nothing less, if if that truth is not always what we want to hear.
A people who respond to these times with the best in us and in humble service to the will of God. For liberals, that means giving compassion to all people. For conservatives, that means giving compassion to all people. For Americans, that means giving compassion to all people.
A people who will try to remember the power of humility. Only then can we be aligned to see the suffering in the eyes of those being dragged through the dirt. And understanding suffering is the way of Christ.
A people who also remember that humility is not the same thing as complacency, but rather a way of staying connected to God’s will as we seeks to bring it about in the world.
A people who, amidst any darkness, will respond with nothing less powerful, than a humble walk toward Justice and Mercy, searching for God at each of the crossroads in our life.
So What’s next? This darkness, this void, this nothingness is the beginning of the journey. Right now, in this place, I want to suggest that you are at a crossroads. This is a crossroads that you or a person you know, that people in our families, in our communities, and in our nation are facing right now.
One path leads towards peace, happiness, and strength; One path leads back into the darkness. Which path shall we take? And how shall we know the way?
If we consider Paul’s letter, there is hidden in the text a compass, but it’s not an easy one. For if you look up on a hill, you no longer see God coming down with “right and wrong” or “Yes or No”, you don’t see judgement of who is good, and who is bad. You see neither wisdom of man nor wisdom of the prophets. You only see a cross, and the Christ, along with the words:
He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption.
So how is this a pathway back into the dark? It begins simply enough, we feel powerless over things that scare us. We simply want to overcome our powerless feelings amidst things that make us anxious. We tell ourselves, or each other, that we deserve to be secure, to have control over what happens, to not have to be afraid. We feel a sense of urgency, like we have to do SOMETHING. And, it seems reasonable enough that we if can gain some sort of edge over our problems, then we can have the power to protect ourselves from our fears. This is called projection of power – we insert a strong narrative into our fears to defeat them, because we feel like we lack the power to defeat them ourselves.
The next step is to look for the cause of our problem. Depending on which way we go, this is often where the slippery slope back into darkness, or worse, appears. We must be very careful here. This is, in fact, where we are in America right now – there is an enormous fight raging about how to define the problem, and who gets to define it, and what that definition gives them a right to do.
It is here that the most important part of the journey lies. We turn from being lost, from suffering, fear, and pain, and we turn towards either hate, or love.
Of course, the cross is always there. The reminder of Christ that connects us through love of one another and faith into the renewing grace of God. People often think of the cross as “Jesus suffered and died for our sins”, but there’s a deeper truth to be learned here that doesn’t fit into an easy sound byte. God sent Jesus to be joined in our suffering, both from what we bring on ourselves and what others do to us, which is a sort of sin. But God doesn’t do this to judge us, God does this so that we aren’t alone in the dark. God joins our struggles, suffers with us when we hurt ourselves or others hurt us, and then shows us the way back to God. Christ is always there waiting to walk beside us and lead us home.
But too often, we are led along toward another option entirely, especially when we are hurt, afraid, and angry: Hate.
Because, as we can see, over and over and over again, there are always people who desire power out there. They are waiting for us to get to that point in our despair and turn away from our faith in God, and instead put our faith in them. They know that this moment when we most doubt God, or our neighbors, is when we are looking for something, or someone, outside of ourselves that can project power over the problems we have. And they are always all too willing to do that. So, we take the pathway towards hate. We name an enemy, we call them a “them”, and we begin to tear them apart.
We do it a thousand ways, on both sides of the political aisle and all over the religious spectrum. It’s the playbook of politics of our country – I know, I was there, learning it from those who helped write it.
· We are Legitimate Americans and they are terrorists
· We are holy before God, and they are sinners
· We are good Christians, and they are bad Christians
· We are hard workers and they are lazy
· We are Smart and they are Stupid
· We are educated and they are ignorant
· We are enlightened and they are racists
· We are great and they are bad
· We are law-abiding, and they are criminals
· We are Good and they are bad
· We are just, and they are unjustified
· We deserve to win, and they deserve to lose.
So, are you with us, or are you with the terrorists, the sinners, the lazy, morons, the greedy, the stupid, the racists, the losers, the criminals. Pick a side, because if you don’t pick ours, you will lose.
This is what’s known as the politics of fear and manipulation. And it’s everywhere. We must not be fooled by this, because as soon as we turn away from a love all people, from compassion, from the mercy and justice of Christ, and turn towards hatred of others, from an “Us vs Them” mentality, we are committing sin.
We cannot give in to this world of hate. As Christians, neither can we stand on the sidelines when sins are committed against even the least of our brothers and sisters. We must look to the cross on that hill in this dark time, and we must follow that cross to do what God Requires of us
A people who remember that Greatness is not about who can get the most. Greatness is about who has the courage to stand up for the least.
A people who will remind others that human vanity is something more divine than we could ever imagine. Because, when a consciousness filled with fear, brutality and doom takes hold of the world around us, we will through our faith tell the even stronger story of love, mercy and life. And we hold steadfast as a people who do not so easily sacrifice courage for fear, because America has always been at her greatest when she had the courage to stand up for the oppressed.
A people who will remind our leaders and others that "Me first" is not really a thing, in any religion, and challenge those who say that and claim to represent God. Because we know that God doesn't pick winners and losers, because God is too busy picking up the lost and renewing the fallen.
A people who will work for justice, even if we are not sure what we are doing or if it will even make a difference. We will do this because someday, in the future, in some place we can’t see, we will have created life that otherwise would have not been there, and some part of us will be redeemed.
A people who will listen to all sides as openly as we can, and then we will be convicted by truth and nothing less, if if that truth is not always what we want to hear.
A people who respond to these times with the best in us and in humble service to the will of God. For liberals, that means giving compassion to all people. For conservatives, that means giving compassion to all people. For Americans, that means giving compassion to all people.
A people who will try to remember the power of humility. Only then can we be aligned to see the suffering in the eyes of those being dragged through the dirt. And understanding suffering is the way of Christ.
A people who also remember that humility is not the same thing as complacency, but rather a way of staying connected to God’s will as we seeks to bring it about in the world.
A people who, amidst any darkness, will respond with nothing less powerful, than a humble walk toward Justice and Mercy, searching for God at each of the crossroads in our life.
