Practicing What we Preach? Or are We? A Sermon in the midst of a lot of false prophets
Grace and Peace to you,
My sisters, brothers and siblings in Christ
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon us,
because the Lord has anointed all of us
Through the waters of Baptism
Through the sign of the Cross
Through Jesus’s ultimate gift
So therefore our Call now more than ever;
Is to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners”
Amen.
(pause)
Joan Osborne’s,
“What if God Was one of US?”
Caused quite the controversy
When the song debuted in the mid-1990s
Because of the questions that it posed,
And if we as followers of Christ
Understand and are rooted in the fact,
That Jesus indeed came among us
To live with us
And experience every aspect of humanity
Alongside us,
Then Joan’s song should have provoked
Deeper theological and spiritual conversations
But instead,
People were angry
Especially by the lyrics in the chorus
“Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home”
(pause)
And yet,
This morning
We are faced with some uncomfortable truths,
And the Words
That come from Jesus’s lips
Just as,
We as humanity
Can no longer ignore
The hatred that comes
From humanity’s collective lips
(pause)
Racism,
Is
A
Sin.
White Supremacy,
Is
A
Sin.
Having apathy,
For those who are hurting
Suffering
Anguished
Is
Living into shame
Not doing,
SOMETHING
For those who are oppressed,
Simply because of how God Created Them,
And using the LAW,
To back up our excuses,
Leads to a disconnect
And the fragmented relationships
That seem to be acceptable by our society
(pause)
That indeed,
Is the elephant in the room,
In this sacred space,
That we,
As beloved Children of the Creator God
Wrestle with
Because of what is continually unfolding before us,
Out in the wider expression of the community,
What is our call,
Our purpose,
What do we do,
As followers of the One,
Who calls us into the Light,
Who gives us new Life?
(Pause)
Practicing what we preach,
It’s a mantra that many of us cling to-
But it is hard for us to execute,
Because sometimes
We, as humanity
Are influenced
And blinded
Led astray,
By what ultimately consumes us,
Especially that which does not come from God.
Practicing what we preach,
Was an accusation laid at the feet
Of Christianity,
When I attended several #BLM marches
And Police Brutality actions,
Especially from young people of color,
Angered of having to now hold memories
Of those who had perished
At the hands,
Of officers who reacted out of fear.
“Practice what you preach,
You-you pastors and ministers,
Otherwise what comes out of your mouth,
Are nothing more than lies,
And we cannot trust you,
Because you will not publicly put yourselves on the line,
Against hate.”
Standing in a crowd of other Seminarians and Clergy figures,
In my clerical
Hearing this
Was uncomfortable.
What do I do?
But this was indeed valid-
Because if we as followers of Christ believe
Jesus’s commandment,
Of Loving One Another
Calls us to actually DO LOVE
And not just lip service,
Then we would indeed
Be practicing what we preach.
And this is so needed right now,
Because there is too much preaching,
And not enough practicing.
There is too much condemning
And not enough accompanying
There is too much quietism,
And not enough activism.
That means,
Being uncomfortable,
So that the Holy Spirit can root even deeper within us,
Transforming us,
So that we are bold enough
To do the work that Jesus left for us
To be good stewards of one another’s lives.
(pause)
But,
Along the way,
We as People of Faith,
Have to deal with the ugly cracks,
Especially as Christians,
Because many
Are not practicing what is being preached.
There are ugly cracks,
That we can no longer ignore,
That are eroding the foundation
And no amount of duct tape,
Or paint
Is going to make anything new again
We cannot hide it anymore
This is unfortunately what has happened,
So amplified so, in the past week-
If we claim as Christians,
That we follow Jesus,
Then we must do what He calls us to do.
But,
Sometimes that is difficult, right?
Even Jesus had that difficulty,
Right?
It’s uncomfortable to think about,
Jesus
Making a mistake
“What if God was One of Us?”
And Jesus indeed was one of us,
Lived like us
Weaved into community,
Just as we do
And was influenced and exposed
To prejudices
And
Bigotry
Just like we have.
(pause)
That’s uncomfortable isn’t it, right?
Jesus is perfect!
Jesus would not let the world,
Which was imperfect
Defile Him
Right?
But He did.
Jesus contradicts Himself
In our Gospel this morning
Because Jesus is teaching His disciples,
About the dangers
Of allowing the world to influence them
Allowing humanity’s judgement of one another
Consuming
And
Affecting relationship
To the point where
They would be blinded
And deaf
To the needs
Of those Gentiles,
Canaanites
Who were struggling as much as they were
That they too were from the Creator God
Whether they knew them
Or not.
(pause)
Jesus,
Is teaching us something important
That simply because we are
Of African Descent,
Or Native
Or struggling with Bipolar
Or have ADHD
Or that we identify
As LGBTQA
Or that we call God Allah
Or Great Spirit
These are things that make us wholly unique
And wholly the Creator’s
Because our bodies,
Our lives
Are
SACRED.
What defiles us,
Then
Is hatred
Is Greed
Is Apathy
Is Violence
What defiles us,
Is when we allow the world
To take root,
Where only the Holy Spirit
And God’s Love
Should reside.
And yes,
Even Jesus would be impacted by this.
(pause)
If we believe that Jesus Christ,
Came to live among us
As us,
Then the racism that existed
Between those who were “God’s Chosen People”
And the Gentiles-
Those who did not believe in what the Israelites believed
Or followed the traditions
Or could boast of the lineage from the line of David,
Therefore
Hearing the stories
Being taught the stereotypes
More than likely,
Jesus experienced all of this.
And we witness this contradiction,
When an unknown woman,
An indigenous Canaanite woman
Falls at Jesus’s feet
For Mercy
And what does He say?
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Are we shocked?
Are we confused?
Jesus rejecting one who cries out for mercy?
Rejecting her simply because
Of her ethnicity
Her Tribe
And how she worships God.
That is uncomfortable for us to witness
Even though,
Sometimes we as People of Faith,
Reject others
Refuse to help others
Refuse to advocate for our neighbors
Based on
Their race,
Their culture
Their religion
Their disability
Because we misinterpret
Sacred texts
Because we forget,
Humanity writes rules and laws
Sometimes,
Without any grace extended.
That is the elephant in the room,
(pause)
But,
Just as those women before her:
Hagar,
Tamar,
Rahab
Just as those women before us,
Dorothy Day,
Rosa Parks
Sojourner Truth
Nevertheless,
She
Persisted.
“Yes, Lord,
yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters’ table.”
(pause)
All this indigenous and unknown woman wanted
Was Mercy,
And Peace!
She wanted to know,
That God indeed
Stood with the oppressed and afflicted
Regardless of the systemic hatred she knew she would face,
That she was not of the House of Israel
She is even of another FAITH,
SHE REMINDS JESUS,
That the Creator gave life to all of US,
And that God’s Love,
Is vast,
Surpassing anything we can fathom
(pause)
She also recognizes that through Jesus,
The Son of God
God indeed does heal,
Will never forget us
Always forgives us
Even when we falter
Even if we are rooted in faith-
We are HUMAN,
(pause)
Isn’t it Good News,
That Jesus Christ was sent here,
To be just like one of us?
So that Jesus,
Because of the Creator God,
Could, and does
Heal US.
And the Good News is,
Sometimes we will experience the Gospel
Through other people
Other faiths
So that,
It breaks down what the world has been force-feeding us.
(pause)
A respected Elder in this Church,
Rev. Kenneth Wheeler,
posted his very thoughful and prophetic thoughts o
on Facebook.
In his devotion, he stated
that we as followers of Jesus Christ,
have to struggle
with the fact that those who would consider us,
because we are seen as the “other”
Those who would prefer that who we are,
Disappear
because of the systemic racist ideologies that they cling to,
They too,
have come from God.
That’s extremely difficult to swallow,
because we are right in our righteous anger,
But we also have to be that VOICE
To stand up against,
as we work towards peace.
Knowing that,
Thanks be to God,
It is the Creator, and the Risen One,
And the Holy Spirit
that has the power to transform
the evil which has settled in their very being.
But our job?
IS to continue to live out our call,
working towards mercy, justice,
and peace.
Thanks Be to God
