Some Mercy Now

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
January 26, 2025
3 Epiphany, C
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Psalm 19
Luke 4:14-21

“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.” That’s Psalm 123:3, and I can imagine people in the church in Corinth praying those words as others within their church viewed them with contempt. “I belong to Paul,” some said, while others said, “I belong to Apollos.” Some said “I belong to Peter,” and still others said, “I belong to Christ.” 

That last group seems to have at least had part of it right, saying they belonged to Jesus, but it sounds like they were probably also saying, “and you don’t belong to Jesus.” The Corinthian church was a mess, divided among themselves, claiming different leaders, to be part of different churches, some apparently being told they don’t even belong to Jesus. 

Thank God nothing like that ever happens in the church anymore. 

Yeah, I guess the Corinthian problem sounds all too familiar to us today. We have different denominations, which is a good thing because we human people are a diverse lot and need different ways of practicing our faith in Jesus. Unfortunately, with our different denominations, we often hear claims that others aren’t the real followers of Jesus or aren’t the true Christians. 

Now, in our political climate, we also have people claiming others aren’t real Christians because of which politician they support, or which policy they champion, or which latest soundbite they are either angered by or not. 

So, many view others with contempt. Some are seen as merciful, some as stupid. Some are hateful. Some are compassionate. Some are inappropriate in what they say, where, and to whom; others are too, but it doesn’t matter cause they’re on “our side.” Some want to follow the teachings of Jesus. Some think those teachings are weak. I could go on and on, and all of these different groups seem to have contempt for one another, or at least there is so much talking about each other with contempt.

“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had

more than enough of contempt.”

Jesus found contempt toward him often in his ministry. Just after the portion of the Gospel we heard today, people ended up with violent contempt toward Jesus. In today’s passage, Luke 4:14-21, Jesus stood in the temple and read from the prophet Isaiah, saying, 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

After that, he told the people that passage had been fulfilled in their hearing. They were amazed and seemed very pleased with Jesus. He was speaking graciously to them, and they loved it.

Then, he said something rather less gracious to the people, calling them out for some of their faults. Well, the people didn’t like that at all, and immediately, they tried to kill him. In one sitting, the people went from, “We like you, Jesus,” to “You have offended us, Jesus, and the only solution is for us to kill you now.” 

Thank God nothing like that ever happens anymore...except that it does. Early last week, Bishop Mariann Budde gave a sermon at the Episcopal Cathedral in Washington D.C., and she preached on unity and the need for unity in our nation. There wasn’t much controversial or displeasing in that part of her sermon. 

Then, she preached to President Trump, asking him to have mercy, noting that there were people who were in fear for their lives due to some of his policies and especially his rhetoric. She asked for mercy for folks who would be impacted, ending her remarks with, “May God grant us all the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth in love, and walk humbly with one another and our God, for the good of all the people of this nation and the world.”

Immediately there was anger toward her by many who disagree with her, some even calling for her death. She said something that some people didn’t like, and as a result, many called for her to leave the church, leave the country, or even leave her body and just die. Even for those who don’t want her dead or deported, there have been folks leave the church because of her words, folks consider joining the church because of her words, and many who saw this as a clear marker of choosing sides. Contempt of one another has been flowing freely ever since. 

It may have been inappropriate for her to speak directly to President Trump in a sermon, maybe so, maybe not. Calling people out for some of their harmful behavior is certainly not out line with something Jesus would do…that’s what he did just after the passage we heard today. 

In President Trump’s case, having nothing to do with his policy, the way he talks about people is often dangerously harmful. His word choice and way of talking tends to inflame people’s fear and anger, and that has led and will continue to lead to violence and calls for murder. As James pointed out in James 3:6-8, “The tongue is a fire…full of deadly poison.” President Trump has good things he hopes to achieve, and at the same time, when he speaks without mercy, regardless of his policies, when he speaks with so much contempt and without mercy, he is setting fire to people around him, with deadly poison. 

We found that a Bishop couldn’t even point that out without people calling for her death. “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.”

As a body of people, we have got to learn to be ok with hearing things we don’t love to hear. When our responses are so full of anger and contempt that for a week and more after a Bishop preached the teachings of Jesus, our national conversation is full of attacks on each other as unchristian, or unamerican, or kinda Christian but definitely the really bad kind, we find ourselves much like the Corinthian church. “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos.” “I belong to Peter,” or “I belong to Christ.” I belong to Trump, or I belong to don’t. I belong to this group or that group, and you are, therefore, enemy. 

That doesn’t work. The hand cannot say to the foot, you are not part of the body because you are not a hand. The eye cannot call the ear enemy because it is not an eye. People who support President Trump and people who do no support President Trump cannot call one another enemy or say the other doesn’t belong. 

Like it or not, we are one body within the Church, and like it or not, we are even one body of humanity. We cannot continue as a church or as humanity telling parts of our body that they don’t belong. We need, as Paul wrote in Galatians 5, to learn to tame our flesh, and the flesh I mean is our emotions and violent, angry responses to one another. 

We are being driven mad by the passions of our flesh, the passions of, “I am right, and you are terrible.” We are being driven mad by our desires to say various parts of the body, “You do not belong; because I find you objectionable, you do not belong.” Our body, our body of humanity cannot continue like this. We must ask Jesus to help us tame the passions of our flesh, the passions of our violent and angry emotions. 

If we don’t, then like the people of Nazareth, we will continue to try to kill Jesus every time he says something we don’t like. Even if killing Jesus just means we have even more contempt for the other, even more looking at the other as some awful part of the body that needs to be removed, we need to tame our passions and live no longer guided by the adversary, whose name is Satan, but to live guided by the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught us to follow the way of the Advocate, striving for those we care about, and rather than hating our enemies, loving our enemies. 

So, grant us your Holy Spirit, Lord, that we may love even our enemies. Grant us your Holy Spirit that we may tame the passions of our flesh, the passions of our violent and angry emotions. Grant us your Holy Spirit to have mercy one another. Grant us your Holy Spirit that we may be one body without contempt for one another. “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt."

We Don't Have to Live That Way

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
July 14, 2024
Proper 10, B
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Mark 6:14-29

King Herod had a right rough time of it, didn’t he? He was king of an occupied nation; semi-autonomous, kinda; and he was supposed to be leading his people according to the ways of God, even as he was trying to keep Rome happy and the people from rising up against Rome. He of course, then had his courtiers and officials to placate, his influence to maintain, all of which was meant to help him lead his people well according to the ways of God…giving Herod the benefit of the doubt.

With the pressure of all of those forces upon him, Herod seemed to be straying a bit from the ways of God. He wasn’t supposed to have married his brother’s wife, but hey, he was king. He had a lot of pressures on him. He had to be given some slack with such a big job. Then, when his wife wanted John imprisoned, well, he had to go along with what she wanted. He couldn’t have a split in his royal household, could he? How would that look to Rome and to his courtiers and officials? So then finally, when he gave his oath to Herodias’ daughter for anything she wanted and she asked for John’s head, how could he refuse? He had the pressures of all of these forces weighing on him, and John was, after all, just one weirdo, poor-boy prophet with no power or stature to compete with the powerful people of influence all around Herod. 

So, he had John executed for peacefully speaking out against the crown, beheaded on the whim of a young alluring girl and her mom. Trying to lead his people well, amidst so many powerful forces and the pressure of everything weighing on him, he led his people further down the path of destruction, going ever further from the ways of God in order to keep his people free to follow the ways of God. Oddly enough, God wasn’t particularly fond of that approach.

As with kings hundreds of years before him, God wasn’t overly fond of the powerful oppressing the week for the sake of some perceived greater good. If only Herod could keep the powerful and influential happy with him, then he’d have power enough to do the right things for Israel. Rather than be a light to those powerful and influential people, showing them a better way, and maybe disappointing them, however, Herod chose injustice and oppression. 

In the days of the prophet Amos, kings of Israel had been doing the same thing, and God had had enough of it then too. Amos starts with God’s indictments against. The nations around Israel, followed by an indictment against Israel herself, for the injustice and oppression she had been living. We heard part of God’s words against Israel for her injustice through the prophet Amos today. “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

The king and the priest weren’t real thrilled with hearing that, and they threatened Amos. John wasn’t the first prophet who was condemned for speaking out against the injustices and atrocities of people in power, and Herod wasn’t the first leader to bow to the pressure upon him and do terrible things. He certainly wasn’t the last.

So, what about us and our lives? I think most of us could find plenty of leaders and rulers nowadays and apply this lesson to them. We could find all sorts of Herods doing all sorts of terrible things, turning away from the ways of God and following the ways of injustice, oppression, and bowing to pressures all around. I’d further guess that folks all along the political spectrum could hear my words thus far and think I’m preaching against the particular politicians or candidates they don’t like. 

I’m not. 

I’m not preaching for or against our governmental powers. They all have their place in seeking justice and wellbeing for all, but when I look for how to heal damage from the Herods in our world beheading the John the Baptists in our world, I don’t look to our government because Jesus didn’t set up our government to live out God’s mission in the world. Jesus set up his church to live out God’s mission. 

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us and to all of God’s church to live out God’s mission of justice, peace, reconciliation, and love. 

The work is ours to do with God’s help. Our challenges in doing the work are many. The pressures on us all are many. Families to care for. Jobs. Places to live. Much to lose. Friends and co-workers, family, neighbors, whom we want to keep good relationships with, and living out the work of God’s mission of justice, peace, reconciliation, and love can have challenges for all of that.

Heck, I offered a prayer on Facebook last night, which I almost never do. At this point, I tend to reserve Facebook for the proverbial cat videos, just offering something lighthearted and fun. After the assassination attempt on former president Trump last night, I offered prayers for him, giving thanks that he was ok, prayers for all who were keeping people safe, prayers for those who had died, and even prayers for the shooter. Prayers for peace, for love, and for healing. 

I got one comment on the prayer, which noted that I hadn’t offered prayers after the hurricane and other recent events, and so I was turning Trump into an idol. Now, I understand what he was saying. There’s a lot of folks who seem to think that if their candidate doesn’t win, the world will crumble. That’s not why I was offering that prayer. It was not about supporting Trump or not supporting Trump. I offered the prayer because I wanted to help lead people in prayer, particularly with so much anger and animosity in the nation today.

When I offered that prayer, I wasn’t turning Trump into an idol. In fact, the man who tried to kill Trump turned himself into an idol. The gunman had pressure on him. He apparently thought a Trump presidency wouldn’t be good, and he felt the pressure of that so intensely, that he went Herod’s route. He felt the world would be terrible if it didn’t go the way he knew was right, and so he decided to force his way on the world. It's not his world. It wasn’t Herod’s world. It’s not any of our world.

Whoever wins the presidency, I’m pretty sure it’s still gonna be God’s world. Our faith is in God, not in any presidential candidate, not in any government, and certainly not in ourselves to force our will and our way onto the world. That would be to turn ourselves into idols, which is what Herod did.

Faced with pressures from Rome, pressures from his own people, pressures from his family, pressures from his officers and courtiers, Herod decided to kill a man so that he could keep his own power and influence to try to make as much of the world go the way he wanted as possible. 

Where do we find good news in this story of Herod’s self-idolatry? We find good news in Herod being a dark, opposite reflection of the good news. We realize, we don’t have to live as Herod lived. 

We look to Jesus who chose not to force his will on the world. With the pressure of Rome threatening Israel, Jesus chose not to start an insurrection. He knew Rome was going to destroy the nation of Israel, and he let it happen. He’d been offered power over all of the nations of the world in his temptation by Satan in the wilderness, and Jesus turned that power down. He wasn’t going to force his way on the world through violence, and destruction, injustice, and oppression. 

Jesus chose instead to live the way of love, the way of justice, mercy, peace, and reconciliation. Jesus worked to invite and influence as many people as he could to join him in living the way of love, in living the way of justice, mercy, peace, and reconciliation. His faith wasn’t in Rome or any governmental power. His faith was in God and the ways of love that are God.

For us, our faith is not in any governmental power. Fearful as many are, fearful as some of us may be, that the country is going to hell in a handbasket or that if one person or another gets elected that the country will go to hell in a handbasket, we don’t have to bow to that fear and those pressures as Herod did. We don’t have to make ourselves into idols.

We can instead follow the way of Jesus. We can accept that the wrong people just may get elected. We can accept that terrible things may happen to institutions that we love. Our faith in not in those institutions, and it isn’t our world to force our will upon. We are not God. Our faith is not in ourselves and our own power. Our faith is in God, and we get to live the ways of God, the way of love, of justice, mercy, peace, and reconciliation. 

When We Serve Others, They Are the Messiah to Us

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
August 23, 2020
Proper 16, A
Exodus 1:8-2:10

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

When We Serve Others, They Are the Messiah to Us

Y’all may have heard that there’s some sort of national presidential election thing coming up?  A presidential election is always an important event, but there seems to be almost messianic fervor in this election, either for Trump/Pence or for Biden/Harris.  This messianic fervor makes sense in a way; there’s a lot that is less than wonderful going on in our world right now:  COVID-19, hurricanes, economic downturn, murder hornets.  It’s little wonder that we want a messiah.  

Neither Trump/Pence nor Biden/Harrisis, however, is that messiah, and as a side note, those who support either one of them are neither evil incarnate nor stupidity incarnate.  

In our messianic fervor, however, we tend to view people that way.  We tend to see some as the messiah and others therefore as the anti-messiah, or the little “c” anti-christ.  We have a lot of deep and strong ire for those who support the one’s we don’t see as messiah, and unfortunately, we tend to act out of that ire and make the situation even worse.  In our desires to fix everything, we can end up breaking things even more.  Further, none of our little “m” messiah’s are going to actually save us all or fix everything, and deep down, we know this, and yet in the midst of chaotic and uncertain times, in our messianic fervor, we still want a messiah who will come and fix everything.

So, in the midst of our messianic fervor, who do we say the messiah is?  Who do we way Jesus is?  We say Jesus is messiah, and yet even Jesus did not fix everything the way we would want all of our little “m” messiah’s to do.    There are still problems in the world and challenges for us to overcome.  

Like us, the disciples wanted a messiah who would fix everything from their point of view, make everything the way they thought it should be.  They probably wanted a messiah who would bring about and rule over a physical kingdom, squashing their enemies and ruling with them on top, always bringing about what they knew to be right.  There would be winners and losers, those with power and those without power.  

That’s not the kind of Messiah Jesus was or is.

An illustration of the kind of messiah Jesus is came in a picture I saw on a friend’s Facebook page last week.  It was a picture of a sign posted in a church.  The sign read:

“Warning:  Articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy Communion.”

There were a variety of reactions to this church sign, and there were a couple of comments of, “Sad,” and “Well, that is kind of sad.”

The idea was, “How terrible that this would happen in a church.”  “We’re supposed to be better than that.”  “How could people who would steal be in a church?”  Is a church in which, “articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy communion,” the kind of church of a messiah.  Is that the kind of church Jesus had in mind when he said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it?”  Why yes, I believe it is.

A couple of other comments on that picture of “Warning:  Articles of value should not be left on seats whilst receiving holy Communion,” were:

We [the church] are a collection of screw ups...slowly transformed by walking together with Jesus...and we’re still a bunch of screw ups.

Another wrote:

I only want to be in a church where there’s a sign like this. It means all sorts and conditions of people are there to hear the gospel!!!

Still another wrote:

Too many times we want everyone else around us to be perfect.

We forget that a church is supposed to be a place where people come for healing, for hope, for redemption, for restoration, for love, [and] for grace

Sad? Absolutely not! …That church with that [warning] sign…[is] doing exactly what Jesus is doing: meeting people in their mess, in their imperfection and still loving them and giving them room to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Room to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ, that’s what we need from our messiah, and that’s what Peter had in his walk with Jesus.  He was transformed over years from a fisherman who kept on screwing up in his walk with Jesus, to the rock on which Jesus founded the church, who still screwed up from time to time.  Peter learned that having a messiah didn’t mean he was going to rule or to be served, but that he was going to be healed and strengthened so that he could serve, so that he could be a blessing. 

Who do we say Jesus is?  Is Jesus the one who makes us perfect so that we can be around other perfect people?  Nah.  That’s not who Jesus is, and that’s not what the church is.  The church is the broken, the beaten, the blessed, and the damned, people who need healing, gathering together for strength and support.  The church is people who are imperfectly following Jesus and receiving his love and grace, to be healed and blessed in order to bless others.

Neither presidential candidate is going to do that.  Neither is going to fix everything, and doing so is not what the messiah is in the first place.

You want to see the Messiah?  Don’t look to the one who is going to fix everything for you.  Look to those who help heal people in order that they may be a blessing to others.  There are all kinds of ways we can heal each other.  A kind word, a gentle touch.  Having compassion on and sticking with people in their challenges.  Sometimes it is helping others with their physical needs, or letting someone else help us with ours.  Sometimes people are blessings to us when they help us see our own faults so that we stop viewing others as the problem. 

If you want to see the Messiah, look to the helpers, as Mr. Rogers said, and if you want to see the Messiah, look to the ones whom you can help.  Matthew 25:31-46 tells us that we encounter Jesus in the hungry when we help feed them.  We encounter Jesus in the lonely and imprisoned when we visit them.  We encounter Jesus in the sick when we help care for them.  Being of service to others doesn’t make us the messiah.  When we are of service to others, we encounter them as the messiah.  When we are of service to others, we get out of our own minds, out of our own troubles and worries, and instead of being overwhelmed by our own challenges, we get to be a blessing.  Blessing others helps save us.  

Who do we say Jesus is?  Who do we say the messiah is?  The messiah is the one or the ones who heal us and save us often from ourselves, by drawing out of us the power we have with God to be a blessing to others.  The messiah helps heal us and helps us to see each other as fellow messed up people in need of healing.  The messiah helps us not to fix or change each other, but with God’s help to heal and bless each other, giving each other room and time to be transformed by the love and grace of Jesus.

A Greater Belonging In Jesus

Brad Sullivan

Proper 10, Year B

July 15, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Mark 6:14-29

A Greater Belonging In Jesus

John the Baptist was killed because of a hastily-made promise given by a man who was overly aroused by his step daughter’s dancing.  With little thought as to possible consequence, Herod spoke his promise to give her whatever she wanted.  He was acting out of emotion, feeling more than thinking, and so in his lust and over excitement, he got a man killed.

I’d like to say that as disciples of Jesus, we don’t fall into that trap anymore, the trap of speaking and acting out of our emotions and letting our rash words cause harm to others.  I’d like to say that we don’t cause harm with our rash words, but of course we all still do.  As researcher and author Brené Brown points out, we like to think of ourselves as thinking people who also have emotions, but really, we are emotional people who also think sometimes.  We are often driven by our emotions and even our rational decisions are often clouded by our emotions. 

We may not often get people killed with a hastily made promise like Herod did, but remember that even before Herod had John killed, he had him imprisoned.  This was probably another hastily made decision, probably based largely on emotion.  Herod was the named Jewish king.  He was a puppet king of Rome, but even so, his assigned duty was to lead well the nation of Israel, so when he decided to marry his brother’s wife, John pointed out that doing so was against Jewish law.  Now usually, Herod liked listening to John.  He was perplexed by his teachings, but something about John’s teaching about God and about the ways of the people of Israel seems to have connected with Herod.  Then John called into question Herod’s unlawful marriage, and in what was likely a tantrumy fit of emotion, Herod decided that there was no longer room enough in Israel for both John and him, so he had John imprisoned. 

“I don’t like what you have to say, so you’ll have to go.”  That was Herod’s basic operating model with John.  We don’t often get people killed with our rash words and emotionally clouded decisions, but “I don’t like what you have to say, so you’ll have to go,” is something I hear with increasing frequency.

In our nation, with much of the vitriolic, emotional language surrounding any issue, people tend to be painted in absolute, binary terms.  On one side of what we hear, if you agree with anything President Trump does or says, then you are described or thought of as a hateful racist (which is completely false).  On the other side of what we hear, if you don’t agree with something President Trump does or says, then you are described or thought of as an anti-American nincompoop (also totally false).  Put another way, much of what we hear is, “I don’t like what you have to say, so you’ll have to go.”  That’s Herod’s way.

This way of thinking with our emotions, lives not only in our political thoughts and civil discourse.  The putting away of and rejection of the other ends up living in our church and our faith as well.   My guess is that most of us don’t believe in overly emotional labels of the other.   Most of us, when our emotions are down, don’t really believe in the “I don’t like what you have to say, so you’ll have to go” mentality.  Most of us would not want to kick out of the church those who have different beliefs about our faith or different beliefs about various laws in America.  We may disagree, but I’m guess that most of us would not want to declare those with whom we disagree no longer welcome in the Episcopal Church or no longer a part of the Body of Christ, and yet people continue to feel like that is exactly what they are being told.  “Because of what you believe, you no longer belong.”

I had a question recently from a friend in the Episcopal church, wondering about the Episcopal Church’s stance on a variety of current hot button issues.  Ultimately, he was wondering if he still belongs in the Episcopal Church.  He has more conservative views on most of the hot button issues of the day and he was wondering if because of his conservative views, he was going to be seen as a bigot in his church.  Hearing what some in his church have said, hearing what some leaders in the church have said, he was guessing that he wasn’t welcome.  Now, none of those leaders said he wasn’t welcome, but we hear it so much, that we hear “you aren’t welcome,” even when it is not being said or thought.  Based on conversations and observations of others in his church, he was afraid.  He felt that if he were to say that he agrees with some of President Trumps policies, that he would be labeled a hateful racist and be shunned. 

I assured him that as far as any official stance within the Episcopal Church goes, of course he is a part of the Episcopal Church, and of course his views are welcome in the Episcopal Church, and he is not viewed as a bigot for having conservative beliefs.  Nor is anyone viewed as a nincompoop for having liberal beliefs.  There are bishops, priest, and laity throughout the Episcopal Church on the far right, on the far left, everywhere in between, and all of those beliefs are welcome.  It’s not as comfortable as it is to say, “I disagree; you don’t belong.”  That’s a lot easier, but that is not the way of the Episcopal Church.   One of the longtime hallmarks of the Anglican/Episcopal church is that we are united in Jesus, and our unity in Jesus overcomes any other divisions we have. 

Sadly, much of how we talk about our differences leaves us feeling like there is only room for some of us.  I’ve been guilty of this in how I’ve talked and written.  I’m guessing many of us have, when we talk emotionally about an issue and end up saying things in such a way that those with opposing views end up hearing very clearly, “I don’t like what you have to say, so you’ll have to go.”

A one sided church is not, however, the way of the Anglican/Episcopal Church.  The Anglican Church started off with bloodshed.  When a catholic monarch was in charge, they killed the protestants, and when a protestant monarch was in charge, they killed the Catholics.  Finally, Elizabeth basically said,

We’re not doing this anymore.  This isn’t the church of  Catholicism; this isn’t the church of Protestantism.  This is the church of England.  Furthermore, this is the church of Jesus, and we are going to be united around Jesus and be united around prayer.  So all of you Catholics who are so upset that there are Protestants here, terribly sorry, we’re keeping them.  All of you protestants who are so upset that there are Catholics here, terribly sorry, we’re keeping them too, and we’re going to unite and come together in that tricky, messy middle place where we remain as one, united in Jesus. 

We continue to this day to seek a middle way between opposing views.  We continue to believe that our unity comes from Jesus and that there is room enough for all of us, even with our opposing views. 

In Herod’s kingdom, there was room enough only for what pleased Herod.  If someone challenged him or made him uncomfortable, then there was no longer room for that person.  In Jesus’ kingdom there is room for all of us.  We are all the Body of Christ and individually members of it.  Not only is there room for all of us, but there is need for all of us. 

One of the issues my friend asked about was immigration.  While he isn’t a fan of detaining children, he also believes that enforcing our immigration laws is a good thing.  He is aware of the human tracking that happens everywhere in the world, including along our southern border, and as much as he wanted children to be reunited with their parents, he was also aware of the possibility that some of those children were likely being trafficked by people who weren’t their parents. 

As it turns out, on the issue of separating families on our southern border, both sides have truths that we need.  We need to be compassionate in how we treat and speak about immigrants, and we need to enforce our laws with compassion and dignity, and we need to enforce our laws in order to keep people safe.  Both sides are needed for America to be the nation we were founded to be, and both sides are needed for us to truly live as the Body of Christ.  We need each other, and there is plenty of room in Jesus for all of us.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians that basically there is no room in Jesus’ kingdom for enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, etc.  There is room, however, for being wrong.  There is room for disagreeing.  There is room for striving for what is right and good, and coming up with different solutions for doing what is right and good.  There is room within Jesus, within the Body of Christ for what Paul calls the fruits of the Spirit:  love for each other, joy in creation and our faith, peace in our hearts, patience and kindness as we live with others, assuming each others’ goodness, faithfulness to Jesus, gentleness and self-control as we live with our differences.  These fruits are how we live with one another in Jesus because these fruits are part of the character and nature of who Jesus is.

Unlike in Herod’s kingdom of his way only, of rash words and decisions based on raw emotion and arousal, we belong to Jesus’ kingdom.  No political or social belief unites us or divides us, and no rash words spoken by any of us in the heat of emotion get to declare that someone else doesn’t belong.  We all belong in Jesus. 

Fumbling In the Dark

Brad Sullivan

2 Epiphany, Year A

January 14, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

John 1:29-42

Fumbling In the Dark

Repentance leads to seeing Jesus.  That is what I heard in our Gospel story this morning, as John was declaring Jesus to be the Lamb of God, the one who would take away the sins of the world.  John said that he came baptizing so that Jesus would be revealed to Israel.  Now John came with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and his doing so led to Jesus being revealed as God’s son after he was baptized by John.  This baptism of repentance led to a revelation of Jesus, seeing him as more than a carpenter’s son, but as the Son of God who has saved the world from their sins.  For us, repentance leads to seeing Jesus as well and being guided by the light of Jesus, without which, without Jesus, we’re fumbling in the dark.

We may not feel like we’re fumbling in the dark.  We’re so often guided, after all, our own lights, one of which being the light of some truth that we hold.  Guided by our own lamps of truth, it’s little wonder we end up fumbling in the dark, especially considering how vitriolic our lamps of truth have become as of late.  We know that we are right, or even if not completely sure of our own correctness, we know with absolute certainty that the other side is wrong.  That vitriol, that certainty in our own truth leaves us fumbling in the dark..

Jesus is the light of the world, the light of God, we’re told in the first chapter of John, and we’re told that Jesus came with grace and truth.  Jesus came with truth, and we tend to hold onto that truth as best we understand it, especially when we’re fumbling in the dark.  Even more than the light of Jesus’ truth, however, we need the  light of Jesus’ grace. 

Jesus’ grace didn’t demand total understanding of truth from people.  Jesus spent time with a lot of people who certainly didn’t seem to have truth wrapped up particularly well.  Jesus was called a friend of sinners, and as such he didn’t lambast or lecture them.  He had dinner with them.  When he saw people fumbling in the dark, he gave them grace and love to be their light along with his truth.

Jesus came with grace to see us as fumbling in the dark as well, doing our best as we walk along the well worn paths of our lives, when we’re often not even guided by light anymore, but simply by repetition, following in the same old paths, the same old ways that we can follow with our eyes closed, ways that don’t lead anywhere good, but ways which we know so well that they just feel right.  Jesus came with grace enough to give us light so that when we repent, when we turn from those well worn paths toward a new path, we have light to follow in the way of Jesus.  

Back in high school, I believed I was following in the way of Jesus.  I’d grown up a Christian my whole life, and I knew nothing but the truth.  I knew about the Gospel and about Jesus.  He was the truth, and that was that.  So, at times back in high school, I ended up following a particular path, a path called:  moral superiority and mocking of liberals and various morally unacceptable people in the guise of righteously upholding Jesus and Christian values.  It felt like truth.  It was really just bullying.

My views on various things changed over the years.  Various truths changed, but I still believed in Jesus.  In my late teens and early twenties, I began to repent of the ways I had been walking, so certain of my truth that I could denigrate others for not holding the same truth. 

Then, in seminary, I found myself agreeing with some of the more liberal views on several issues, especially the hot button issues of the time.  I was sickened, however, at how the opposing views, views which I had previously held, were not really welcome on campus.  The goal of Virginia Theological Seminary was for all views to be welcome, but in practice, VTS was following the same path I had followed back in high school, though at VTS it was called:  intellectual superiority and mocking of conservatives and various morally unacceptable beliefs in the guise of love and respect for all people.  It felt like truth to those on that path.  It was really just bullying.

Those of us who have been on that path, the path of (assumed) truth without grace, believe our own beliefs to be right and afford little or no grace to those with opposing views. When I have been on that path, I was blinded.  I knew where I wanted to go.  I knew the end, what was right, where we should all (I assumed) go as a society, but getting there, I was fumbling in the dark. 

Repenting of that certainty, that truth without grace, I found myself less certain about where I was going, but more confident in how I was getting there, guided by the light of Jesus. 

Over the last week, I realized that I again needed to repent from walking that same, well worn path of self-righteous, supposed truth.  My supposed truth without grace was in the belief that the wrong candidate had won the presidential election.  I wasn’t really excited about Hilary, but I was so turned off by Trump’s rhetoric and seeming character flaws.  I knew I was right and the other side was wrong, until I finally really listened to my cousin, a Trump supporter, and I realized how self-righteous I had been in my belief.  Supposed truth without grace and bullying had become my path again, and I was wrong. I needed to repent of that path and let the light of Jesus be revealed to me once again. 

My less than stellar views of our president elect didn’t change, but I can hold those views more lightly now.  I may very well be wrong.  He may be exactly what this country needs.  More importantly, having repented of the path of supposed truth without grace, I can follow Jesus again when he says to his disciples, “come and see”, rather than be deaf to his invitation or too caught up in thinking myself right even to care.  In my supposed truth without grace, I was blind to Jesus all around me.  I was blind to Jesus in people all around me.  I was wrong.  I needed to repent of that path.  I’m guessing I’m the only one.

Here’s what I think now regarding the election, and I offer these thoughts for all of those still struggling with the decisions or the reactions of those on the other side.  People made the best choices they could with the information they had and the information which they were able to believe.  Folks on both sides of this thing have asked, “how could you possibly have voted for [this candidate], knowing [this terrible thing] about them.”  How could you be so stupid or immoral as to vote for whichever candidate?  That’s about the sentiment I’ve heard quite often.  Now, not wanting the other candidate to win is pretty normal, but good gracious, it seems that an awful lot of people on both sides viewed the other candidate as the latest incarnation of Satan. Some even thought the comparison gave Satan a bad name.

How could either side vote for a candidate who seemed so horribly flawed to the other side?  Well, it’s really kind of simple.  Our brains will only allow us so much cognitive dissonance before they begin jettisoning some bad information (or assuming it to be false) so that they can handle and align what we do with what we believe.

Adding to differences of policy off, folks were fearfully and (strongly) against Trump because of what he’d said and done/reportedly done.  They saw a particular character emerge from the information given, a character which could not be supported.  Folks who were against Hillary, saw a similarly deficient character emerge based on what Hillary had said and done/reportedly done, a character which could not be supported. 

Both groups did the best they could with the information they had, and many within both groups had to ignore/gloss over, or explain away some of the more troubling aspects of each candidates’ character.  Regarding the truth of either candidate and the soundness of a vote for either, we’re all fumbling in the darkness, doing our best with very limited knowledge of truth.  We have incomplete truth.  We can’t have anything but incomplete truth. 

Grace, on the other hand, well that we have in abundance, and grace is something we can give in abundance.  Many want us to come together as people, as the body of Christ, and we need to.  We need to give each other grace with our competing, incomplete truths, grace enough to say, “I truly believe you were doing the best you could.” 

Otherwise both sides of any issue continue to walk on well worn paths that feel like truth, but which are really just bullying.  When we’re on those paths, no matter how certain we are, we’re blind, our paths lighted only by the darkness of certainty and truth without grace which end up leaving us fumbling in the darkness of bullying. 

Repenting of that path, we can see Jesus again.  Turning toward Jesus, with his light to guide us, we don’t always know exactly where we are going, or where we’ll end up, but we do know the way.  Jesus is the way.   With the grace of Jesus and restored relationships to guide us, we travel together toward an uncertain future, secure not in the destination, secure not in the end, but secure in each other, and secure in the grace of Jesus to guide us.