Let’s posit our reading this morning in the context of our
media headlines … in Houston, devastating floods have launched countless people
into heroic action – the Cajun navy has shown up with dozens and dozens of boat
ranging from rowboats to all manner of fishing boats – to make a difference,
people all over the city have waded through treacherous waters to rescue
neighbours, strangers and friends, a mattress and furniture store opened its
doors, turned on its tv’s and welcomed in HUNDREDS of people to ride out the
disaster, bakeries and restaurants have been cooking and baking and prepping
around the clock to feed the rescuers, the victims and anyone else who might
just be hungry, mosques and churches and temples threw open their doors, laid
out food and mattresses and welcomed in victims, and then you have mega-church
superstar Joel Osteen locking the doors of the church because the highway out
front was flooded, because he didn’t have enough staff or volunteers, because
he didn’t have adequate space for them – his church seats 17 000 people … until
the social media storm embarrassed him into opening the doors and welcoming in
the homeless … BUT, undaunted, he is now appealing to his vast following to
send cash donations to off set the costs this will place on his church and
ministry – the recommended gift is a meagre $50 to help the victims of Harvey …
In other headlines we have the president of the mosque in
Quebec a victim of a set car fire … this is the same mosque that had six
worshippers shot and killed within its walls … and in Nashville a group of
Church leaders gathered this week to release the Nashville Statement that
ultimately seeks to roll back the human rights progress made by LGBQT folks
over the last few decades … it is at its heart an attempt by evangelical
conservative Christians to make sense of a rapidly changing world, and to bring
their society BACK to biblical basics …
Biblical Basics that witness politicians saying that the
floods in Houston are God’s punishment for extending rights to Gays and
Lesbians … Biblical Basics that ungird calls to make America Great Again …
Biblical Basics that encourage the kind of behaviour we witnessed two weeks ago
in Virginia when racism and bigotry, hatred and violence were laid bare before
us …
And this my friends, is the faith of which we are part –
hopefully distant cousins to such close minded and close heartedness, but
distant cousins nonetheless … and in this moment in full solidarity with Karl
Barth who said as preachers we stand in the pulpit with a newspaper in one hand
and Bible in the other … the newspaper today is filled with disturbing and
unfaithful stories of where the church fails … and those stories colour us …
those stories inform the people out there about us in that they read about Joel
and the Nashville document and they say – “that’s what the church is like …”
So as we hear the call of Moses in Sinai and hear Jesus
warn his followers that the path he calls us to is not easy, but is fraught
with challenges and hazards … we have a choice to make.
We can work to unwind the bad press about faith and church
and we who follow Jesus, or we can be silent and hope it goes away …
Last night I read something that was startling, and that
taught me something I had never known … I’ve long been a fan of Martin Luther
King and his writings and speeches. I have several books with his teachings,
I’ve bought the set of his Massey Lectures on CBC, and have written countless
sermons and papers on him. One of his most prominent sermons remains his “I
have a dream speech” delivered in the March on Washington in 1963 when hundreds
of thousands marched on Washington DC demanding change … but what I didn’t know
was that there were numerous OTHER speakers that day who offered equally
valuable reflections on the state of the world in which they found themselves.
One in particular – Rabbi Joachim Prinz spoke just before
King, and his words today some 54 years later ring prophetically true as we
consider the state in which we find our world today …
Prinz said:
I
speak to you as an American Jew.
As Americans we share
the profound concern of millions of people about the shame and disgrace of
inequality and injustice which make a mockery of the great American idea.
As Jews we bring to
this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a
two-fold experience -- one of the spirit and one of our history.
In the realm
of the spirit, our fathers taught us thousands of years ago that when God
created man, he created him as everybody's neighbor. Neighbor is not a
geographic term. It is a moral concept. It means our collective responsibility
for the preservation of man's dignity and integrity.
From our
Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years we say:
Our ancient
history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages
my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe . Our modern
history begins with a proclamation of
emancipation.
It is for
these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black
people of America that motivates us. It is above all and beyond all such
sympathies and emotions a sense of complete identification and solidarity born
of our own painful historic experience.
When I was
the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned
many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic
circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not '.the most urgent problem.
The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic
problem is silence.
A great
people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent
onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality
and in the face of mass murder.
America must
not become a nation of onlookers. America must not remain silent. Not merely
black America , but all of America . It must speak up and act,. from the
President down to the humblest of us, and not for the sake of the Negro, not
for the sake of the black community but for the sake of the image, the idea and
the aspiration of America itself.
Our
children, yours and mine in every school across the land, each morning pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it
stands. They, the children, speak fervently and innocently of this land as the
land of "liberty and justice for all."
The time, I
believe, has come to work together - for it is not enough to hope together, and
it is not enough to pray together, to work together that this children's oath,
pronounced every morning from Maine to California, from North to South, may
become, a glorious, unshakeable reality in a morally renewed and united
America.
The most important thing that I learned under those tragic
circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not '.the most urgent problem.
The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic
problem is silence.
Today the most tragic problem we face as a society and
within the church is that we’ve opted for silence … we watch videos of black
teenagers and black men being beaten and killed and say ‘can’t happen here …”
and remain silent in the face of racism and bigoty … we watch as DOZENS of
Native and Aboriginal women have been abused, murdered or simply vanished and
say “can’t happen here …” and remain silent in the face of HUGE social problem
… we watch as the fundamental rights of gays, lesbians, immigrants, refugees
and others are rolled back and we say “can’t happen here …” and remain silent …
It can … it does and it IS happening here … and as Rabbi
Prinz said so eloquently over half a century ago – silence is not an option …
With the rise of the intolerance and bigotry we are
witnessing ALL around us today, we, the people of faith have NO CHOICE but to
act on our faith and speak up and speak out …
Today, we face the same dilemma that Martin Neimoeller put
to words in the wake of World War Two when he said:
First they came
for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
The whole people of god
curriculum for this morning introduces our readings saying:
As Christians we are
often called to place ourselves at risk for the sake of others: to reach out to
help others at cost to ourselves, to speak out for justice and fairness at the
risk of ridicule, to respond to others’ questions about our beliefs and core
values, even though we are still working them out in our own minds. All of our
readings today speak about the risk involved in trying to respond to God’s call
and live in God’s way …
Sisters and brothers in Christ … silence is not an option
for people of faith … standing idly by and watching as fear, bigotry and hatred
run rough shod over our neighbours, our communities and our values is not an
option … faith calls us to risk … risk our voice … risk our reputation … risk
our standing and status in community AND to stand up for what is just and what
is right … Moses didn’t want to go where God was calling him, but he did and
great things resulted … the disciples, and even Jesus himself didn’t want to go
where God was calling them, but they did and great things resulted … today God
is calling us to move beyond our comfort and our complacency … to do more than
silently watch and pray … thoughts and prayers are very good, but actions are
better … we are being called to follow … and we know good things will result …
May it be so … thanks be to God … let us pray …
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