Black Butterfly: Setting the Sky on fire to be the inspiration about where the Creator and where The One Stands-with the Oppressed. A Epiphany Sermon.
Clearly,
Jesus is telling us
In this Gospel
Whose Side,
He
Is
On.
(pause)
Last summer,
I was invited to be a part of a caravan,
That was engaging all people,
To see
What they were fighting for
Because sometimes,
We as followers of Christ
Can be well meaning when we pray,
Think that we are well informed
When we sign up to be a part of a movement
But,
Until we see
The disparity
With our eyes,
Our chanting
And protesting
Will mean,
Nothing.
(pause)
Even when,
Because of our culture
Heritage
Ancestry
That collectively we represent,
The ongoing survivors
Of oppression
Marginalization
Subjugation,
When an escape route suddenly manifests before us
A breather from the harshness of life,
As we run,
Sometimes instead of regrouping,
Plotting
Planning
To overturn inequity
We hide.
(pause)
Hiding behind the crumbs of privilege assigned to us,
The status of class begrudgingly afforded to us
And,
The appearance of acceptance,
By the dominant culture
By our oppressors
Painted on masks that we are required to wear,
As an entrance fee,
To get beyond and inside that wall of comfort
And complicity
All the while, still struggling
Ignoring
The torment about where we should be rooted
And who we should be uplifting,
And fighting
For.
(pause)
It’s clear the line that is drawn here,
In Jesus’s time
And in ours.
As one womanist theologian and Catholic nun,
Sr Jamie T. Phelps proclaims:
“Human beings
Are valued
Or
Devalued
Not on the basis
Of their identity
As children of the Creator,
But based on what
Humanity has deemed to be priority-
National identity,
Race
Gender
Class.”
(pause)
Therefore, that means
Those from Western culture are deemed to be more civilized
Than those from developing nations.
Persons of European descent
Their lives,
Are more valued
Than those
Of any other culture.
And therefore
Access to education,
Employment
Sustainability
Is only based
On how society,
Has categorized
You.
(pause)
And,
for Peoples of the African Diaspora
this means constant questioning
about their value
and worth
especially,
in an U.S context
feeling ashamed
about who they are
and opting
to assimilate
for their own self preservation.
(pause)
So,
They become confused
About how other skinfolk continually suffer
From hunger
Homelessness
Poverty
Depression
Mental anguish
Despair.
(pause)
They equate this sometimes,
With not having enough faith-
That they are in these situations,
Because they didn’t accept Jesus
And this sort of distortion of the Word,
Has unfortunately
Permeated many aspects
Of our spiritual journey
(pause)
It is this type of thinking
that stymies us
from getting involved
from doing work beyond our walls.
(pause)
It is this understanding
That we are in another phase
Of the Civil Rights movement
That brought us
On that caravan.
Last July,
(pause)
Witnessing many places
Where suffering is not contained
In a 1 minute clip on social media
But is a part of the human experience
Unending,
Unyielding
Unrelenting
With pain.
(pause)
The Poor People’s campaign,
As they are working towards
Economic
And
Sustainable
Liberation,
Took busloads of us,
Whether we were immersed in the movement
Or whether we were moved to join,
Because this was a continuation of Dr. King’s work
Around various parts of Chicago-
Places that sometimes,
We just drive by.
(pause)
Did you know,
That on a block in Englewood,
There is an empty lot,
Filled with crosses
These crosses that have been hand carved
And painted
With the names of those victims
Of violence
Of police brutality
Young and elderly
Bodies of Color.
The neighborhood is reminded,
Of their sisters, brothers,
Mothers, siblings,
Fathers,
Children
Whose lives have run through their hands,
As fleeting as rainwater.
(pause)
But until I saw that-
I didn’t even realize
That this monument
Even
Existed.
(pause)
Dr. William Barber,
Who has taken on the mantle
Of Dr. King’s Poor People Campaign,
Got out of the car which was carrying him,
Walked up to this memorial
And stood,
And prayed
And then joined us on the bus,
To give us a WORD.
(pause)
And even though I was listening,
Thankful to be in his presence,
That image
Of the only representation of these lives, gone
Remained with me.
How can someone not be moved,
To do
Something
For people they may never, ever meet
But because of who they are,
How the Creator has connected them,
Through language,
Through history
Through identity-
We are clearly called to announce,
Proclaim
Whose side
We
Are
On?
(pause)
This is where
We find Jesus
Healing,
Comforting
Empowering
With both His actions
And
His Words.
(pause)
Jesus proclaims,
Where He stands
Where the Creator
Where God STANDS
With those that society decides,
More importantly,
What the Empire has ruled,
Both then
And
Now
Are not important
Because their bodies
Their existence
Is
A
Waste.
(pause)
And these are not just powerful WORDS
This is a statement
Because being this public with defying the social norms laid down
By an Empire
Disrupting the social order so carefully crafted
Seen as belligerent
Or rebelling
Could get one tortured
Banned
Ostracized
Targeted
Or even
Murdered.
(pause)
Jesus was telling those gathered
Regardless whether they were poor
Hungry
Depressed
Ignored
THAT INDEED
GOD STANDS WITH THE OPPRESSED
That their lives MEANT SOMETHING
AND THAT STATEMENT
Was EMPOWERMENT!
(pause)
When we as clergy,
And faith leaders
Show up in many spaces
Combating poverty
Inequality in education
Sustainable living
Access to economics
Employment
Clean WATER
AND WE TELL PEOPLE
YES,
YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
And
When we put our own lives,
Reputations
Regardless of what our denomination thinks
Or what those in power think
On the line,
Through our singing
Through our demanding
Through our votes
Through our actions
WE ARE CLEARLY SAYING
BLESSED ARE YOU,
Because we ain’t about to let you remain in poverty
What we gonna do,
Is give of ourselves
Our resources
Use our place in this society
To kick down doors
To make room
HERE AND NOW
So that YOU, BELOVED
Can be seen
And
Heard.
That those who have been forgotten
Are empowered
To transform not only their lives
But also
That we see the Gospel in motion
In their hands.
(pause)
The executive director of SOUL
Tanya Watkins
Was in my office recently,
And saw this sticker that said
“Sin Boldly”
What does that mean,
She asked?
(pause)
Well, as Lutherans we spout this nonsense
But we refuse to do anything
About actually turning tables upside down,
Of actually doing anything-
Or as Paolo Fierre stated
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict
between the powerful
and the powerless
means to side with the powerful,
not to be neutral.”
(pause)
Whose side are we on?
Christianity,
In an U.S. context
Has yet to make up its mind,
About whose side
Is it on?
(pause)
But because of Jesus’s presence
And His commandment
And His Love
I have no problems turning over all the tables
I have no problem echoing His words here
In the face of systemic racism
That I have found both in the institutional Church
In this denomination
In this city government
In higher educational structures
Anywhere,
Where they are trying to eradicate people
Simply because of who they are
Who they love
How they connect with the Creator
And who they are fighting for
Woe to you,
Who hoard money
Because you are going to lose it all
Because we are going to disrupt the norms
Woe to you,
Who price out neighborhoods
With high end grocery stories
Because we are about to turn that upside down
With our voice and with our vote
Woe to you,
Who find our situations hilarious
And comical
And dismiss our existence
Because,
One of these days
You won’t be able to ignore us at all
We will be right there
And we will be asking
Whose side
Are you
Willing
To
Be
On?
(pause)
Thanks Be to God.
