"A crisis Of faith"
9th Sunday of Pentecost Luke 12 : 13 - 21
“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul” are the opening words to the old and sacred hymn. And it IS wondrous; the love of God made visible in Jesus. Many of us are here today, sitting in church, because we’ve been touched by that love, moved by the way love comes to us and surrounds us – even when we least deserve or expect it. God holds nothing back – freely gives us grace SO amazing.
There are two aspects of God’s grace, in Christ, that are particularly wondrous to me. First, love comes to any who will receive it. The human tendency is, instead, to draw boundaries; to put up walls; to decide who’s in and who’s out. Of course, we’re on the inside! Others are on the outside and not deserving of the good gifts we, insiders: possess, enjoy or figure we’re entitled to. That is not God’s tendency, however. God embraces all and poured out his life for all. Regardless of whether we are rich or poor, good or bad, native or foreign-born; we are all in God’s arms together.
The other aspect of the love of God that we see in the Genesis scripture is that God doesn’t just give to us, God gives through us... We are made in God’s image and, deep inside, we all want to be givers. We don’t just want to receive; we want to make a positive difference in the world! We don’t just want to be blessed; we also want to bless.
Abraham is blessed with the capacity and the opportunity to bless others. In fact, in this Old Testament passage, Abraham is sent out from his native land to migrate to another land – a far-off country. And, in the process, he is actually going to bless people who are not his own – communities which HE has never seen and cannot, yet, imagine.
In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus tells us a parable about a land of abundance – a land where the opportunities, hope and “harvest” are too large to easily protect. And, as a consequence, the rich and famous, elite and powerful… land, home, market equity, and business owners have decided, rather than invest in woefully inadequate social services and assistance agencies, they will instead tear down such necessary emergency supports and build a wall (either physical or judicial) to hide chances at freedom, civil protections, access to employment, education, and health services and place guards around the perimeters of their new “structures” to keep strangers from helping themselves to the access and opportunities that we enjoy and believe we, alone, are entitled to.
Today, we are a nation in crisis, especially, with regard to the ways in which we might possibly address the seemingly untenable numbers of immigrants crossing the Rio Grande; refugees WE did not imagine. Most Americans agree there is a crisis on the border. But we cannot agree as to, exactly, what kind of crisis it is…[i]
Conservatives see a security crisis, fueled by a border penetrated – seemingly, at will – by people who want to drain our resources, take our jobs, and do us harm. Liberals call it a humanitarian crisis – perpetrated by a hard-hearted, xenophobic administration that is damaging America's reputation as The Land of Opportunity and a safe haven for all the huddled masses who are poor and tired. Others look at the unwillingness to address the root causes of such numerous and life-threatening in-migration or any the surrounding labor or legal issues – both in Congress and at White House – and consider this to be a partisan political crisis that inhibits our civil discourse and compromises our national unity.
However, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center comes up with yet another diagnosis; one that is likely to resonate with a great many Americans, depending upon how they choose to spend their Sunday mornings… The Pew Center results suggest that what we REALLY have here – in many respects – is a crisis of faith!
According to a 2018 Pew poll, when people around the country were asked if the United States has a moral responsibility to accept refugees and asylum seekers – non-believers and other "religiously unaffiliated" respondents were more than TWICE as likely (as some of their church-going counterparts) to answer "yes."
Among the "religiously unaffiliated" (which may include anyone – from atheists and agnostics, to those whose faith is not that clearly defined), 65 percent said our nation has a duty to welcome strangers, and 31 percent see no such obligation. But among white, evangelical Christians, the figures were nearly reversed – only 25% responded saying the United States has a responsibility (that our Statue of Liberty displays a mandate) to take-in immigrants and refugees, while 68 percent said "no."
With mainline white Protestants, the numbers were better – 43 percent said "yes," and 50 percent said "no." And Catholics are almost divided down the middle: 50 percent recognize a responsibility to accept refugees; 45 percent do not. Finally, African American Protestants are, by far, the most welcoming group of affiliates with 63 percent saying that “To whom much is given, much will be expected” and "yes" there IS a national duty to take-in refugees, and only 28 percent say there is not.
As a clergy member, from one of THE most prominent denominations, I think the response from those in “my union” is heartbreaking. In crisis, the Presbyterian Church can, traditionally, be counted on to deploy disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. And officers from the National Church, as well as elders and pastors in regional Synods and local Presbyteries relentlessly preach – to all who are willing to listen – about how following the words and witness of an itinerant, first century rabbi and refugee means we must care for the poor, the sick and the weak. And for decades, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been an unwavering voice in favor of swift and just immigration reform.
Yet, on a personal level, I know that many of my fellow churchgoers AND I have, only sent out “thoughts and prayers,” and we have left it to our elected politicians to orchestrate a response. And what’s worse (as the survey points out), many of us “religiously-affiliated” (both mainline AND independent churchgoers), have lost our way. Nearly half have utterly FAILED the course on how we treat: those who are frightened away from their homelands and forced to leave their friends, families, languages, and traditions behind… in order to seek asylum or (at very least) seek sanctuary from drugs, gangs, corruption and violent threats.
The Bible is pretty clear about how we ought to treat the stranger. There is no spin, no questioning, no hedging, no mincing of words. And, these references aren't just nonbinding resolutions: open for societal debate or to individual interpretation. For people of faith, this collection of law, history, and biography is THE word of God!
Whether hospitality practices arose from scriptural mandates or out of the wisdom learned from real experiences of traveling in arid and barren wastelands or deserts, look with me at the Deity’s command to generations of God’s “chosen” sojourners in Exodus 23 at verse 9: "Do not mistreat foreigners. You yourselves were foreigners once, in Egypt, and you uniquely know what it’s like to be strangers in a strange land."
And one cannot help thinking of other tales “gleaned” from Hebrew Scriptures when we read Leviticus 19:34: "Do not mistreat the foreigners who live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you would treat citizens. And love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt." This is the very context from which the concept of “gleaning” comes. Farmers left their overflow for “gleaners;” fruits and grains they did not catch (or could not reach) are left for those in need. And, it was on just such an occasion that Boaz – a wealthy farmer – first noticed Ruth – a needy immigrant. (And thus, the ancestral lineage of Jesus remained intact.)
During the days of Jeremiah, there were armed conflicts for empires, and the little land of Israel was caught between two of the region’s super powers: Assyria to the north and Babylonia to the south. The prophet admonished leaders of the people to adhere to Divine decree and, in so doing, set their hospitality apart. Jeremiah 22:2-3 reads: "I am the Lord, so pay attention! You’ve been allowing the people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of violence, and some have lost their lives. But now I command you: do what is right, see that justice is done, and rescue everyone who suffers injustice." (And Israel’s conquest, and the exile of all who might rebuild its Holy City, loomed large as fate for those who failed to heed God’s hospitality demands.)
According to the prophet Ezekiel, the REAL “guilt” of the Sodomites was the fact that, although they had “pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease,” they “did not aid the poor and needy,” were “haughty” and sinfully inhospitable (16:49-50). “As surely as I am the living God, the people of Sodom were not as sinful as you. They were arrogant and spoiled; had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy. They thought they were better than everyone else and, afraid they might be held to account by strangers, they did inhospitable things that I despise.”
And then, there is the ultimate test of any true, Christian believer’s faithfulness… reportedly, quoted directly from the refugee Redeemer himself in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25 verse 35: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a STRANGER and you invited me in."
I would like to think I would have stood against CIA overthrow of democratically-elected governments in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1950s; and spoke out against their replacement with oppressive tyrannical regimes that invited greed, corruption and further destabilized the region. I would like to think I would have joined with those who tried (in vain) to call our own government to account for protecting investments for, and the families and interests of, the ruling elite – while providing their militaries with US munitions to suppress the uprisings of shopkeepers, farmworkers, day laborers and the citizen poor – waging a decades-long civil war and “disappearing” so many of their own countrymen and women. As the powerful and manipulative nation we are, we have the luxury of short and selective memories, and once again we demonstrate our complicity in our silence. But we reap what we sew, and I readily recognize just how clearly one can see in hindsight.
Closer to home: What good does it do any of us to sit in the pews on a Sabbath or Sunday if we are not paying attention to our own message? Why read the Bible at all or refer to what is recorded there as our “truth,” if we don’t take it seriously? And while the prospect of a national security crisis, a heartbreaking humanitarian crisis or a politically-motivated “border” crisis is inconvenient, uncomfortable, and/or disconcerting; I believe, such a Crisis of Faith is (or, should be for us in the Church) “a wake-up call” and a serious challenge to the values we say we profess! Amen.
[i] Premise attributable to Ruben Navarrette, Jr. and syndicated by the Washington Post Writers’ Group.
There are two aspects of God’s grace, in Christ, that are particularly wondrous to me. First, love comes to any who will receive it. The human tendency is, instead, to draw boundaries; to put up walls; to decide who’s in and who’s out. Of course, we’re on the inside! Others are on the outside and not deserving of the good gifts we, insiders: possess, enjoy or figure we’re entitled to. That is not God’s tendency, however. God embraces all and poured out his life for all. Regardless of whether we are rich or poor, good or bad, native or foreign-born; we are all in God’s arms together.
The other aspect of the love of God that we see in the Genesis scripture is that God doesn’t just give to us, God gives through us... We are made in God’s image and, deep inside, we all want to be givers. We don’t just want to receive; we want to make a positive difference in the world! We don’t just want to be blessed; we also want to bless.
Abraham is blessed with the capacity and the opportunity to bless others. In fact, in this Old Testament passage, Abraham is sent out from his native land to migrate to another land – a far-off country. And, in the process, he is actually going to bless people who are not his own – communities which HE has never seen and cannot, yet, imagine.
In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus tells us a parable about a land of abundance – a land where the opportunities, hope and “harvest” are too large to easily protect. And, as a consequence, the rich and famous, elite and powerful… land, home, market equity, and business owners have decided, rather than invest in woefully inadequate social services and assistance agencies, they will instead tear down such necessary emergency supports and build a wall (either physical or judicial) to hide chances at freedom, civil protections, access to employment, education, and health services and place guards around the perimeters of their new “structures” to keep strangers from helping themselves to the access and opportunities that we enjoy and believe we, alone, are entitled to.
Today, we are a nation in crisis, especially, with regard to the ways in which we might possibly address the seemingly untenable numbers of immigrants crossing the Rio Grande; refugees WE did not imagine. Most Americans agree there is a crisis on the border. But we cannot agree as to, exactly, what kind of crisis it is…[i]
Conservatives see a security crisis, fueled by a border penetrated – seemingly, at will – by people who want to drain our resources, take our jobs, and do us harm. Liberals call it a humanitarian crisis – perpetrated by a hard-hearted, xenophobic administration that is damaging America's reputation as The Land of Opportunity and a safe haven for all the huddled masses who are poor and tired. Others look at the unwillingness to address the root causes of such numerous and life-threatening in-migration or any the surrounding labor or legal issues – both in Congress and at White House – and consider this to be a partisan political crisis that inhibits our civil discourse and compromises our national unity.
However, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center comes up with yet another diagnosis; one that is likely to resonate with a great many Americans, depending upon how they choose to spend their Sunday mornings… The Pew Center results suggest that what we REALLY have here – in many respects – is a crisis of faith!
According to a 2018 Pew poll, when people around the country were asked if the United States has a moral responsibility to accept refugees and asylum seekers – non-believers and other "religiously unaffiliated" respondents were more than TWICE as likely (as some of their church-going counterparts) to answer "yes."
Among the "religiously unaffiliated" (which may include anyone – from atheists and agnostics, to those whose faith is not that clearly defined), 65 percent said our nation has a duty to welcome strangers, and 31 percent see no such obligation. But among white, evangelical Christians, the figures were nearly reversed – only 25% responded saying the United States has a responsibility (that our Statue of Liberty displays a mandate) to take-in immigrants and refugees, while 68 percent said "no."
With mainline white Protestants, the numbers were better – 43 percent said "yes," and 50 percent said "no." And Catholics are almost divided down the middle: 50 percent recognize a responsibility to accept refugees; 45 percent do not. Finally, African American Protestants are, by far, the most welcoming group of affiliates with 63 percent saying that “To whom much is given, much will be expected” and "yes" there IS a national duty to take-in refugees, and only 28 percent say there is not.
As a clergy member, from one of THE most prominent denominations, I think the response from those in “my union” is heartbreaking. In crisis, the Presbyterian Church can, traditionally, be counted on to deploy disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. And officers from the National Church, as well as elders and pastors in regional Synods and local Presbyteries relentlessly preach – to all who are willing to listen – about how following the words and witness of an itinerant, first century rabbi and refugee means we must care for the poor, the sick and the weak. And for decades, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been an unwavering voice in favor of swift and just immigration reform.
Yet, on a personal level, I know that many of my fellow churchgoers AND I have, only sent out “thoughts and prayers,” and we have left it to our elected politicians to orchestrate a response. And what’s worse (as the survey points out), many of us “religiously-affiliated” (both mainline AND independent churchgoers), have lost our way. Nearly half have utterly FAILED the course on how we treat: those who are frightened away from their homelands and forced to leave their friends, families, languages, and traditions behind… in order to seek asylum or (at very least) seek sanctuary from drugs, gangs, corruption and violent threats.
The Bible is pretty clear about how we ought to treat the stranger. There is no spin, no questioning, no hedging, no mincing of words. And, these references aren't just nonbinding resolutions: open for societal debate or to individual interpretation. For people of faith, this collection of law, history, and biography is THE word of God!
Whether hospitality practices arose from scriptural mandates or out of the wisdom learned from real experiences of traveling in arid and barren wastelands or deserts, look with me at the Deity’s command to generations of God’s “chosen” sojourners in Exodus 23 at verse 9: "Do not mistreat foreigners. You yourselves were foreigners once, in Egypt, and you uniquely know what it’s like to be strangers in a strange land."
And one cannot help thinking of other tales “gleaned” from Hebrew Scriptures when we read Leviticus 19:34: "Do not mistreat the foreigners who live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you would treat citizens. And love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt." This is the very context from which the concept of “gleaning” comes. Farmers left their overflow for “gleaners;” fruits and grains they did not catch (or could not reach) are left for those in need. And, it was on just such an occasion that Boaz – a wealthy farmer – first noticed Ruth – a needy immigrant. (And thus, the ancestral lineage of Jesus remained intact.)
During the days of Jeremiah, there were armed conflicts for empires, and the little land of Israel was caught between two of the region’s super powers: Assyria to the north and Babylonia to the south. The prophet admonished leaders of the people to adhere to Divine decree and, in so doing, set their hospitality apart. Jeremiah 22:2-3 reads: "I am the Lord, so pay attention! You’ve been allowing the people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of violence, and some have lost their lives. But now I command you: do what is right, see that justice is done, and rescue everyone who suffers injustice." (And Israel’s conquest, and the exile of all who might rebuild its Holy City, loomed large as fate for those who failed to heed God’s hospitality demands.)
According to the prophet Ezekiel, the REAL “guilt” of the Sodomites was the fact that, although they had “pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease,” they “did not aid the poor and needy,” were “haughty” and sinfully inhospitable (16:49-50). “As surely as I am the living God, the people of Sodom were not as sinful as you. They were arrogant and spoiled; had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy. They thought they were better than everyone else and, afraid they might be held to account by strangers, they did inhospitable things that I despise.”
And then, there is the ultimate test of any true, Christian believer’s faithfulness… reportedly, quoted directly from the refugee Redeemer himself in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25 verse 35: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a STRANGER and you invited me in."
I would like to think I would have stood against CIA overthrow of democratically-elected governments in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1950s; and spoke out against their replacement with oppressive tyrannical regimes that invited greed, corruption and further destabilized the region. I would like to think I would have joined with those who tried (in vain) to call our own government to account for protecting investments for, and the families and interests of, the ruling elite – while providing their militaries with US munitions to suppress the uprisings of shopkeepers, farmworkers, day laborers and the citizen poor – waging a decades-long civil war and “disappearing” so many of their own countrymen and women. As the powerful and manipulative nation we are, we have the luxury of short and selective memories, and once again we demonstrate our complicity in our silence. But we reap what we sew, and I readily recognize just how clearly one can see in hindsight.
Closer to home: What good does it do any of us to sit in the pews on a Sabbath or Sunday if we are not paying attention to our own message? Why read the Bible at all or refer to what is recorded there as our “truth,” if we don’t take it seriously? And while the prospect of a national security crisis, a heartbreaking humanitarian crisis or a politically-motivated “border” crisis is inconvenient, uncomfortable, and/or disconcerting; I believe, such a Crisis of Faith is (or, should be for us in the Church) “a wake-up call” and a serious challenge to the values we say we profess! Amen.
[i] Premise attributable to Ruben Navarrette, Jr. and syndicated by the Washington Post Writers’ Group.