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Foundry is an historic, progressive United Methodist Church that welcomes all, worships passionately, challenges the status quo, & seeks to transform the world.
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Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
There is a Reason to Hope
Foundry United Methodist Church's Summer Guest Series continues with a sermon from the Reverend Junius Dotson. July 12th, 2020
Lamentations 2:11; 3:46-50
These are trying days. For the past several months we have been dealing with a pandemic called COVID-19, trying to navigate the Coronavirus in which we seem to have no control of.
- We experienced 70K new cases just yesterday and we mourn the deaths of 137, 000 Americans and over ½ million people around the globe who have died from this virus.
And to make matters worse we are also navigating the virus of 1619 and it appears to be making a full-hearted comeback. Police brutality, White Supremacy, Health disparities and economic inequality have all converged in recent weeks to create the perfect storm.
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Our spirit grieves the modern-day lynching of Arhmaud Arbery, as well as the killing of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Rayshard Brooks and the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police, handcuffed, lying face down with a knee in this neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
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Even as we have tried to shelter-in-place Black lives are still at risk of being infected by the virus of racism.
In the words of that great theologian Marvin Gaye, “what’s Going On?” That’s the question he asked when he peened these words:
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today – Ya
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on
In the midst of pain and suffering, we too are often left wondering what’s Going On? Why God would you allow such things to happen?
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We are also left wondering where is God during the trials and tribulations of life?
- Where is God when life hurts?
- God has promised to never leave us or forsake us, but yet sometimes God seems so far away when things are going bad in our lives.
- Here’s the question that I’ve wrestled with this week: how do I hold on to belief in the God of salvation and liberation, in the face of the problems and the contradictions that the world produces for my faith?
- We are confronted with the painful reality, that when we finally emerge out this quarantine, we will confront a world, that is not as we want it to be.
- Can I tell you friends that when tragedy is big enough, deep enough, close enough and real enough, there can no longer be business as usual?
What are we supposed to do in the face of this reality we now confront as a nation?
- I like the way the psalmist posed the question, Psalm 11:3 “When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?”
- When the foundations are being destroyed, when everything is up in the air,
- When the deaths of 100’s of thousands of people grows increasingly acceptable because of political and economic expediency.
- when we worry about whether it’s safe to allow our children to participate in a peaceful protest,
- when we worry about whether our child will survive a simple traffic stop,
- when we are bombarded by words and images, and political rhetoric, that dehumanize and degrade the very existence of some of God’s children,
- when it’s all in crisis and chaos,
- What can the righteous do?
- I SPEAK NOT SIMPLY as a pastor, nor as the General Secretary for Discipleship Ministries, but as a concerned father. A father of a 24 year old son. A son who has already outgrown me in physical height. He’s 6’3. His name is Wesley. Wesley recently graduated from KU and has already had two (almost life threatening) encounters with the police. I pray that every time he leaves the house that he will return home safely.
- What can the righteous do? In the chaos…in the confusion, when we feel crushed, when we feel out of control.
- How do you keep your eyes on Jesus…when they’re full of tears?
- How do you find hope in the face of tragedy?
Jeremiah helps us along this morning. He asked that question many years ago.
- Jeremiah went through one of the most horrendous periods in the history of Israel, when an enemy nation came in and ravaged his entire land.
- During Jeremiah’s lifetime he watched enormous atrocities – inhumanities done to his people, to his family, to those that he loved.
- Jeremiah wrote what he lived and he lived what he wrote.
- When the brokenness of humanity is on full display, lament is an appropriate response.
- In the middle of a national tragedy where he had just lost many of his fellow citizens he penned these words in the book of Lamentations 2:11.
- He said, “I have cried until the tears no longer come. My heart is broken, my spirit poured out as I see what has happened to my people.”
- Then he says, 3:47-48: “We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people.”
Lamentations deepens our understanding of where to find hope in hardship.
There is a reason for hope, but 1st,
WE MUST HEAR THE CRY FOR JUSTICE
- Lamentations invites us to hear the voice of sorrow as we live between the effects of our sin and God’s future restoration.
- The times in which we live are not only trying times, but they are also crying times.
- As believers in the body of Christ, we cannot be unmoved by the chorus of cries that reverberate through the streets of cities across our nation.
- We all understand that when basic human needs go unmet, cries will be heard.
- Some today are crying for food in the midst of a pandemic that has left many hungry.
- Others are crying for community, camaraderie, and companionship; because although we live in an age that connects us by technology in ways like never before, this quarantine has many feeling more isolated than ever.
- We are haunted by the echoes of myriad cries for employment, health care and end to the senseless violence on our streets.
- And yet undergirding all of these cries is the cry for racial justice.
- The killings in Minnesota, Atlanta, Denver follow a long string of deaths of black people at the hands of the police — in Staten Island; Cleveland; Baltimore; Ferguson, Mo.; and North Charleston, S.C., among others — that have stoked outrage around the country.
- And so, then the cry for justice will be pertinent as ever.
Isn’t that what most people want? Justice.
- An even playing field?
- A fair chance?
- An equal opportunity?
- An opportunity to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?
- We must hear the cry for justice because as John Wesley said, “What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.”
- The lack of introspection on the part of many white Americans about racism.
- The denial and dumbfoundedness or astonishment of a nation, being overcome by “fear of the other” and the obsession with naming the other as evil, does not see that it incubates and unleashes terror and Evil from within.
- Every normal, healthy-minded human with a strong sense of right and wrong will be outraged when justice is denied to any of God’s children.
- But there is Good News, that even as this cry grows louder, I am convinced that in the midst of the problems we face as nation, we still have the power of God’s promises. There is a reason to hope.
- I’m so glad that in the midst of his tears, God reminds Jeremiah of a promise.
- Lam 5:17&19 “We are sick at our very hearts and we can hardly see through our tears but You, O Lord, are King forever. And You will rule to the end of time.”
- God is in control.
- God is still on the throne.
- In spite of the tragedies.
- So, I remember no matter what happens God is in control.
- There is a reason to hope: for Is 40:4 declares, “every hill and mountain will be made low, every valley will be exalted, the crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
- As the people of God, we have to hear the cry for justice.
WE MUST RECLAIM OUR PROPHETIC WITNESS
In the third chapter, v22 we read that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” (Lam. 3:22). Jeremiah proclaims the never-ending, morning-ready mercies of the Lord over a destroyed city. Jerusalem looked like a wasteland and a war-zone. But, while those questions lingered and the suffering continued, Jeremiah pronounces what he knows to be true about God despite what he sees. We too are called to rehearse the truth of God and to usher in a resurgence of hope.
- I’ve come this morning Foundry, to issue a prophetic challenge to the people called Methodists.
- I humbly submit to you that though we have a host of new struggles and fights for freedom in our midst, and the struggle for liberation IS NOT over, but there is a reason for hope.
- Our mission field is not merely across the sea, its across the street – in D.C., Minnesota, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, in Atlanta, in Little Rock, in Lincoln, in Baton Rouge, in Kansas City, in Houston, and in your community.
- I believe the capacity to address America’s issues relating to racial justice lies within the church, particularly the United Methodist Church.
- IF YOU WANT A BAG OF CEMENT to become concrete, you have to mix it with water. Likewise, you have to mix God’s Word with faith in order for it to become a concrete experience in your life. Faith Without Works Is Dead!
- Faith demands an action, not just a feeling.
- I have been particularly encouraged looking at how diverse the crowds of protesters have been – young and white and suburban and black and urban – and thinking that we have a unique opportunity as the church to not only support these efforts but to also begin authentic relationships with young people.
- Discipleship begins with relationship. You cannot disciple people that you are not in a relationship with.
- This is a moment to intentionally engage millennials in meaningful conversation.
- They want to be in strategic conversation with the church.
- We were once a church that inspired social movements, headquartered and planned them, but now watch from irrelevance as others now carry the banner.
- We CAN DO SOMETHING!
- We can intercede in prayer daily,
- we can invite young people into conversation,
- we can listen and learn how to address issues of race with our neighbors in open, honest and authentic dialogue,
- we can advocate for uniformed police standards and trainings for non-biased policing.
- We CAN DO SOMETHING!
- I believe there are millions of young people who are waiting to see if the church will dare to be a relevant and prophetic voice for such a time as this.
- Waiting to see if we will fully embrace the personal mission statement of Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
- Are we not hearers of the same spirit?
- I believe our communities need churches like you Foundry, for such a time as this.
- I believe as we hear the cry for racial justice and respond with a prophetic witness we will begin to reach a new generation of believers.
- This is our moment. There is a reason to hope.
- That’s why I echo the words of John Wesley who said, “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing!”
- There is a reason to hope. For God declares: [If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
- When we seek God's will with humility, prayer, and obedience revival can come and revival will come for the people called Methodists.
There is a reason to hope. Even when my heart is breaking because of the circumstances of life, it does not change the truth about God.
- Romans 8:38-39 “I am convinced that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. Not life, not death, not angels, not demons, not our fears for today or our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from the love of God.”
Sunday Jul 05, 2020
Sunday Jul 05, 2020
A Good Fit
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli for Foundry UMC July 5, 2020, fifth Sunday after Pentecost. “Living As If…” series.
Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
It has become very clear over the past couple of weeks that many of us are feeling a deep weight and weariness in the wake of all that has happened and is happening in our world. And today we hear Jesus say, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” I want to swim into this invitation like cool water on a hot summer day. But notice: as soon as Jesus says, “Let me help you lighten your load,” he invites us to pick up something else: “Take my yoke upon you…” What’s up with that?
Well, let’s get clear about what a “yoke” is. A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull. Yokes were carved carefully to fit the animal who would be using the device; a carefully made yoke would rest well on the shoulders and wouldn’t bind or blister. The Greek word for “easy” (chréstos) can also mean “well-fitting.” The well-fitting yoke was used to make carrying a burden or pulling a load easier. And the yoke allowed two animals to share a load, thus lightening the load for both. The Judeo-Christian tradition uses the metaphor of the yoke to describe the way of God revealed through the law and the prophets. It is also a word used to describe the teachings and way of life of Jewish Rabbis—that is, the way a rabbi interpreted and practiced Torah, the law, was that rabbi’s “yoke.” A disciple of a given Rabbi would take on the “yoke” of that teacher.
In both the literal and figurative sense, a “yoke” is something you put on, that you wear. And think for a moment about things you wear that don’t fit well…they’re unflattering at best and really uncomfortable at worst. Ill-fitting or inappropriate shoes can cause blisters and over time can affect your whole body alignment causing strain and pain. In the same way, ill-formed, ill-fitting yokes do damage. If I put on a yoke that was made for a body with much broader shoulders than mine, think about what that will do to my body. If I take on an interpretation of biblical law that is ill-formed—say lacking careful study or grace—just think about how that will affect the shape and health of my whole life. If I am yoked with someone who is pulling in an opposite direction from me or if I’m unwilling to move when the person with whom I’m yoked is trying to move, we’re both going to get hurt. If the yoke is well fitted for me but ill fitted for the person with whom I’m yoked, even if we’re traveling the same path, my way will be easier than that of my partner on the journey, though we will both struggle more than is necessary. The bottom line is that yokes—both literal and the law—can either do damage to those who “wear” them or can provide help and freedom from carrying burdens too hard to bear alone.
Jesus invites us to put on his “yoke,” the way of life he taught and embodied, a way of life guided from start to finish by the great commandment to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourself. This, Jesus says, is the yoke that’s “easy,” that’s a good fit for our most human shape. Jesus’ embodiment of love that preaches good news to the poor, healing for the wounded ones, freedom for the captives, mercy, compassion, and peace for a bruised world, gentleness, humility, and justice in our relationships with one another, is the yoke we are all made to put on. I have heard folk describe the yoke Jesus offers as an exclusively “me and Jesus” or “God and me” situation—that is, the yoke is about Christ helping us carry our load. I don’t disagree that’s part of the promise. But here’s the thing: Jesus’ yoke—Jesus’ way of life—binds us to one another, commits us to one another, connects us, yokes us. It’s never going to just be “me and Jesus” because whenever we invite Jesus into our life, he brings all his friends with him.
I have been ruminating on the juxtaposition of Jesus’ invitation to take on his yoke and this weekend when our country observes Independence Day. On the one hand, you could say that Jesus’ way of life, his yoke, is about liberation, about freedom so it’s a happy coincidence to get this text in the lectionary on this day—plus the bonus of Jesus giving us permission to rest, to chill. But a couple of things give me pause. The story we have traditionally told is that Independence Day is a celebration of our freedom from tyranny, our commitment to “liberty and justice for all.” And the words penned at our founding are beautiful and the goal lofty. They would seem to align with the vision of care and right relationship that Jesus taught. But the truth is that the liberty, the freedom, the justice, was for some, not for all. The yoke of Christ was severed from the beginning.
Over the years I have come to more deeply perceive the irony of a national celebration of “freedom” first celebrated in 1777 when one in five people in the colonies were African human beings who were enslaved by white people. Frederick Douglass in 1852—well before passage of the 13th Amendment that ended slavery—brilliantly denounced the national celebration of July 4th saying:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Then a hundred years later Langston Hughes wrote a poem with the refrain “America never was America to me.” He wrote:
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Hughes, of course, was African American and in this poem he speaks not only for his community, but also for poor whites, indigenous people, immigrants, and all who hope in the dream of America yet find “only the same old stupid plan / Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.” And fifty years since Langston Hughes passed into the next life, we find ourselves in this moment. Some would argue there is much to honor from our past and also much that’s changed for the better. Both are true. But our present moment has blown the lid off the injustice, suffering, and rage so many of our neighbors continue to experience in their lives. Poverty, systemic racism, homophobia and transphobia are still rampant in our country, placing crushing burdens upon beloved children of God. Pernicious interpretations of religious texts, twisted applications of biblical law, and greedy, unjust civic laws and policies create a reality in which some are free, expecting and enjoying every opportunity life affords, and others can’t drink the water from their tap, can’t go for a run, can’t answer their front door without fearing for their lives. Some in our land suck up all the air leaving others with no air to breathe.
Our Gospel for today begins by Jesus highlighting the fact that some people are determined to judge and reject anything that might challenge them to perceive something new or to change. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were called names and rejected, even though their practices and message were very different. Different approaches didn’t reach those who were challenged by the message of the Gospel. If people don’t want to hear it, they won’t. And we sadly see this right now in many ways related to safety protocols for COVID-19, systemic racism, skewed narratives of American history and more. To be asked to acknowledge the suffering of the most vulnerable and oppressed, sacrifice some comfort to protect others, accept that part of our past and present as a nation is marred by racist violence and greed, is perceived by many as impinging upon their freedom. No matter how lovingly or authentically it is shared—whether in protest, movie, data and studies—if folk don’t want to hear it, they won’t.
But, Jesus says, “wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” And wisdom made her home in Jesus and guided Jesus’ teaching and actions. And Jesus offers his “yoke”—an offer that is heartily received in Jesus’ time and in our own by those weighed down with the burdens of injustice and systemic violence. Jesus comes alongside the downtrodden, the sick, the disinherited, the oppressed and says, “You matter. Let me share the load, carry your burden, journey with you. You are not alone.”
And the offer of a well-fitting yoke is extended to everyone. Jesus wants all of us to put on a way of life that does no harm, a yoke that doesn’t do damage to others or to ourselves. That is our work—each and all of us in our own way. We are called to set down hurtful things that have creeped up around our shoulders and into our thoughts and hearts. That stuff is ill-fitting, heavy, and shreds our soul. We are invited instead to pick up and put on the yoke of Jesus who says, “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Be gentle and humble with others in this time when there is so little grace margin in the world. Be gentle and humble with yourself. And trust that Christ will help you do the hard work needed for the living of these days. And it is hard work. The “yoke” Jesus offers is not an “easy” life without any burdens or challenges. Rather it is a yoke that is well-fitting, that doesn’t do harm when we put it on, that binds us to Christ AND to one another, so that the burdens we bear become lighter because they are shared.
I believe the heart of the teaching today is that true freedom in human life is not found in independence but rather in interdependence. We are created for interdependence and the yoke Jesus offers is fitted with that in mind. It connects us to God and each other in love, in compassion, in mercy, in grace and helps us pull together toward the Kin-dom vision that’s our goal. And that means that your suffering is yoked to me and my suffering is yoked to you. As Paul taught, if one member of the body suffers all suffer together with it (1 Cor 12:26). God gives us grace to help one another carry the burden, to ease the weight, to lighten the load one for another. Your life is bound up with my life and my freedom is bound up with your freedom, your safety is bound up with my safety and my good is bound up with your good. No one is free until all are free.
Many of us are weary today. Many are carrying heavy burdens. And the pain of the world can seem too much to bear. But the good news is we are yoked to one another and to Christ. And together we press on to freedom. Thanks be to God.
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
You, Me, Us
Foundry United Methodist Church's Summer Guest Series continues with a sermon from the Reverend Dr. Kevin Smalls. June 28th, 2020
Monday Jun 22, 2020
Monday Jun 22, 2020
What Peace? What Love?
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli for Foundry UMC June 21, 2020, third Sunday after Pentecost. “Living As If…” series.
Text: Matthew 10:24-39
Last week Foundry received a powerful call from Rev. Kimberly Scott to live as if our loved ones are at risk, to recognize that God has placed us where we are today to be part of building up a new world. When Rev. Scott repeated the call to live as if our loved ones are at risk, I found myself thinking our loved ones ARE at risk. The question is: Who do we count as our loved ones? Who is our neighbor? Only our blood kin? Only those we know well? Only those with whom we agree?
Today, the lectionary gives us what folks in my Thursday night Bible Study widely agree is a not-so-favorite passage of scripture. And, I get it. It’s full of all sorts of confusing and triggery words and phrases. “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” “Whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” “Do not think I have come to bring peace, but a sword.” “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” And what’s all that business about finding and losing life? It’s a lot! But, honestly, the more I’ve read and prayed with our text this past week, the more I realize that these lines of scripture are the sermon Jesus might give if he were to show up at the podium at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Black Lives Matter Plaza today.
Matthew chapter 10 begins with Jesus calling together his disciples to give them authority over unclean spirits and power to cure disease (Mt 10:1) and to proclaim the good news of the Kin-dom (10:7). Jesus then sends them into the world and communicates clearly that some folks will not receive them, will not acknowledge their authority, will not welcome their message (10:14). And worse, they’ll likely get beaten up by those in power and “dragged before governors and kings” (10:17-18). We hear in verse 25 “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!” In other words, the disciples who do what Jesus does in the world, aren’t going to get better treatment than Jesus himself. And, remember, Jesus wasn’t out of the manger before the agents of empire were trying to kill him. He hadn’t started to walk, much less talk, before his parents were forced to seek asylum to save his life (Mt 2:13 ff.). And we know that trend continued throughout his life. Even still, Jesus didn’t back down or pipe down but simply continued doing what he had been sent to do. And he was firmly in the prophetic flow of his ancestors like Auntie Esther whose story we heard last week.
Following Jesus, being called to do and to speak and to love as he does, is risky. It is costly. If your Christian faith isn’t making you shift in your seat, re-examine your priorities regularly, sacrifice some time, energy, or money, try something that feels uncomfortable, make space literally or figuratively for people who make you twitchy, and risk losing something for the greater good, then, well, something is missing.
Let me interject here—as I know we are all weary and in various stages of grief for so many reasons right now—our faith—of course!—is a source of comfort and encouragement. God’s grace and peace is always available for us.
But any kind of “peace” that is pretending there is nothing wrong is not peace. “Peace” achieved by proffering a bland niceness wrapped around simmering resentment, aggravation, dismissiveness, and hatred is not peace. Any “peace” that avoids difficult conversations or avoids naming or changing things so as not to make people angry or uncomfortable is not peace. These and other things are not peace, they are denial, avoidance, and lies. Jesus taught in the beatitudes that peacemakers are blessed. I don’t think he was talking about denial, avoidance, and lies. It’s a different kind of peace that Jesus reveals to us. The next beatitude is instructive: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:10) You see without righteousness, right relationship—justice—there is no peace. No justice. No peace. “Peace” without justice isn’t peace, it’s pretending. // And understand: the point is not to seek persecution or to stir the pot just to stir the pot.
Jesus wasn’t persecuted because he disturbed the peace in an already peaceful world; Jesus was persecuted because he disturbed the injustice of an unjust world. And he did that in order to make real peace. Jesus comes to disturb anything in the world that keeps people from knowing the fullness of their dignity, value, power, and belovedness. This means—for just one example—that sometimes a gay child will have to challenge the teaching and beliefs of his father and mother in order to live in freedom and in love. Jesus comes to disturb any system or mindset or attitude or practice that would systematically deny anyone their freedom, safety, and daily bread. Sadly, I’ll bet you can come up with myriad examples of that in our world.
All of this leads me to imagine Jesus marching down 16th Street, NW in Washington, DC, stepping up to the podium—after spending some time with the folk who are sleeping on the steps of St. John’s Church—and then stepping into a certain kind of prophetic speech, a cadence meant to unsettle and to make a point. Strong language, hyperbolic utterance, hard words tumble forth such that we are left with little doubt that they’ve landed and done their disturbing work. What is getting shaken loose in these words? What is Jesus trying to get through to us?
That there are more important things in life than our own comfort or ease. That we are made for more than looking out for #1. That going along to get along may have its place in small matters, but doing so when some lives are treated as they don’t matter may cost you your soul.
The Greek word translated “soul” in verse 28, psuché, is the same word translated “life” in verse 39: “Those who find their life (psuché) will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Psuché can also be translated as “breath.” Our soul, our life, is breathed into us by God. And Jesus teaches our life is precious, valued—every hair of every head is counted!—and meant and sent to do healing and life-giving things. We were made to love—to love God and to love neighbor. That is the life purpose breathed into everyone. But, this life can be diminished, denied, even lost.
Think of how much true life is lost by those who think they’ve “got the life” and have it all figured out: those who focus only on their own advancement and comfort and are willing to do anything to get it, those whose “smarts” fuel a cynicism that blocks any vision of a new world, much less motivation to work for it, those unwilling to take attention away from managing their own stuff long enough to realize the folks they’re saying should pull themselves up by their bootstraps don’t have boots, folk who don’t bat an eye at the thought of thousands of lives lost to COVID-19 if it means boosting an economy that already benefits those who can comfortably avoid infection as they enjoy the pool at their second or third home.
God breathes life into us and sets us in creation and in community to live with and for one another. We have been given a Kin-dom vision for life together that breaks down walls of hatred, tribalism, prejudice, selfishness, and greed. We are given authority and power and grace from Jesus the Christ to live and to share that vision and that life with love, with boldness, with compassion, with courage. Jesus isn’t preaching that we shouldn’t love our parents or that if we mess up we get a star taken off our “worthy” chart. One of the ten commandments is to honor father and mother—and there are plenty of ready examples of God’s unfailing compassion and mercy and love in scripture as well. What Jesus is preaching is that the love and the way of life to which we are called requires something of us that may lead to conflict even within the communities that have raised and formed us: our families, our church, our circle of friends, our nation.
Jesus is preaching that we can live a thin peace that doesn’t “rock the boat” and in the process lose the life we were created to live, the life that is willing to sacrifice something in order to participate in the work of love, compassion, and justice. Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor who initially supported, then opposed the Nazi regime in Germany was imprisoned for 7 years in concentration camps. He wrote the following—with some additions to fit our moment: “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 the immigrants, and I did not speak out—because I was not an immigrant. Then they came for the unhoused, and I did not speak out—because I was not unhoused. Then they came for LGBTQ people, and I did not speak out—because I was not LGBT or Q. Then they came for black people, indigenous people, and people of color, and I did not speak out because I was not a person of color.] Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. Beloved, our loved ones ARE at risk and we are receiving message after message to do something about it.
We are being called to rise up in this moment of Spirit-breathed, Spirit-ignited revolution in our city and our nation and in our world—the Pentecost revolution that ignites God’s dream. Today we are given authority and power by the grace of Christ to let go of our fear and find ourselves as agents in the revolutionary dream of God’s all-embracing love unleashed in the world. That will take many forms and each of us will need to discern our particular role.
What are you willing to risk for the sake of the dream? What kind of peace will you pursue? What love will you share and with whom? What are you willing to risk for the sake of others? What are you willing to lose in order to live the life you’re made for? Are you willing to live as if more than your life is at stake?
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Foundry's Summer Guest Series starts with a guest sermon from Reverend Kimberly Scott
For Such A Time As This-
I. It is indeed and privilege and honour that I stand before you today…For Such a time as time…A few months ago, I could imagined I’d preaching for you today Foundry…The Day following my Ordination as an Elder in Full Connection of the Desert Southwest Conference….Had some one told 10 years ago that would be standing in a virtual pulpit/ anyone virtual pulpit today I wouldn’t have believed…
Preaching, teaching and being a leader CHURCH in the was never on my bucket list church….But God, has been up to something for such a time as this….
A time in which so much of our lives have been put on hold due to COVID 19 PANDEMIC ….A time in which LGBTQIA folks in the UMC are faced with the reality that their promise land has seemingly disappeared over the horizon, and in now out of site…
AT a time such as this that our history, our past has seeming become our new or a renewed reality……. I know this your PRIDE SUNDAY, but it would be socially irresponsible to NOT
You see I understand that there are some of you, who you assumed you’d lived through worst season of racial tension, discrimination, injustice and inequality in this country…
I recognize that some of lived through the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights, Woman’s Lib and Gay and Lesbian Right Movement…
AND there is at least one, generation of persons gathered here today who truly grew up believing they lived in a color blind society…
Some of us thought systemic racism and homophobia was dead in this country with the election of Barack Obama,
AND then there’s unfortunate reality that some gathered here today have seen the CHURCH at war with itself all your life due issues of colonialism, racism, sexism and homophobia….
In other words, some of us have been waiting for TRANSFORMATION to come in in our streets, in the church and our world for way too long…
We are sick and tired of being sick of creating new hash tags…
So what is our call as faithful followers of a Jesus Christ who died so that all might be set FREE?
What is our call as those who claim to serve a Jesus who died to set the oppressed free and so that through his Body humanity might live into the reality of the REALIZED Kin-dom of God?....
I don’t have all of the answers but today text situates us in life of Esther to aid us finding our way forward…For Such A Time as this
II. The text: For Such a time as this
Although most of us have heard or are familiar with the famous quote for such a time as this, from the book of Esther..
Due to the fact that Esther rarely makes the lectionary many don’t know the full or context that makes that statement so profound.
So let us start with who Esther is…
She is a young Jewish woman, orphaned due the death of her parents. Fortunately, she is adopted by her cousin Mordecai.
Mordecai serves as a courier within the Kings royal court…
At this time in Bible History the Jews, God’s chosen people, are in exile. Jerusalem was conquered, its people taken in chains into Babylonian captivity.
So the Jews of the diaspora have, settled and made their homes in Susa, and they are living as a recognized religious minority in the heart of the powerful Persian empire….Thus living on the margins…
Thus, as an orphan and a Jewish female, Esther is a nobody among nobodies in this minority community.
With her true identity kept secret, Esther first appears in the story as one of the young virgins brought into the king's harem, by her cousin Mordecai to be a possible replacements for Vashti, the banished wife of the Persian King.
After a year living in the harem being trained, Esther pleases the king and is eventually crowned queen.
Remember All this takes place while Esther keeps her Jewish identity thus her relation to Mordecia secret (Esth 2:10, 20).
Meanwhile Mordecai he has won favor by serving the king faithfully and even preventing an assassination attempt.
Somehow Mordecai’s Jewish heritage becomes known to an enemy by the of Haman. Haman is also a favored member of the King’s royal court.
Yet, he is jealous of Mordecai and his standing with the king.
Mordecai get into a power struggle with a Haman Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman, and this so infuriates Haman.
Haman decides not only to put Mordecai to death, but also to slaughter his entire people. And he secures the king's permission to do this.
Our text today in Esther 4 picks up right after Mordecai has learned of Haman's plot and he is distraught.
In this distraught state, weeping, and dressed in sackcloth and ashes he shows up at the palace gate wanting to inform Esther of what’s taken place.
After going back and forth with a messenger, Eventually Mordecai reveals Haman’s plot to exterminate all the, Jews…
And pleads for Esther to beg for the Kings mercy to spare her people’s lives
As was read in our text…When Esther first learns of Haman's plot and the threat to her people, her reaction is one of reluctance, helplessness and hopelessness.
She tells Mordecai she could not approach the king without being summoned, and she could possibly face death,
and besides the king has not summoned for me in thirty days, implying that she has fallen out of favor.
Yet, Mordecai's is persistent and send on one last plea:
“Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish.
And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’” Esther 4:13-14 (NASB)
III. What is this story about…
Well right away we learn that the leaders of the Persian empire/ Haman, had an agenda… A racist agenda to exterminate all the Jews.
We might now a little bit in this country about racist agenda to exterminate a group of people…
We know a little bit AS Methodist about homophobic agenda to exterminate queer people from the church….
So we should be able to place ourselves inside this story…
FOUNDRY….I need you to place yourself inside this story….
FOUNDRY….I need you to place yourself inside this story….
Foundry…ESTHER…
Esther you are facing the genocide of yourself your people…You are being given a difficult task…..
1. To choose action or to choose to be SILENT when your people needed her the most.
2.Esther you’ve got to choose rather to confront your husband/spouse, the King, the power be,
risking death simply by entering a room without being asked or to do nothing and continue to live a plus life as the Queen Esther.
3. Esther you can choose to plead with your husband/spouse the king, to stop this ethnic cleansing or to do nothing.
4. Esther you can save yourself and your people or you can do nothing.
So secondly this is narrative about choice and free will?
God always give use Choices right……Since the beginning….
Now..When we reflect on Esther’s life, who she was, where she had come from and then read 13-15 it can easily come across as Mordecai scolded her focus self-preservation
In others words we might take it as MORDECAI calling her out for being selfish..…
But listen….Let’s read the text again…
Do not think that because you are in the King’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.
More than any other thing the word that sticks out to me…Is the phrase…For if you remain SILENT time this….For if you remain silent this time
HERE Mordecai catches ESTHER’s attention by clueing her in to the bigger picture…the broader context of who she is..
He essentially say her, although it feels LIKE you have arrived-
You have not made it to your promise land because your in the King’s palace living a lavish life
DON”T forget …You are still a JEW..….
Mordecia is saying…Esther your LIFE is not simply about YOU…But about us……
You did not make it to this PALACE:
for yourself
or by yourself
or because of yourself..
So, don’t to comfortable yet…WE-a collective WE are not arrived at your promise land..
If you remain silent at this time and focus on yourself…Eventually relief will come to our people by you and your family will die….
In speaking these words to Esther…Mordecai draws her away from the needs of self and self-preservation
to a sense of connectivism and into to the UNBUTU spirit..
I am BECAUSE you are…
You are BECAUSE I am
He reminds her she had been CHOSEN for this TIME to set ASIDE her own interests, goals and desire
to let go of her own ambitions, and face their common foe full-on.
And how does Esther reply…
him.
With that message Esther is inspired….No she is compelled to take control…To act quickly in this crisis to save her people in the midst of the threat of death…
She is obediently, faithful.. she is a team player….Eshter goes on to be the savior of her people….She was indeed call for Such a time as this….
She was called to risk her life and her legacy with no guarantees of a positive outcome. Just on faith and Goodwill…
That’s the “for such a time as this” Mordecai challenged Esther to accept.
And that’s the “for such a time as this” God also sets before you and me… So what do we learn from Esther?
So what is Esther teaching here?
First, this is call to not be SILENT when a CRISIS arise amongst our people..When we see harm being done..When injustice in present…In our world…In our churches…
Over the last week, we’ve all heard the stories about people all over the world reacting with protest, riots and marches due to the George Floyd case….
AND to BE quite I honest I really wrestled with my own response the first few days because quite frankly I was scared…
I was scared about being hurt, arrested, being in the wrong place at the wrong time….
Pause…
And then across the screen flashed on a protestors sign….
Silence = Violence…. Silence = Compliance… …Riots are the voice of the unheard…..
And then the kicker…In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of FRIEND…
I instantly felt convicted like I should be doing something…I took it as my call to stop sitting on the sidelines and to become a part of the solution….
So wrapped up in Esther’s is a call, is Esther teaching us to use our voice to
…To give encourage us …To give us courage AND The power to speak FREEDOM for the captive…For the oppressed…
-Freedom is the call to a protect LIFE of via the ACT of love,
TO SPEAK words of FREEDOM is to BRING ALL TO A PLACE OF wholeness and abundance…
---The call to speak of freedom and speak freedom into EXISTENCE for others ,
challenges evil, destructiveness, oppression, violence, decay, and defeats death…..
AND this INDEED Good news!
So
-How do we speak of freedom in a world suffering?
- We must be A voices for the voiceless…To speak NEW truth to power..
Because next in our text, There ESTHER’s story models for us how to live OUT OUR CALL AND to put the community
and God’s Kin-Dom building work ahead of our self-seeking ambition..Imagine that…
God has given each of us a job/careers, resources, education and influence….
God has opened doors and given each of us opportunities for God’s Kin-Dom purposes.
God didn’t create us to just sit back and live a lavish life not focused on the world around us.
The more resources and privilege we have the more WE have that belongS to God…
As Luke 12:48 teaches to whom much is given much is required…
BECAUSE God placed us where we ARE today to literally be apart of building UP a NEW WORLD…
PAUSE
I had the privilege of attending the Iliff School of Theology at time when the late Dr. Vincent Harding was there…Dr. Harding assisted in the writing of many of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches….
IN his experience walking beside and working with KING he was inspired to write a song sung to the tune of we are climbing Jacobs ladder, titled…We Are Building Up A New World….That is the song I lead in with today before the prayer…
VINCENT HARDING charged us at Iliff to take seriously our responsibility at Building Up A New World…To take seriously our Kind-Dom building responsibility…
THUS…Today we are in the midst of KinDom battle…The enemy would love to have it’s way by distracting us and
having us be continue to be inwardly focused on the all things that matter to us…But God didn’t build us that way…
GOD BUILT us to BE IN COMMUNITY….
Esther could have easily continued to live the lavish LIFE in the King’s palace and let whatever happen to her people just happen…
But she would have most certainly have missed her Kin-Dom Calling and an entire nation would have been lost…
Instead an entire nation was grateful for how Esther responded to Mordecai’s REQUEST. Their lives were spared.
How many lives matter to you? Who’s lives truly manner to you… How have you shown it….
I answered my call to ministry at a time I was mad at God the church for all the harm I had a experienced and openly queer lay person who faithfully served the church….
But God said kin stop whining and crying about how horrible the church has been to you and God and be a part of changes the church, because are not the only one who has been harmed or being harmed by the church….
.And that’s how convinced me of my first for such a time as this moment…. To leave behind, my church, my family and my career…
You see as school counselor for 10 in las Vegas, NV I had witness LGBTQIA youth being harmed by due to the LDS, BAPTIST, CHURCH OF GOD upbringing to name a few.
I saw countless numbers of students in and out of treatment center, some end up runaways and others victims of suicide….
I know It is no mistake that the first Sermon God laid on my heart, An Untimely Commissioning to Speak, Just Might Save the Life of Nation or A People…With that sermon based on Moses calls story ..God was calling me new life of work….To save I believe a generation of LGBTQIA young people of Faith…….
FOUNDRY it’s not just by chance that less than a year AGO today I met your PASTOR and we would do some really HARD, UGLY, GRIMEY work together in our fight LGBTIA liberation in the UMC…..
It is not just by chance that the day after my ordination God has placed me an An openly QUEER/MARRIED, African American in before and placed it in my spirit to preach to proclaim For Such A Time as this because to the TIME IS Now….The time is NOW…My life, my ministry has been filled with taking risk…
Foundry you are being called to LIVE as IF your loved ones lives are AT RISK..
You are being CALLED to live as if you loved lives are at risk…
As if those nearest and dearest to you are the ones facing extermination …Extermination from the church because they are LGBTQIA….
As if those who are nearest and dearest to you are the one being fed the crumbs from the table of a crumbling church…
You are being CALLED to live as if you loved lives are at risk…
As if those nearest and dearest to you are facing or EXECUTION in the street because of the color of their skin..
So many black and brown lives could spared in the world today if today if we’d ALL choose to step up to service, to speak out against racism and police brutality And to fight for legislative and policy changes even if it involves sacrifice, of our money time, gift and talents…
So many QUEER and TRANSPERSONS lives and MINISTRY could be speared more of us would choose to step up the mic and SPEAK out,
Us their resources and political influence to find a way FORWARD to CREATE the church that JESUS died to build…
Finally…. Esther is teaching us here that our call to act is on God’s watch…God’s time not ours…
Esther got the call for Mordecai and responded urgently.. Was the call timely?
NO…In fact, it didn’t make human sense to Esther I’m sure.
She was sure she had finally arrived.. She was sure she had finally become SOMEBODY..Of high stature esteem and respect………
Yet Esther was obedient to the call… She used her privilege ..She sacrifice herself for the sake of others…For the sake of her people…
How many times have received a call to be apart of something that would have caused you to make a sacrifice and you said…
Oh no, not this at moment, this is terrible timing?
….Or perhaps this is not my time… OR I’ve done all that I can do…I’ll leave it to the next generation to figure out…
…We are just prolonging our collective suffering….We are prolonging the the Kin-Dom reality the God so desperately wants us to experience…
We are prolonging bringing an end to SUFFERING, INJUSTICE and OPPRESSION..…
We have been called to be the ones to free the oppressed recover sight to the blind..…
AND to bring about love, peace, and justice today for the transformation of the WORLD today in the hear now… Who are WE waiting ON to do our work for us?
Let us not delay the Kingdom building any longer….
We have been called….For such a time as this. Because the time is now……
Let us pray….
….We stand in awe of your timing, yet we have gathered together today embracing it…
Because as the song goes, all we have is now; To be faithful, To be holy And to shine lighting up the darkness.. For Such a time as this we were placed upon the earth
to hear the voice of God And do God will will…
For such a time as this we stand in awe Oh God for how you’ve readied us for your service , for how you commission us for your service at your pace.
… Oh God although the mystery of your timing seems to evade us, God in your timeliness and in your way you brought us here together from places near and fear, through many dangers seen and unseen, from many different life experiences, paths, cultures and social location and united as the Body.
Yet, we must also confess oh God we have left much undone…We have not adequality to proclaimed good news to the poor.
We have not adequately proclaimed liberty to the captives and allowed the blind to see,
We have not adequality free oppressed,
Continue to equip us in YOUR of work of Kin-DOM building…
Help us oh God continue to build your kingdom of justice, peace fueled the passionate love of you oh God, self and neighbor.
Empower us to see through your eye the inequalities of the world and in holy frustration be the change we want to see in our world.
Let us no longer allow for injustices and evils that that rob so many of their future.
Eternal God And above all, fill us with your Spirit and your Holy boldness…. That we might look to hours, days, and years ahead with hope, determination for such a time as this, because the TIME is NOW!