jesus invites us into radical inversion: 21st after pentecost year b

This past weekend I preached at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church here in Des Moines.  While the sermon changed quite a bit from the first draft to the final, it remained rooted in my queerying of Mark 10:17-31.  I did record the sermon at one of the services, but don't have a way to host that much audio on my blog (but if you support me through ko-fi, I might be able to make it happen!).

This is the image I used for preaching.

In the gospel Jesus challenges a rich man who wants to know how to inherit eternal life and, in doing so, challenges notions of the Prosperity Gospel, inviting the man and all of us as Jesus' followers to a radical inversion of the way the world works.  As we celebrated Archbishop and Saint Oscar Romero's canonization, we also remembered the way God had worked that very inversion in Saint Romero in his lifetime.  If you'd like to know more about the sermon or connections to the queery, let me know!

Who belongs to God: 20th after pentecost a

I also reference the first reading: Isaiah 45:1-7.

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (22:15-22)

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went

and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.

      ¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him,

            along with the Herodians, saying,

                  “Teacher,

                        we know that you are sincere,

                        and teach the way of God

                              in accordance with truth,

                        and show deference to no one;

                              for you do not regard people with partiality.

                        ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think.

                              Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor,

                                    or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus,

      aware of their malice, said,

            “Why are you putting me to the test,

                  you hypocrites?

            ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.”

And they brought him a denarius.

²⁰Then Jesus said to them,

      “Whose image is this, and whose title?”

²¹They answered,

      “The emperor’s.”

Then Jesus said to them,

      “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,

            and to God the things that are God’s.”

      ²²When they heard this,

            they were amazed;

            and they left Jesus

            and went away.

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

There are images all around us every day.  Images of violence, of pain, of joy, of anger.  Images of jobs and vocations, service, relationships, and estrangement.  Images of power and privilege, of isolation and marginalization.

These diverse images are on our money, too.  An image of a man of power: Washington, Hamilton, Franklin—soon Harriet Tubman, an image of freedom and resistance to oppression.  An eagle – an image for this country, with a head pointing toward the olive branch of peace and away from the arrows of war. 

A pyramid image of endurance, withstanding the test of time, with the Eye of Providence, or is it the eye of God? Claiming God’s presence and blessing, perhaps, though other countries also make that claim.  A new order, this great seal declares.  At the top, the united states of america.  Below that, on the back, the phrase “in god we trust.”  And those are just a few, easily spotted on this one, old bill. 

Images are all around us and even on us.  Images that seem perfect and images so full of what we call flaws: lines of wrinkles from laughter, worry, and surprise trace across our faces; scars from illness or injury; marks we try to cover up or choose to create as art; marks from violence that we hide from others, struggling to seek help or a way out.  All over our bodies, we carry images.

But there is one image more precious and more powerful than the rest.  An image that challenges our assumptions when seen on others whom we might call “interesting” or “different.”  An image that brings comfort when we cannot find the good in our own selves.

Jesus asks, “whose image…whose title?”  and it is “the emperor’s.”  When the image is marked “for the Empire,” then it is for the Empire.  When the image is marked for God, then for God.

But “in the beginning when God went about creating the heavens and the earth andthe earth was a formless void…God created humanity in the divine image.  In the image of God humanity wascreated”—in all our diversity.

Certain images may be marked on money and things, but the everlasting image of the Divine is marked on all of creation and on all of us created beings.  And that makes a difference.  We are made in the image of God.  Together with all of the ways we are unique, we belong to God—the God who calls us by our name and surnames us.

And if we belong to God, it is not just us, but all of humanity.  Every soldier killed fighting for this government, every soldier killed fighting for other governments, even every soldier killed fighting for ISIS bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every family that goes hungry on the weekends or in the summer bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every billionaire CEO and every family on welfare and everyone just trying to stay in the middle class bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every baby born and every person who dies bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every victim of violence—sexual harassment and domestic violence, economic violence, gun violence, terror attacks and mass killings—and every perpetrator of violence bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every janitor, firefighter, sex worker, pastor, administrative assistant, nurse, teacher, elected representative, telemarketer, and community organizer bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every person with documentation to live and work in a country, every person without documentation, and every person awaiting deportation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every lawyer, every government employee, every person in prison bears the image of God and so belongs to God.   

Every woman, every man, every transgender person, every person for whom the gender binary doesn’t fit; every bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, lesbian, gay, and queer person bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every one who is single, divorced, widowed, struggling with their marriage, and happily married bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of humanity bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then all of Creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every tree, river, bush, and lake bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every bluff, mountain, valley, desert, sea, and glacier bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every creeping thing upon the earth, every swimming thing every flying thing bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every planet, moon, star, galaxy, black hole, asteroid, and supernova bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then even “the things that are the emperor’s” are really “the things that are God’s.”  The things we think we can separate out from our faith are a part of our faith.  They belong to God just as we belong to God. 

So in all that we do and use we find divine belonging.  When we spend our money, we are using God’s resources and God’s creation.  When we are spiteful or cruel, we are doing so to God.  When we are honest about pain, oppression, and conflict, we are being honest with God and all that belongs to God.  When we care for another and for ourselves, we care for God.

Nayyirah Waheed’s poem, which I began with holds the truth about this image of God:

you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

In all you see as a flaw, God recognizes the beauty that is your truest self.  And the same holds true for the flaws we see in others.

As a reminder, please turn to a neighbor, ask their name (just to make sure—if everybody does it the person whose mind goes blank will have an excuse), ask if you can bless them, and if they give permission, mark their forehead or their hands with the sign of the cross and say, “You are a beloved child of God.  You belong to God. And that will never ever change.”

…

Amen.

God's grace is for your whole self: 8th after pentecost

The other reading I reference is the gospel for the day: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46, 51-52.

A reading from Romans (8:26-39).

²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness;

       for we do not know how to pray as we ought,

              but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

       ²⁷And God, who searches the heart,

              knows what is the mind of the Spirit,

                     because the Spirit intercedes for the saints

                            according to the will of God.

²⁸We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,

       who are called according to God’s purpose.

²⁹For those whom God foreknew

       God also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God,

              in order that the Son might be the firstborn within a large family.

              ³⁰And those whom God predestined God also called;

                     and those whom God called God also justified;

                            and those whom God justified God also glorified.

³¹What then are we to say about these things?

       If God is for us, who is against us?

              ³²The very Son of God was not withheld,

                     but given up for all of us;

                            will God not along with the Son also give us everything else?

                            ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?

                                   It is God who justifies.

                                          ³⁴Who is to condemn?

                                   It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes,

                                          who was raised,

                                          who is at the right hand of God,

                                          who indeed intercedes for us.

                                          ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

                                                 Will hardship,

                                                        or distress,

                                                        or persecution,

                                                        or famine,

                                                        or nakedness,

                                                        or peril,

                                                        or sword?

                                          ³⁶As it is written,

                                                 “For your sake we are being killed all day long;

                                                        we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors

       through the one who loved us.

              ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,

                     nor angels, nor rulers,

                     nor things present, nor things to come,

                     nor powers,

                     ³⁹nor height, nor depth,

                     nor anything else in all creation,

                            will be able to separate us from the love of God

                                   in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Word of God, word of life.

-----

Grace is one of the most essential parts of our theology as Presbyterians and Lutherans.  Grace—that God’s love cannot be earned and cannot be lost.  Grace is the gift that is given to us because the God who creates us is Love.  The God who sends planets and stars swirling into being, filling the cosmos with energy, also infects the whole cosmos with love.  The God who is the source and ground of all being, grounds the essence of what it is to live in love. 

This is the God who created each of you and whose love has knit us together, journeyed with you through life, and continues to guide us.  This is the Spirit who knows us so well that she “intercedes with sighs too deep for words,” carrying the deepest prayers and truths in our heart, even when we cannot find words.  This God knows only love            for you and for me, for our enemies and for the whole cosmos, so there is no other way that God can even relate to you except through love.  A love that is as fundamental to God’s own being as breathing is to our own living.

But God’s grace can also be the hardest part of our theology to actually believe or trust.  In the world in which we live, it is easier for us to believe that we are not good enough—never good enough—for God than that God could love us.  It is easier for us to believe in a vengeful, punishing God than for us to believe that God could forgive the things we cannot forgive, even in ourselves.  It is easier to believe that God would require payment for wrongs than that God loves exactly who we are.

Do we actually believe that God loves our whole selves completely and unconditionally?

Can God possibly care about us that much?  We, who can feel as insignificant as a mustard seed.  Does God even pay attention?  Does God love us even in our insignificance?

Yes.  Paul tells us in Romans, “³²The very Son of God was not withheld, but given up for all of us; will God not along with the Son also give us everything else? … ³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.”  God cares about every beloved child, Jesus came for every person and all of Creation.  There is no one too insignificant to be loved by God.  If the dominion of heaven can be like a mustard seed, then God’s love can be for you.

But what about your past?  What about the things we’ve done that still cause us shame or regret?  Can we ever atone for the things we’ve said in anger or fear?  The things we’ve done out of a sense of duty or as the lesser of two evils?  The times we haven’t acted when we should have?  How do we overcome these mistakes, these royal screw-ups, these things we wish we could erase from our lives forever?

Certainly there is room for confession and forgiveness and we did that today.  We confessed our sins this morning as we do each week and we received God’s complete forgiveness as we do each week.

If that’s not good enough.  If we think there is anything that we could or have done that can make us unworthy of God’s love, then we’re still not understanding grace.

The dominion of heaven is like yeast.  The sourdough starter is added to 3 measures of flour.  Now when I first heard “3 measures of flour,” I was thinking in terms of cups, but that’s not biblical.  “3 measures of flour” really means about a bushel—80 pounds—of flour!  About 16 5-pound bags!  Plus if you throw in the necessary water, that is over 100 pounds of dough!!  The dominion of heaven is so over-the-top extravagant that the yeast will invade the whole massive amount of dough so that there is no doubt that all the people of the village will be fed by the Bread of Life.

The dominion of heaven is so abundant that, as Paul says, “…I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  There is nothing you have done that can separate you from God’s love.

There is no violence you have committed—no killing, no injury, no hate, no neglect—that can separate you from God’s love.

There is no judgment you’ve made, no anger you’ve caused, no injustice or discrimination you’ve been a part of that can separate you from God’s love.

There is no inaction from fear, no standing by in the face of bullying, no silence when witnessing oppression that can separate you from God’s love.

Whether you seek out the dominion of heaven intentionally, as the merchant who discovers the pearl of great value or stumble upon it accidentally as does the person who happened upon the treasure hidden in a field, the dominion of heaven is for you.

The circumstances of your life, the worth or worthlessness you feel, the hardships you face, the depression, anxiety, doubt, fear, or hurt—none of it is greater than God.  Paul assures us: “³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”  No.  Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ.

The grace that God gives, God gives to every single person.  The grace of God is God’s love for you.  Your whole self.  The whole you that you are.  The things about yourself and your past and the things you hate or would rather forget or change.  They all fall within God’s love.  Because, as Paul states, “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.”

Joel Workin was one of the first candidates for ministry in the ELCA to come out as gay.  Joel was denied the possibility of ordination by the then-newly formed denomination.  Often in these situations of rejection, we carry our own senses of guilt and of God’s judgment upon us.  Yet even this does not separate us from God’s love.  Joel, in his wisdom, once wrote in an article in a ReconcilingWorks newsletter, “The most precious grace God gives us is the grace to be ourselves.  And now, it is time to let grace abound.”

God loved the whole of Joel, even the parts that others might have wanted to erase or ignore, even after those in power told him that his being and identity disqualified him from ordained ministry.  God loved the whole of Joel, including his past and experiences.  And if Joel, even after facing that rejection in the name of God, could still trust in the love and grace of our God, then can we not also place our trust in that grace?  

What is to prevent us from trusting God?

 “³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth,” nor depression, nor anxiety, nor violence, nor shame, nor fear, nor regret, nor hate, “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Thanks be to God.

God's love surrounds us in forgiveness: 23rd after pentecost

The holy gospel according to Luke (18:9-14)

⁹Jesus also told this parable

      to some who trusted in themselves

            that they were righteous

            and regarded others with contempt:

         ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray,

            one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

            ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself,

                  was praying thus,

                        ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people:

                              thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

                        ¹²I fast twice a week;

                        I give a tenth of all my income.’

            ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off,

                  would not even look up to heaven,

                        but was beating his breast and saying,

                              ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

            ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home

                  justified alongside the other;

                        for all who exalt themselves will be humbled,

                              and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The gospel of the Lord.

-----

Today’s gospel provides us with an interesting juxtaposition.  The tax collector, considered a traitor to his people as he profits off of them and supports the occupying Roman forces in his work, is set alongside the Pharisee, a leader of the people who does everything right—and then some.

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector are, as is often the case in Jesus’ parables, caricatures of their real-life counterparts.  The Pharisee is an over-the-top faithful one, adhering not only to the Torah, but adding a fuller tithe than was expected of him and fasting twice a week!  The tax collector himself would be a surprise to see in the Temple at all, considering the sentiment toward him as a sell-out to the Roman Empire.

Taken together, they give us insight into confession and forgiveness, an important part of our worship most Sundays.

After taking a moment to prepare our hearts and minds for worship and calling ourselves and each other into this particular worship, we together confess our sins.  We do this each week for a few reasons.

Confessing our sins—our shortfalls, the ways we fail to separate ourselves from oppressive systems in our culture, and the ways we succeed in separating ourselves from others in need—keeps us mindful that we live in an imperfect world.  As part of this, each week I do my best to make sure that we mess up at least once as a reminder that we are not perfect.  Usually I don’t have to work at all to achieve this—we’ll call it a natural talent ;-)

When we confess our sins during worship, it is a way of acknowledging that we are not perfect.  It also creates space for us, both individually in our moment for silent confession, and communally, to name the sins we carry with us.

We confess the prejudice we carry, that we can favor our own comfort or security more than the lives or well-being of others. 

We confess that we try to control others’ freedom.

      that we trust too much in violence to solve problems all over the world.

We confess that we give into the fear we have been taught to carry

      when we see others who are not like us.

We confess the ways we disparage others because of their race, religion, language, age, gender, or sexual orientation. 

We confess our resentments and regrets.

Confessing our sins as a group helps us know that we are not alone in falling short.  We all mess up.  Both our actions and our inactions work to separate us from others and from God.  Sin limits our experience of the Divine in our midst and in our relationships with others.  Like the tax collector, our sin impacts our whole community.  Jewish New Testament Scholar Amy-Jill Levine points out that the “concern for community responsibility [found in first century Palestinian culture] means that the sin of one person can negatively impact everyone else.”[1]  There are ripples from our sins just like there are from the tax collector’s support of an oppressive empire and the extra money he takes from his community, beyond what is required or sustainable.

And so confessing helps us recognize and turn from our sin to new and better ways of being in the world.  When we confess our sins, then we cry out with the tax collector. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”  Confessing our sin even functions as a corrective so that we do not fall into the trap of the Pharisee and judge others as more sinful than us.  Because that’s not what it’s about.  It’s not a tit-for-tat game of who sinned more or worse.  We are all sinners, we are all caught up in systems of oppression, and we all act in ways that tear down ourselves and others.

And so we cry out for God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s love.  And God gladly and freely grants us forgiveness.  While confession and forgiveness do not erase what we’ve done or not done—we still have to face the natural consequences of our actions—through confession and forgiveness, God creates the space for us to try again, to do better.  That is part of the forgiveness in confession and forgiveness—the guarantee that God forgives you entirely and the call to do better in the future.

God’s love is so great that it covers us all, from the Pharisee, who, though he is righteous, falls into judging the other and trying to set himself too far apart, to the tax collector, whose job betrays his community and supports oppressive forces at work in the Roman empire. 

God’s love also calls to mind the ways we do God’s will—the ways God is at work through us, the ways we don’t totally mess up, the times when we are not “thieves, rogues, adulterers.”  Our sin ripples out, affecting many, but so does God’s love.  God’s love ripples out from each of us and its ripples are far greater than those of our sin.  As we receive God’s forgiveness, God’s love surrounds us and spreads outward like water breaking through a dam.

God’s love and forgiveness call to mind God’s covenantal relationship with us collectively as a community of faith—that we are in this together.  God’s love is for us altogether.  That is the joy and celebration in our response to forgiveness—that “this [one goes] down to [their] home justified alongside the other.”  We pray and confess together and we are justified together.

Our sins are forgiven, our good deeds lifted up, and in all of that, we rest in God’s love.  We take comfort in trusting that God’s love goes deeper than our worst shortfalls, our worst sins, our worst regrets, and God’s love lifts us up together higher than we could ever imagine or attempt to earn on our own. 

It is God’s love that binds us together in a covenant of forgiveness. 

It is God’s love that spreads from us throughout the world.

And it is God’s love that brings justice and peace into the world.

Thanks be to God.

---

[1] Short Stories by Jesus, p. 209

choose life! - 16th after pentecost

The first reading is Deuteronomy 30:15-20.

The second reading is Philemon 1-21.

The holy gospel according to Luke (14:25-33)

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus;

       and he turned and said to them,

              ²⁶“Whoever comes to me

              and does not hate parents, spouse and children, siblings,

                     yes, and even life itself,

                            cannot be my disciple.

              ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross

                     and follow me

                            cannot be my disciple.

              ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower,

                     does not first sit down and estimate the cost,

                            to see whether there is enough to complete it?

                     ²⁹Otherwise, when a foundation has been laid

                            and the builder is not able to finish the building,

                                   all who see it will begin to ridicule the builder,

                                          ³⁰saying, ‘This person began to build

                                                 and was not able to finish.’

              ³¹Or what monarch,

                     going out to wage war against another ruler,

                            will not sit down first

                            and consider whether with ten thousand

                                   to oppose the one who comes with twenty thousand?

                            ³²If it is not possible,

                                   then, while the other is still far away,

                                          the monarch sends a delegation

                                          and asks for the terms of peace.

              ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple

                     if you do not give up all your possessions.

The gospel of the Lord.

-----

These texts are tough.  There is nothing easy or exciting about Jesus’ words to the crowds following him—unless you’re an adrenaline junky who gets a high from risking or losing your life, I suppose.

These words are a hard truth for those of us who live in a world that is not black and white—a world made not only of various shades, but of an entire rainbow spectrum of colors, shades, and hues; of jewel tones and ring tones; of family and friends whom we love; of houses, buildings, books, and toys that we cherish; of questions, ambiguities, and endless options.

While there is some nuance to how we translate hate and how we interpret Jesus’ words in particular, the message comes through loud and clear.  There’s no mincing words.

That’s part of what is so tough.  Both in Deuteronomy and in Luke, the words and the call are simple—they’re understandable—“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”  All you have to do is “obey the commandments of the Lord your God … by loving the Lord your God, walking in the Lord’s ways, and by observing God’s commandments, decrees, and ordinances.” 

Or as Jesus puts it, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate parents, spouse and children, siblings, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” “³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Simple, right?

But simple does not always mean easy.  I give people great, simple advice in competitions all the time.  In fact, if they would just follow my simple advice, they would always win.  You see, to the runners I say, “Run faster than everyone else.”  To those playing sports, my advice is “Score more than the others,” “block all their shots.”

Simple, right?

Easy?  Not so much.

The same goes for today’s texts.  And so together we hunker down to figure out what this choosing life business is all about, especially when Jesus’ call is to take up the cross, an instrument of torture and death that Jesus himself will soon take up.

We will soon find help in figuring this out from Paul in his letter to Philemon, but first in Deuteronomy, Moses challenges the Hebrews, now that God has established another covenant with them and their descendants, to choose where their allegiance, their loyalties lie.  Will they choose life, “²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying the Lord, and holding fast to your God”?  Or will they choose death, turning away so they “do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them”?

Will they pledge their allegiance to God?  Or to another people, other gods, a nation, or even to themselves?  God, having entered into covenant with them, laying a claim on their lives, waits to see what they choose.

This claim that God lays on all of our lives is a claim of love that we understand through our baptism.  The love that God willingly pours out on us, more abundant even than the water that fills oceans and floods rivers.  This love brings us in our baptism through death with Christ on the cross and into new life and a new way of being. 

This new way of being—this new life—is what Paul calls Philemon to in our second reading.  Paul knows the choices and sets them before Philemon.  This is the real, simple yet not easy, dilemma of choosing life to free Onesimus or choosing death to keep him bound as a slave.

While we may read Paul’s letter as a bit passive aggressive today, in that time, Paul’s rhetoric is understood as a sincere reminder of Philemon’s own call in Christ to this new way of life, this new allegiance.

It would’ve made life way easier, especially when arguing against slavery earlier in our country’s history, if Paul had simply commanded Philemon to free Onesimus, as he is fully capable of doing.  But that’s not how God has ever worked and Paul knows it.  God is always about giving us options and whispering the hope of life to us as we discern.  No matter what, God loves us.  We could do anything and God still loves us.

God enters into a covenantal relationship with us and gives us the choice of how we respond.  As Moses says, “¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity” “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Paul sets this before Philemon as well.  Affirming the love of God from which Paul, Onesimus, and Philemon all live, Paul is clear as to his hope for Philemon and he is equally clear that it must be a choice.  Paul is not trying to coerce Philemon into anything, but instead, appealing to the love of God already at work in Philemon’s heart and life. 

Paul encourages Philemon to choose life, saying “¹⁷So if you consider me your partner, welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me. ¹⁸If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. ²⁰Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.”

These readings today are not just about whether we cover our heart during the national anthem and pledge allegiance to a flag, the symbol of this country, or refuse and pledge our hearts to God, though those are small ways we choose our allegiances.

Our readings call us to the choice each day in each decision of our lives. 

Do we choose “between what is right and what is easy”?[1]

Do we choose love of neighbor or fear of the “others” who don’t look like us? 

Do we choose to pledge our allegiance to the way of the cross—solidarity and advocacy with the oppressed and marginalized—or to the way of glory—storing up for ourselves wealth and power at the expense of others?

Set before us each day in little ways and in big ways are “life and prosperity, death and adversity.” “life and death, blessings and curses.”

“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Choose life so that your neighbor around the world will know peace.

Choose life so that workers will know fair living wages.

Choose life so that the oppressed will know justice.

Choose life so that the outcast will know belonging.

Choose life so that the foreigner will receive sanctuary.

Choose life so that all may freely live.

Choose life as Christ already lives in you.

Amen.

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[1] Professor Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ch. 37 “The Beginning.”