Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC December 6, 2015, Advent 2.
Texts: Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 3:1-6
Our guiding theme throughout Advent this year is “Coming Soon.” When you see store fronts in the city or in the mall with those words scrawled across the window, you know something new is being built and will be offered there, something different will appear. Here in our own physical plant, we are seeing concrete signs of the new things that are coming; windows and floors (and that funky circular lounge in the parlor) have been removed, scaffolding is up, and dust has started to fly… We knew this was coming soon, this disruption, this mess. What won’t come as soon as we’d like is the final vision, the beautiful new thing, the finished creation. Of course, we’d like the project to be done quickly and to proceed smoothly without incident. But on the way to a new creation there is always a messy middle that often lasts even longer than projected. And in the midst, we grumble and wonder why things aren’t getting done and, perhaps, look for who to blame. I can’t help but think about the process of decorating the house for this season. I know I will enjoy it once everything is up, but oh, the frustration and mess and grumbling that happens on the way—talk about a messy middle! Disruption, messiness, inconvenience, anxiety, hard work, unexpected obstacles, and the need for patience and flexibility should always be expected in the process of creating something new—whether that new thing is building a new space or building new things in community or relationship. But even as we know to expect the challenges that come with being under construction, it would be so nice to be able to take a bypass, a detour, and avoid having to deal.
Today we hear words from prophets of our tradition speaking about repentance and refinement and forgiveness and purification. These are things that likely also make us long for a detour. When we hear words like “sin” and “repentance” many of us may shut down and tune out because, frankly, we don't want to deal with this stuff; it has been a hard week after all! For some of us, we just want to get to the baby Jesus (can’t we just sing some Christmas carols?). For others of us, we're already feeling miserable at this time of year and the last thing we want to hear about is how we need to repent. And for still others, we generally feel that there's too much judgment in the world, judgment of the type that is oppressive and hateful, judgment that has so often been directed at us or at those we love. And, if any of you are like me, we do a fine job of judging ourselves without hearing about it from the scriptures… Where is that orange detour sign?
But as much as we’d like to avoid it, the message of repentance is a necessary stop on our way to the manger, just as disruption, discomfort, and messiness are necessary to create something new. Every year about this time, our tradition forces us to travel into the wilderness and to spend a couple of Sundays with crazy cousin, John. And I'd like to suggest that we do ourselves a disservice if we re-set the spiritual GPS to avoid John or Malachi before him; because ultimately we need to receive what these prophets offer. What they offer is a wake-up call, a chance to acknowledge the reality of things and the need for change. In order for us to get to the place of “peace and goodwill for all” we simply have to travel the road of painful, honest awareness of the sins that need to be forgiven and the reparations that are required to bring healing. Avoidance will only make the journey longer and more painful. But we are very good at avoidance—both individually and as a culture—and sometimes it seems that we are determined to keep the blinders on so that we won’t have to see the painful reality or so that we won’t have to take responsibility or to change.
An example is the way some folks respond to information… Over the past year, I have closely observed statistics and studies and stories being widely circulated that demonstrate the ways that life is experienced differently, based on the color of a persons’ skin or the sound of a persons’ name. I have also observed that, time and again, many white folks respond by questioning the source of the report, the process used to collect the data, the integrity of the person telling their story. There have been reports for years chronicling the effects of climate change on the planet, the dangers to plant, animal, and human communities both in the short term and the long term. And the response from many people is either to make light of these realities or, again, to question the source or the verity of the data. We have seen statistics about gun violence and are being given reports that in the United States there are more days that include mass shootings than not.[i] And countless people again want to argue about the source of the data or the terms being used.
I know that “data” can be skewed and spun for political gain. I’m aware that those with whom I agree and disagree politically or theologically can be equally guilty of emphasizing certain pieces of a story and ignoring others. But immediately questioning the source or critiquing the process is akin to the ways that folks get caught up in debating the pros and cons of Condoleezza’s jacket or Hillary’s pantsuits. That is, the substance—the real issue—gets avoided. And what leaves me absolutely stunned is the way that even in the face of so much violence, death, and harm, we can’t seem to come together across ideological and political lines to acknowledge and work to address what is right in front of our faces: we have a race problem, an environmental problem, and a gun violence problem. We may disagree on the best ways to address these complex issues—and all the other complex issues that we face as a nation and as a world—but so long as “the land of the free and the home of the brave” remains a land in which freedom is seen as the capacity to be as disrespectful and ugly to one another as we like and bravery is measured by how little we compromise, then we will be stuck in this wilderness place with little hope of reaching any kind of new reality. We also have a negative partisanship problem…
You may have seen the provocative front page headline published in the New York Daily News this past week. The headline read: “God isn’t fixing this” and the article attacked those political leaders who, in the wake of the shooting in San Bernardino, offered prayers but didn’t share policy solutions regarding violence or guns. We all know that it is a perfectly reasonable and appropriate thing for folks to express their support for victims of a tragedy through their “thoughts and prayers.” Regardless of whether you agree with the political point being made in the article, the fact that words of condolence were used to attack others is yet another sign of our broken society. We as United Methodists know that the necessary partner of prayer is always action. The headline “God isn’t fixing this” does raise this important issue for people of faith. I remember seeing a cartoon in which a person sits on a park bench with Jesus and asks “So why do you allow things like famine, war, suffering, disease, crime, homelessness, despair, etc. in the world?” And Jesus responds, “Funny you should bring that up as I was about to ask you the same question.” A contemporary Christian song offers this lyric, “I shook my fist at Heaven / Said, “God, why don’t You do something?” / [God] said, “I did, I created you.”[ii]
Today we make our necessary stop in the wilderness to be confronted by the prophetic word of John who, according to the Common English translation of the Bible, called “for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins.” This means that we need to take responsibility for our lives—for what we have done and what we have failed to do. We are challenged to consider what we are avoiding and to look at what needs to change. We are challenged to see how we may use prayer as a cop-out, how we play into the negative partisanship so rampant in our day, how we blame other people, other groups, or God for the state of things in our family, our church, or our world without being willing to do our part to make a positive contribution. In short, we are challenged to repent. And to repent is not just to pray a prayer, but to believe that God will grant grace to help you truly change and grow and live in new ways—and then set about trying to do that hard work.
Today, I want to urge you take notice of opportunities here at Foundry to engage the work of repentance and new life particularly in the realm of social justice (note those visiting or worshiping through live stream). The solitary confinement cell replica will be onsite here through Thursday as a visceral and powerful reminder of the ways that our prison system is broken and does great harm. On December 20th, the Sunday following the anniversary of the Newtown school shooting, our Advent Justice Series continues with a focus on gun violence and the ways that we can work for positive change. In January, the Justice Series continues with an awareness building and strategy session around creation care and stewardship. And finally, on Saturday, January 30th, we kick-off our first scholar-in-residence workshop as part of our Opt In initiative to engage faith for racial justice. On that Saturday in January, Rev. Dr. Alton Pollard, Dean of Howard University Divinity School will lead us in a discussion of Ta Nehisi-Coates’s book Between the World & Me. Without exception, these events will be challenging. We will have different perspectives and reactions. We will likely be made uncomfortable as we grapple with new information, new insights into what is real both in our lives and in the experiences of others. It is difficult stuff we’re dealing with. But in order to move more fully toward peace, toward justice, toward healing, toward goodwill for all, toward the new life that enters into creation at Christmas, we need to be about this work of repentance. We need to take the journey without avoiding prophetic voices and challenging experiences.
It might feel like you’re walking into fire. But the prophet Malachi reminds us that fire is used to purify what is precious. And you are precious to God. We may not want to hear about repentance or sin or judgment, but think about this: God loves us enough to not let us off the hook. God calls us to repent, to change our hearts and our lives because God knows what we’re capable of. God doesn’t call us to repent because we are bad; but because God knows we are good, beautiful and capable of being more healthy, more loving, more reconciled, more faithful, more fully who we are created to be—as persons and as whole communities. God knows we can do better, that we can be better. God also knows that we need help. And that help is always coming soon. Our job is to be willing to enter into the mess and pain and complicated fray and—by the grace of God—to prepare the way…
[i] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/us/how-often-do-mass-shootings-occur-on-average-every-day-records-show.html
[ii]Matthew West, “Do Something,” http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/matthewwest/dosomething.html
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