“The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice – but
only if someone helps bend it.” [1]
– Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas
This past
week was the kind of week that causes even the most faithful Christian to pause
and wonder, even if only in their minds, if God exists, and if God does, does
God care about us?
The week
opened with a report in which it was confirmed that the largest Christian
denomination in the United States[2]
has for decades dismissed and covered up child sexual abuse, sexual assault,
and rape within not only the churches in its denomination, but among several of
its past and present denominational leaders.[3]
An article headline at The Atlantic read, “No Atheist Has Done This Much
Damage to the Christian Faith.”[4]
In a paragraph midway thorough the article, Peter Wehner, the columnist wrote,
“It’s nearly impossible to overstate how much damage these
new revelations—these necessary and long-overdue revelations—are doing to the
Christian witness. No atheist, no secularists or materialists, could inflict
nearly as much damage to the Christian faith as these leaders within the
Christian Church have done.”
This is yet
another in a repeated pattern among too many churches and denominations. Institutions
and their leaders seem to always prioritize their own survival and longevity
over caring for the people. Those who dare accuse them are dismissed, shamed,
denounced, and called liars, furthering the abuse that the victims have
suffered. I’ve personally seen this in churches and church schools I’ve been a
part of in my past.
Before the
ink was dry on this and many other articles and commentaries that had been
written on this topic, they were pushed off the pages by a massacre in Uvalde,
Texas where 19 children and 2 teachers were killed by a gunman.
In its
aftermath plenty of “thoughts and prayers” were offered to the victims, their
families, and the community. Yet if the past is any indication of the present, many
offering such “thoughts and prayers” will do nothing towards implementing measures
that could reduce the occurrence of these horrific killings that seem to be so
regularly occurring that only a few rise to national consciousness.
Here are
just a few gun violence tragedies that took place in just the past four to five
weeks:[5]
- May
24: Uvalde, Texas – 19 children and two teachers killed at an elementary school
- May
14: Buffalo – 10 people killed and 3 wounded in a supermarket
- May
15: Laguna Woods, California – 1 person killed and 4 critically wounded at
Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church
- May
15: Houston – 2 killed and 3 critically wounded at an open-air flea market
- May
13: Milwaukee – 16 wounded in downtown Milwaukee
- April
27: Biloxi, Miss. – 4 killed at a motel and another killed during a connected
carjacking
If this were
truly a “Christian nation”, as some Christians (erroneously) claim, would we be
seeing any of this? Do the value claims of so-called pro-life Christians extend
to children in schools and churches? While emphasizing liberty and freedom, how
come the emphasis seems mostly to be on that which is associated with power and
violence, rather than securing liberty and freedom through safety and care of
the young, the weak, the vulnerable, and the marginalized?
I am angry.
But I also feel helpless. And even hopeless. The church and Christians have
failed and continue to fail so many times, that during times like this week, I even
question the value of the church and the faith on which it supposedly rests. I’ve
never seen so many pastors and Christian leaders drop the f-bomb and other
4-letter words this week. We are exhausted. We are numb. It feels like all the
visible powers are stacked against justice, goodness, care, compassion, and
love.
Speaking of swear
words and such profanity, it should be noted that their use is not inherently a
violation of the third commandment (“don’t take God’s name in vain”), although during
my childhood and youth I got the idea that it was. I supposed it was related to
some swear phrases using “god” but somehow the third commandment was broadened
to include any profanity.
But the
third commandment and its violation does have relevance to the present issue. Both
Jewish and Christian sources offer us examples of what violations of the third
commandment look like.
In Judaism,
reciting a blessing from God and then failing to follow through may be
considered a transgression of the third commandment. The most common example
given is offering a blessing over food but then not partaking of it.[6]
The Epistle
of James includes several examples in chapter 2 where a person claims the faith
of Christ yet their actions show that their use of the name of Christ is in
vain:
2 My brothers and sisters, do not claim the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ
of glory while showing partiality. 2 For if a
person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a
poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and
if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat
here in a good place, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand
there,” or, “Sit by my footstool,” 4 have you not
made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts…?
6 But you have dishonored the poor person…
15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily
food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace;
keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that? (James 2:1-4, 6a, 15-16)
Jesus
himself taught that there would be those who use his name in vain:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in
heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and
do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 Then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’
(Matthew 7:21-23)
To
transgress the third commandment then, has little or nothing to do with
profanity but about: 1) offering a prayer or petition to God without corresponding
action that demonstrates that the person praying is doing their part to fulfill
the prayer or petition; and 2) claiming to be a follower of Jesus while taking
actions that are incongruent to his life and teachings.
“Thoughts
and prayers” that are offered for victims of abuse and victims of violence – for
the most part I take them to be well-intentioned. Some may be just platitudes,
but I imagine most are sincere expressions. But without corresponding action to
follow through, they become meaningless words at best, and at worst, hypocrisy and
even sin.
Does this
mean we shouldn’t pray for victims, their families, communities, and the
nation? If prayer is offered as a performative act or to quiet guilty
consciences, perhaps it would be better to not pray at all. But there is a
purpose for prayer, and our gospel reading from John offers a way forward.
In Jesus’
prayer recorded in John chapter 17, he prays that God will glorify him just as
he glorified God during his years of ministry among the people. Jesus then
prays for his disciples to be unified and be one. Jesus has given his disciples
God’s word and has sent them into the world. But the world hates the disciples
just as the world hates Jesus, because of the word and truth that they now
proclaim. The glory that God has given Jesus, Jesus gives to his disciples and
all who come to faith because of the word of God proclaimed by the disciples.
And it is this glory that is the foundation of unity.
We usually associate
power and might with ‘glory’, and we conjure images of Christ as a conquering
king to destroy evil and establish a new kingdom of righteousness. And in other
writings found in the New Testament, that may sometimes be the case.
But not in
the gospel of John. For the gospel writer, the glory of Jesus is the cross and
his crucifixion. It is not the kind of might or power that the world expects. Jesus’
glory is intimately related to sacrificial love. And by extension, through
Jesus’ prayer, the glory of Christians is not about how powerful and
influential we can be in the world, but how much sacrificial love we can have
for the world.
What did
sacrificial love look like in Jesus’ life? Jesus respected women. He paid
attention to children. He cared for grieving widows. He took notice of the
poor. He did not ignore or dismiss people with disabilities and disease. He fully
accepted those of differing nationalities and race. On the other hand, he was
critical of those who showed favoritism and those who marginalized, oppressed,
and abused groups that were considered “less.” He was not afraid to publicly
shame those who thought they were honorable and defend and lift those who
society saw was dishonorable.
By violating
cultural expectations and norms, by challenging the status quo, Jesus’ actions threatened
the gatekeepers of power. In their honor-based society, the very basis of their
position and security was challenged by Jesus. Jesus dared to expose the rot in
the system and of those who supported the status quo. For them to retain their
honor, Jesus would have to go. If he would not go quietly away, he would have to
forcibly be removed. And that led to Jesus’ crucifixion – a death so shameful, his
entire movement would be destroyed – or so they thought.
Yet it was
this dishonor and shame that was the ultimate demonstration of the extent and
depth of God and Jesus’ love for all people and all creation. Jesus does what
he must do to play his part in answering his own prayer. The readers of Jesus’
prayer in John 17 must look to Jesus’ example to see what it means to share in
his glory and be one with one another. Jesus’ prayer is not calling on God to
act and then simply waiting for something to happen. Jesus’ prayer is a call to
action for himself and for all of his disciples from his very first ones to all
that would follow in turn.
Prayer
always includes a call to action. Even the Lord’s Prayer, recited weekly, is a
call to action for those who pray it. How can we help hallow God’s name? How
can we bring the kingdom to earth today? How can we carry out God’s will today?
How can we provide for one another’s daily needs? For what do we need to ask
forgiveness from someone? How can we remain strong in the face of temptation to
succumb to evil?
Do our
actions even matter anymore? Hopelessness and nihilism are common refrains
during the last several days.[7]
Evil and violence keep repeating, and nothing changes. Attempts to make any
change are blocked at every turn, or so it seems. The last thing the
gatekeepers of power want is change. They benefit from things the way there
are. They do not want change.[8]
Yet we are
told and know that Jesus will bring about a restoration of righteousness and
justice. Our reading from Revelation is one of those texts.
12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay
according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they
will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the
gates. (Rev. 22:12-14)
The lection
omitted verse 15, but it too, can be a light of hope.
15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually
immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices
falsehood. (Rev. 22:15)
One way of
interpreting this is to see this as all in the future. We will simply have to
wait patiently through the present sufferings until Jesus returns to restore
everything. But I discussed in last Sunday’s sermon how the New Jerusalem and
the new age was already being inaugurated and coming into the present. Today’s
text is a continuation of that. Jesus is already coming and the new age is
something that we have been tasked to help bring about.
The text
calls Christians to action. We are to wash our robes. A commentary on this text
observes,
“It is an odd directive. It points us away from sky gazing
and orients us toward the everyday work of the faithful, in ways that can be
interpreted both practically and metaphorically. Doing laundry is not glamorous
or exciting. It can be mundane and tedious labor. Yet it is necessary…
The instructions for those who are waiting are to concentrate
on the tasks at hand and to be about the work of cleansing a world made
unclean.”[9]
When Jesus
prayed for his disciples to share in his glory, he meant for them to do exactly
the type of work that he had done. He cared for and loved those whom society
ignored and oppressed. In doing so he exposed the rot and evil that was part of
the system of power and culture. He exposed the hypocrisy of those who
maintained the system and who benefited from it. His direct disciples continued
his work, and every subsequent generation of disciples is also called upon to
continue this work of exposing the rot of power-based structures and in its
place seek to bring about a system based on mutual and self-sacrificing love. Power
always separates and divides the haves from the have-nots. Love and sacrifice
is the only path to unity, the oneness that Jesus prayed for his disciples to have.
We, as
Jesus’ disciples in the 21st century, have been given the same task.
Yes, pray and think. But we must also act. We must continue to launder the
dirt, the filth, the rot that continues in the world. We must have the courage
to be hated for exposing systems and structures that harm and divide. We must fight
against the inertia of maintaining the status quo.
We must
actively work against violence and work for peace. We must actively confront abusers
and empower victims and survivors. We must prioritize people over systems, unjust
laws, and unjust applications of laws.[10]
We must have the courage to be hated for our stand against injustice, abuse,
and violence.
“Thoughts
and prayers” are only worthwhile if they are transformed into action to change
the world for the better. “Thoughts and prayers” must lead to “laundry day”.
It can be
difficult so see the kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem, the glorified Church
within and among us. I pray that we will be given the eyes of faith to see
reality beyond this physical reality, to see that God is even now working with
and through us. And may we be given hope that can overcome the hopelessness
that can so easily suffocate us and keep us from action.
The message
of Easter is that Christ has overcome death, the grave, and hopelessness.
Jesus’ resurrection is the vindication that sacrifice and love will overcome
evil and hate. But only if we ourselves are willing to die to the ethics of the
world. We must be resurrected into the new life of love and sacrifice found in
Christ. May our hope remain strong in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
[1]
The
Altars Where We Worship (trippfuller.com) (https://trippfuller.com/2022/05/20/the-altars-where-we-worship/)
[2]
Largest
Christian Denominations in America: The Top 100 – Christianity FAQ (https://christianityfaq.com/largest-christian-denominations-america/)
[3]
Guidepost
Solutions’ Report of the Independent Investigation — Task Force Updates
(sataskforce.net) (https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/guidepost-solutions-report-of-the-independent-investigation)
[4]
The
Southern Baptist Convention's Double Trauma - The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/southern-baptist-convention-abuse-report/630173/)
[5]
Mass
Shootings in 2022: A Partial List - The New York Times (nytimes.com) (https://www.nytimes.com/article/mass-shootings-2022.html)
[6]
Berachos,
Guides - Berachos - Beracha Levatala - Din - Ask the Rabbi (dinonline.org)
(https://dinonline.org/2011/03/01/berachos-beracha-levatala/)
[7]
A
Culture That Kills Its Children Has No Future - The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/uvalde-texas-robb-elementary-school-culture-death/638435/)
[8]
Straight
White American Jesus, podcast episode: May 27, Weekly Roundup – Guns
Over People (GOP). (https://straightwhiteamericanjesus.com/series/straight-white-american-jesus/).
This episode has excellent observations and commentary by a couple of scholars
who study the intersection of religion and culture on both the Uvalde massacre
and the SBC abuse report.
[9]
Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2, Easter 7, Revelation, Pastoral
Perspective (Kindle version).
[10]
Here I am thinking about different kinds of ethical frameworks: deontological
vs. teleological and virtue ethics.
The following is the manuscript of the sermon I preached at the Presbyterian Church. The key question is: What does God’s response and actions found in