Whose Side Are We On, Beloved/Whose Side are We On? Ain’t no Prosperity gospel nonsense here, Ya’ll: A Sermon on Mark 10
Which side are you on,
My people
Which side are you on?
(pause)
They marched,
Taking over the streets
In the midst
Of the workday
In downtown Chicago.
Not an unusual sight,
Nowadays,
Not unfamiliar
In being surrounded
By rows and rows
Of police officers,
Waiting,
Hovering
Mocking these,
Seemingly
Unwashed,
Uneducated
Masses
(pause)
But this time,
The police seemed
Relatively,
Subdued.
Because this time,
There was nothing that could counter
Or diminish the narrative
Of celebration
Jubilation
And
Invitation,
Extended to those-
To join the freedom side
Extended To those,
Who normally eyed protesters
And agitators
That were questioning a system
That had failed us
And favored them,
To break ranks
To be liberated
To swell our ranks
So that we all could collectively
With one voice
Someday eradicate the Empire
That had lost its humanness
(pause)
We,
Rabble rousers
We,
Liberation dreamers
We,
Who refused to accept polite politics
And keep our opinions,
Our suffering
Our distress
To ourselves
Instead
Dared to live out our constitutional rights to gather!
(pause)
And these,
Labeled as the hope for the future,
Had been witnessing
Most of their young lives,
Based on where they resided in this city,
Injustice (pause)
Time and again
Degradation, (pause)
Of a legal system
To where their childhood
That should have been that time of exploration,
Crumbled like ash into their hands (pause)
Condemnation,
Of their very being
Based on,
Their immigrant status
The box marked
African American
Or Hispanic
Or the physical identifiers
Of wearing a hijab
Or turban
Or the closeted erasure
That would never be acknowledge
As there was no other choice
But to pick
Either male
Or
female
(pause)
But now,
This up and coming generation was now,
Claiming their time
These young students whom we marched alongside
From South Shore,
And Pilsen
From Englewood
And Bronzeville
From Rogers Park
And Hyde Park
Young Arab American
And Palestinian
And African Descent
And Latinx
And Mexican
Who realized
The only one who would care about their
Black
Brown
Red
Immigrant
Indigenous
Trans
Lives
The only ones,
Who would advocate
For their lives
Was in their hands.
These young adults,
Who were now of age to vote
Finally were witnessing
Which side,
Justice
And
Righteousness
Reigned
On.
(pause)
Those of us gathered
Wept
Hearing
The
Verdict
Of
Guilty
16
Times
16
Times,
Raggedly closing the holes
That still remained
In a young man’s body
Bittersweet,
But
Finally
Justice
Was
Done.
(pause)
Which side are you on,
My sisters
Which side are you on?
(pause)
As always,
I was present
In my clergy collar
And as I walked with community members
And the other small band of clergy gathered,
From First Unitarian of Hyde Park
and
Bethel Lutheran,
A police officer
Reached out to me,
In hindsight
I believe we thought
We knew one another
Two Women of Color,
On opposite sides
But bound together
Because of our Ancestry
Or even perhaps,
As she reached to quickly embrace me
In this strange friendship,
Perhaps she needed to know
That even as the work she did,
Was contradictory
In many ways,
Because of the climate
And of the historical
Systemic
Problematic
System
That did not work for those it was designed to protect,
She needed to know
That even as she stood on one side,
That God still loved her,
That God too,
Was on her side.
(pause)
This interaction reminded me too,
A couple of years back,
During another massive walkout protest,
Against violence upon sacred bodies
As we gathered down the street here,
Kitty corner to the Obamas house,
A police officer joined our gathering,
Listening to the testimonies
Of students,
Who regardless of their social location
As Seminary students
From the Div School,
And LSTC
And McCormick,
Realized very quickly
That their degrees
Would not save them
From being marked as dangerous
Simply because of this (points to skin),
Who were also questioning,
Who would stand
On the side of the oppressed
And the invisible,
This police officer shared her genuine grief
Of having to exist on both sides,
One side of enforcing the law
And
One side of crying out about the law.
And we,
As people of faith
No matter what our perception about the police,
Still embraced her
This too,
Is the conundrum
That we as clergy,
As people of faith
Seemingly are caught into now.
Because even as we are angered
By how
Time and again
People turn a blind eye to those who are suffering,
Hurting
Robbed of justice
And their freedom
We too,
Have to see them,
As our siblings in Christ.
(pause)
Which side are we on,
Beloved
Which side are we on?
(pause)
“You lack one thing”
(pause)
This almost seems like a blow,
To this unknown man
In our Gospel
This morning.
He’d probably been taught,
All of his life
That if he followed the commandments
That he would be rewarded
Just as richly as he found himself now,
At the end of his days.
Isn’t that the narrative
That has been presented to us?
That if we are law abiding citizens,
And follow these 10 steps ‘
That we will achieve success!
That nothing will be denied us,
Not even a seat
At the Table
Before the Creator God,
For all eternity.
(pause)
“You lack one thing.”
Doesn’t this sound like an accusation from Jesus?
Doesn’t this hit us like a blow within our very being?
But Jesus,
We have followed the law!
We honored our parents!
We haven’t stolen anything,
However,
We refuse to acknowledge
The land in which we reside
Was stolen from the peoples
Of
So therefore its none of our concern
Or our business,
And we’re all American anyway!
(pause)
We haven’t defrauded anyone,
Yet we have not used our assets
Of where we are positioned
To make sure that those who have little
Have more
Have the ability
To live a sustainable life
Instead,
Because of the fear that has been instilled in us
By the Empire
We benefit greatly
From our social position
(pause)
We haven’t spoken wrongly about our neighbors!
And that’s also the limit in which we are speaking,
Because we fail to use our voice,
To speak up for those
Who have been paraded
And defamed
Before the public
Since we refuse to believe,
That those who profess Christianity
As their sword and shield
Who cling to the 10 Commandments
Have used their privilege
To strip and drain the life,
The innocence
Out of the sacredness
Of another human being
(pause)
We have not murdered, Jesus!
But yet,
When we refuse to raise our voices,
When we refuse to be that presence,
Among many
When we don’t question policies
About incarceration
And sentencing
Or regulations
About health care
Or the state of environment,
And the impact among those in poverty ridden areas
When we focus selfishly on ourselves,
And just ourselves
Or a specific type of neighbor
That falls in-line with the status quo,
When we hoard our money,
Our resources
And cannot look beyond the horizon,
To see that the purpose of why we were created,
Extends beyond our scope of really grasping the truth
When we do not understand
That laws were created
Without grace,
Without the bond that we all share,
Because of the One
Who loves
Regardless,
(pause)
When we cling so tightly
To the limitations
Of the law
And cannot be vulnerable,
And think instead about
Judging one another
Through restorative justice
(pause)
To loosen the grip on our wealth,
Our resources
And lobby for sustainable living,
Especially for the least of these
(pause)
When we cannot see past,
The picture painted for us
By those who cannot love
As Jesus both taught us,
And actually loved
And still loves
Us,
Then, beloved
(pause)
We are lacking.
Lacking compassion,
Lacking empathy
Lacking the ability
To let go,
And let the Creator
Guide our path.
Lacking the motivation
To loosen our bonds
Of dependence
Upon a system
That pits us
One
Against the other
Lacking the sight,
Of seeing
That everything
Comes from
God,
And that because we have gifts,
We are to use them
So that everyone
Lives
A sustainable
LIFE!
(pause)
We cannot hold onto things,
And they would argue,
Well you can’t hold onto Jesus Christ either
But OH JESUS IS WITH US
Within us,
And when we are lacking in our faith
Lacking in empowerment
Lacking in the strength
Lacking, because we are so torn
About whose side we should be on.
THAT IS WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTS
In our sisters, brothers, siblings
Truth tellers, beloved community members
Surrounding us,
Encouraging us,
Inviting us
To be on the side of the oppressed
Of righteousness
Of LOVE THAT NEVER ENDS
(pause)
Whose side are we on,
Beloved,
Whose side are we on….
Thanks Be to God.
