Sunday, November 10, 2024
The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
Thoughts after the election
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
I’ve spent a lot of time and prayer considering what to preach about this morning. I touched on some of the issues on my sermon for the Healing Service. I realized though as I prepared that a healing service is exactly what the current situation calls for. We have a lot of healing to do.
I read a lot of posts Wednesday morning from writers and theologians, not Facebook stuff but their blogs. Everything from Nadia Bolz-Weber who was very outspoken to Bishop Carrie of Maryland whose post was. “I’m getting up out of bed this morning and following Jesus.”
As I looked at a couple that I know were written before the election was called, I realized those are the words I need. Words to live by regardless of the result. Words that I can share with this entire congregation both those who are celebrating and those who are not happy with results because I know from my conversations with people over the past several days that we have people who are feeling a wide variety of emotions. Notice I did not say people on both sides, because we need to get past the idea of two opposing sides. That is not going to help us move forward. So, I’m writing this so that it could be read regardless of who won.
I want to start with the words of Bishop Deon Johnson of Missouri. I know and respect him as a wise leader in the church. I did post his words on our Facebook page because they resonated with me and with others with whom I shared them. He takes Bishop Carries thought of I am getting up this morning and following Jesus a little farther.
“EZRA 1:13b: So that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of people’s weeping.
Weeping and rejoicing
Yet God is still God, and the work of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our God is still our work to do.
Let us weep for a time
Let us rejoice for a time
Let us spend our time in sackcloth and ashes
Let us make noise with timbrel and tambourine
But then let us be about the business to which God has called.
God has work for us to do. “
I can tell you from the many conversations I have had with people this week that a significant portion of our congregation is in morning and another portion is rejoicing and a third group is wondering what will happen next.
I do not know what will happen next but regardless of who won the election we still need to get on with the business of caring for the people of not just our parish, our city or our country but the world. Regardless of who won, the homeless person, the one without healthcare, the hungry, the sick, the refugee all still need our help and support. Regardless of who won the election we need to help heal the divisions in our nation. I want to hear language and see actions from both parties centered on uniting the country.
To walk back the level of conflict that we are at is a enormous challenge. Conflict management experts will tell you when conflict escalates to the we must destroy the other stage it is almost impossible to walk this back. And we see this level of conflict not just in our country but all around the world. This is the state of the conflict in the Middle east. Both sides are dedicated to the destruction of the other. The extremes in our country want to destroy the other but that only leads to our destruction.
God is a God of love and if it isn’t about love, it isn’t about God. You can wear a cross and declare that you are a Christian but if you are filled with hate and rage, then you are not living as a Christian. Going to church does not make you a Christian. Sitting in church does not make you a Christian any more than sitting in your garage makes you a car. As I said last week, what really shows the world we are Christians is do we live out our baptismal promises?
Richard Rohr wrote on Tuesday “Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good and welfare of others. It doesn’t stop at our front door or our neighborhood, our religion or race, or our state’s or a country’s border. This is one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth, as the hymn goes….
Where selfishness excludes, love makes room and includes. Where selfishness puts down, love lifts up. Where selfishness hurts and harms, love helps and heals. Where selfishness enslaves, love sets free and liberates.
The way of love will show us the right thing to do, every single time. It is moral and spiritual grounding—and a place of rest—amid the chaos that is often part of life. It’s how we stay decent in indecent times. Loving is not always easy, but like with muscles, we get stronger both with repetition and as the burden gets heavier. And it works.” [1]
The Very Rev. Barkley Thompson who served as the Dean of our cathedral wrote on his Facebook page. “The campaign and the election are over. The next president of the United States is now known. If you rejoice at the outcome, then you have a responsibility to ensure that, as the Prayer Book says, those in power work for ‘justice and peace at home’ and that the United States be ‘a blessing to the other nations of the earth.’ If you despair at the outcome, then you have a responsibility to be ardent as what our British cousins call the ‘Loyal Opposition,’ where ‘loyal’ means loyalty not to those in power but to the constitutional ideals of the nation, always holding the government accountable, again, in the words of the Prayer Book, ‘to promote the well-being of all people.'”
The prayer he cites is found on page 820 in your BCP. Please take a moment and open to that prayer and I want to read it with you thinking about what Barkley wrote.
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This is a call to put into operation those Baptismal Promises that we reaffirmed last week at both services. This is a call to move on and continue with the ministries of our parish. Tuesday while voting was going on John, Mary and I were at the Christ Clinic offices continuing to work to get the evening clinic off the ground and at the moment we are looking at mid-February for a variety of reasons. We do need to find additional medical help and are looking for one or two doctors, nurse practitioners or Physicians Assistants. If you know somebody who might be willing to help let John or Mary know. I’ve reached out to Alex Large at COTHA. Wednesday the KCM tutoring program was in the parish hall. Then Thursday we hosted Gathering Place. This morning our full program was up and running and that is what we are called to do. This is doing the work that God has called us to do.
A closing thought from the National Catholic Reporter on Wednesday “As active witnesses of justice and mercy, we will transform darkness into light and weakness into strength for ourselves and others. Every act of love, every gesture of kindness and healing builds the nation that, for now, seems to elude us. Hope is not a mere feeling. Hope is a choice we make every day. When we choose hope, we embody the essence of our Christian calling — a calling to be agents of change and witnesses of the love our nation so desperately needs, now more than ever. “
As I sit out on my back patio on a cool and beautiful Saturday morning I choose Hope because I don’t see any other way forward. With that hope in mind I want to close with a prayer that I find helpful at times like these. It is by Julian of Norwich and English anchoress from the middle ages who survived wars, famines and the black death. It is one that works during the day and thankfully I find it works just as well at 3:00 in the morning when the cares and tribulations of the world wake me up.
All shall be well,
And all shall be well
And all manner of things shall be well.
For there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.
[1] https://email.cac.org/t/d-e-slidiuy-tlkriljtjy-z/