Sermon: ”The Devil Seeks the Throne” by Rev. Will Burhans on 3/09/25

Yesterday, clergy and lay folks from churches across our conference gathered at First Congregational Church in Shrewsbury for what is called Super Saturday, an inspirational and educational day of connecting with one another. Lucy Sanders and I both attended and the keynote speaker was the powerful Bishop William Barber who is the national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, and founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. Many consider Rev. Barber the Martin Luther King Jr of the current moment, speaking truth to power and calling for our country’s moral reform. 

So as you can imagine he gave quite a keynote address to the gathered church leaders challenging us not to worship God without putting front and center the plight of the poor, that they are who Jesus cared about. In this country, the plight of the poor is 38 million strong, 38 million who live below the poverty line of 27K/year for a family and 13K for an individual. Though neither Republicans nor Democrats are innocent of neglecting the poor, the neglect is potentially taking on a new level, entering even greater crisis right now with the potential of slashing of government programs, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, section 8 Housing that are critical for helping those living in poverty to survive. Rev. Barber challenged us in the church to be on guard, beware, and stand up for the poor and stand against those who promise greater benefit to those already privileged.