Venerating the Ancestors, their Prophetic Words and the meaning of Baptism: A Sermon saluting Dr. James Cone
Who are we,
To dare
Withdraw a sacrament,
From fellow sisters, brothers and siblings,
That we fail to see their humanity
(pause)
A sacrament and ritual
That can be seen
As empowering
Giving back
Transforming
Being the healing
For a body,
To be affirmed
They matter,
That regardless of what they have done
They are still counted,
As children
Of
God.
That they
Are forgiven
(Personal Narrative shared of walking into unknowingly an LCMS church, and after investigating it, telling them of the ELCA membership that they flat out rejected my coming because I would not be able to take communion unless I jumped ship. The second, of being at a funeral of a family member in a Catholic church, and feeling comforted by the rituals and the worship and the singing until we got to Holy Communion and were told we could not take communion because we had no right-)
We were not Catholic,
although we are all together Christian,
so what foolishness
are we conveying?
How do we judge
who is worthy to receive the fullness
and forgiveness
from the One,
who sat with all types of sinners,
got angry alongside them at their situation
and treatment,
from their fellow siblings of humanity
“God encounters us
In the human condition,
As the liberator of the poor and weak,
Empowering them,
To fight for freedom,
Because they were made for it.”
(pause)
These words are thought to be foolish,
Disregarded,
Because they come from a Black Man,
Who was tired,
Of being tired.
(pause)
But what he,
And so many others were also conveying
Is that Jesus Christ
Forgives
without a second thought!
Jesus Christ walks them and us into new life
and Jesus Christ
parted the veil for them, into Life.
(pause)
Who are we,
To deny
Anyone
The welcoming
Ritual
Of Baptism
To deny someone,
A sacrament
To question
The validity of their faith?
To withhold
Life
Saving
Water?
(pause and tell the story about the waterfalls in Haiti, the Saut d’eau, however their faith journey evolves, they come once a year for a huge ceremony to the Virgin Mary and for that matter, they gather for ceremonies under her indigenous Name that Haitians still practice their indigenous religious traditions and faith. People come all over to ask for healing; people commune as a community in these waterfalls. They pray, they leave gifts at an altar; they sing; they are made whole. They are vulnerable in this space, as a community-there is no priest or pastor leading any ceremony. They care for one another and bless each other)
How then,
Could thousands upon of thousands
Of men,
Masquerading as Christians
Subscribe to the empirical notion
Of prejudging an entirety of a Nation,
Simply because they referred to the Creator God,
By Ancient, Original names
Were either unfamiliar
Or carried the stories of Christ,
As they would any prophet
That their humanity,
Should be denied
That the relationship
Through water
And Word
Should be instead a mockery
As they dragged
People of the African Diaspora
In chains
Before priests
To be baptized
Before being sent
Into hell itself.
(pause)
As we watched,
Awake,
A documentary on
Standing Rock
One of the Tribe
Laid out this question,
About how the policemen
In riot gear,
Could go home at night
And face their families,
Especially their children,
When they asked for that
Proverbial
Glass
Of
Water.
How could they,
Drink a glass of water in the morning
Read their Bible
Do their daily devotion
And then,
Stand on holy and sacred lands
That incorporated the memories
Of Ancestors,
And deny them
How could they,
Engage in the holiday of Thanksgiving,
Offering that first point of hospitality
In a glass of water,
When they threatened others,
Whose entire existence
Was about protecting Water,
Protecting Life.
(pause)
Does anyone stop and think,
How the people of Flint, Michigan
In celebrating
Baptism
Can do so,
With water
That is poisonous
To the skin,
To the soul
And I wonder,
How we
Marked with the Cross
Washed in waters
Fed with Food
That requires
NO PRICE
From us,
We,
Who have been baptized
Empowered
By the flames of She,
The Holy Spirit
Stand by,
And do nothing.
Watch,
And not agitate
Witness,
And not CRY OUT
(pause)
Do we remember,
Our baptismal identity
And those words of conviction
Embedded in the Thanksgiving,
And Affirmation
Of Baptism
Our faith,
Is not individualistic.
Therefore, we don’t do private baptisms,
Our faith,
Is communal
Especially when we gather at the River,
(pause)
So why were they so surprised,
Here in our Gospel this morning,
When the Holy Spirit manifested
Was proclaimed
In those people
Who were labeled
Nonbelievers,
Gentiles
Why did they,
Segregate them out
Why do we question,
Their humanity
Based on how they refer to the Creator God?
Why are we surprised,
When the Holy Spirit manifests
When we experience the Divine Power of God,
In other sacred spaces
Through other sacred voices.
I’ve eluded to this story before,
But my experience with the Grand Entry
At two different PowWows
Not knowing the language or the words being sung,
But feeling a sense of connectedness
And feeling my heart collapse,
Into tears.
It Is that reminder,
From our Lakota Sioux siblings
Mitakuye Oyasin (Mee-tah-koo-yay Oy-yah-seen)
We are all related
(pause)
It is because of this,
Dr. Cone,
Connected systemic racism,
To the environmental degradation
That plagues us
today
“People who fight against white racism
but fail to connect it to the degradation of the earth
are anti-ecological,
whether they know it or not.
People who struggle against ecological injustice
but do not incorporate in it
a disciplined and sustained fight
against white supremacy are racists,
whether they acknowledge it or not.
The fight for justice cannot be segregated
but must be integrated with the fight for life in all its forms.”
(pause)
This, is important,
Because how can we remember our Baptism
The commitment we are supposed to have in community,
And not fight for one another
Not see one another’s humanity?
(pause)
Dr. James Cone
Professed
“Any message
that is not related
to the liberation of the poor
in a society
is not Christ’s message.
Any theology
that is indifferent to the theme of liberation
is
not
Christian
theology.”
(pause)
So then,
If Baptism
Is a part
Of the theological,
Spiritual
Ritual
Actions
That we do as Christians,
If Baptism means,
A new beginning
A new covenant
If we say we have been baptized,
Along with Jesus Christ,
Why then,
Are we so apathetic?
(pause)
What did Christ do,
When He was baptized?
He went OUT
Healing
And Agitating
The corrupt system
Made the invisible, important
Uplifted those who had been swept away like garbage
Gave back to those who would perish,
LIFE!
(pause)
If we say we follow Christ,
When we remember our baptism,
Through the showers
Or in a thunderstorm
Or during Church,
What is our CALL, then?
It is to go out,
Agitating the system
Empowering the invisible
Crushing those oppressions
That rob us of our living
And remembering
Because of the waters,
And the Sacred Word,
We are all related.
Ache’
Thanks Be to God.
