The
holy gospel according to Luke (21:5-19)
5When some
were speaking about the temple,
how
it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God,
Jesus said,
6“As
for these things that you see,
the
days will come when not one stone will be left upon another;
all
will be thrown down.”
7They asked Jesus,
7They asked Jesus,
“Teacher,
when will this be,
and
what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”
8And Jesus
said,
“Beware
that you are not led astray;
for
many will come in my name and say, ‘I am the one!’
and,
‘The time is near!’
Do
not go after them.
9“When you
hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified;
for
these things must take place first,
but
the end will not follow immediately.”
10Then Jesus
said to them,
“Nation
will rise against nation,
and
country against country;
11there
will be great earthquakes,
and
in various places famines and plagues;
and
there will be dreadful portents
and
great signs from heaven.
12“But
before all this occurs,
they will arrest you and persecute you;
they will hand you over to synagogues and
prisons,
and
you will be brought before rulers and
governors because of my name.
13This will give you an
opportunity to testify.
14So
make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance;
15for
I will give you words and a wisdom
that
none of your opponents will be able to withstand
or
contradict.
16You
will be betrayed even by parents and family,
by
relatives and friends;
and
they will put some of you to death.
17You will be hated by all because of my name.
18But
not a hair of your head will perish.
19By
your endurance you will gain your souls.”
The
gospel of the Lord.
-----
No
matter who would have won this week, we as a community of faith would have work
to do. Our country, and even our
own community, is deeply divided. The
words of Jesus from today’s gospel paint a stark picture of the world and yet
for many in this country, “dreadful portents” feels accurate this week or even
this year.
Throughout
this election, those who are most vulnerable in our country have been used,
tossed aside, or manipulated. Poor
and working class people of all races have been excluded in favor of a focus on
the “middle class,” so many others have been explicitly degraded and
villainized.
It
is not a matter of being a democrat or a republican. It is not a matter of voting a certain way. No matter who you voted for or what
your reasons for voting, the results of the presidential election tell those of
us who are already more vulnerable that we don’t matter or that we matter
less. This is not because a certain
“side” won or lost. It’s deeper
than that.
Muslims,
immigrants, people of color, and lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, and queer
folks have been taunted; in play grounds with “Build the wall!”, harassed and
beaten up, with
hijabs, the headscarves some Muslim women wear as an expression of their faith,
torn off on
college campuses and in people’s own communities. Women have been harassed on public transportation and at
work. Graffiti and threatening notes have popped up everywhere. [1]
Not
only that, usually the crisis text line has about 30-80 people working at one
time to field all of the texts that they receive from people in crisis from
anxiety, depression, and other causes.
Tuesday night, it took over 500 counselors at once to meet the demand. This has continued to be the case
across the board with suicide and crisis hotlines.
For
many of us who voted, probably even the majority, the intended message was not
this, but for those people who jumped on board with the fear and voted
precisely because of the violent, racist, xenophobic rhetoric, they see the
results as affirmation of their views.
They understand the results as a country that thinks whiteness is best
and should be the only race allowed, where other religions are illegitimate,
where people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ folks, and women don’t deserve full
citizenship, where violence, harassment, and bullying is ok.
Many
now feel justified in acting on their bigotry and fear. And many are responding to that out of
their own justified fear and anger.
That has become the message of this
week.
But
Jesus says, “13This will give
you an opportunity to testify.”
Because
that—that hatred and fear—is not who we are as a community of faith. Violence in any form is not who we are
as a community of faith.
Jesus says “they will
arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and
prisons, and you will be brought
before rulers and governors because of my name….16You will
be betrayed even by parents and family, by relatives and friends; and they will
put some of you to death. 17You
will be hated by all because of my name. ”
Following Jesus is not
easy. It means taking risks, it
means standing up to bullies on playgrounds, on the streets, and even in
politics—from Republicans, Democrats, Third Parties, and Independents.
Today, tomorrow, and in the
coming months, we will have the opportunity to testify. What will your witness be?
Yesterday we celebrated
Carina’s ordination. We celebrated
this community of faith and the ways the Holy Spirit has worked through you all
to encourage Carina and lift up her gifts for ministry and leadership.
You
have nurtured in her a faith that understands a neighbor’s pain as her own
pain; that sees Christ’s suffering in those who suffer throughout the world. You were the first ones to share with
her about Jesus, to care about being in relationship with her, to encourage her
call to ministry. You embodied
God’s love to your neighbors and to her.
Christ’s love has been carried in this community and Christ’s light has
shined brightly through you.
In the coming months, we
will again have the opportunity to testify to God’s love for Muslim children of
God, for immigrant and refugee children of God, for children of God who have
survived sexual assault, and for children of God with disabilities.
Not because you have to, but
because of God’s love. God loves
immigrants, people living and working in poverty, Muslims, survivors, the
vulnerable and the forgotten. God
loves you. And God’s love is who
we are as a community of faith—as beloved children of God ourselves. God loves us so much that God feeds us
in bread and wine; Christ’s own self, given in love for the sake of the whole
world. And through us, God also
feeds others—pies, pasta, mole, cheese and crackers, and the nourishment of love,
friendship, and support.
The Holy Spirit has been at
work in this world since long before any of us were alive and since long before
this election even began. God
claims each and every person as beloved and in our baptism, God calls us into
the world as witnesses of God’s love—to smile and greet strangers who are
really neighbors in the grocery store, to go out of our way when we’re in
Rochester or LaCrosse to warmly greet women wearing hijabs, so that they know
that we care about them and are safe people for them, to challenge ourselves
and friends or neighbors when we think or they say something
about “those people” whomever “those people” may be.
We live in a small town,
filled with nice people, and it’s easy to think that we aren’t connected to the
rest of what is going on in our country or the world. Yet our interactions are bigger than
Rushford and Peterson. God makes
them ripple outwards. God’s love
surrounds us and expands the impact of the love we show to others.
May the Holy Spirit continue
to make our witness ripple waves of love into the universe just as she has
always done.
Amen.
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