Sermons

“Down Is Up. Night Is Day.”

Matthew 5:1-12; I Corinthians 1:18-31 – Rev. Rebecca Littlejohn

Vista La Mesa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), La Mesa, California – January 29, 2017

Holy God, bless the speaking and the hearing of these words, that we might grasp your truth with all our heart and soul, and hold fast to your blessing for the sake of our world. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

It seems like every week now, when we get back together here, the world has gotten more complicated. I suppose one might assume it is harder to preach in such fraught times as we are now living in. But honestly, I think that is both the wrong answer and the wrong question. The important question – and not just because most of us aren’t preachers – is not about preaching, but about following Jesus. Preaching is, of course, a time-honored and vital aspect of worship and witness within the Christian tradition, but in the end, it is not the gospel we proclaim with our mouths but the gospel we proclaim with our lives that matters. And that applies to all of us, whether we ever stand in a pulpit or not.

So if we set preaching aside and agree that the question is whether it has become harder to follow Jesus in recent weeks, what is our response? I suppose that depends on how you define ‘hard’. Is the issue one of knowing what to do, or one of doing it?

As most of us are aware, our new president recently issued an executive order creating a total ban on visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Many people’s lives were thrown into chaos by this order, most especially those who were already in transit, having been thoroughly vetted and granted visas for entry. A lawsuit has already been filed and succeeded on behalf of those being detained in American airports, whose entry had been previously approved. A national stay on the executive order has been declared by at least two judges. Christians and others have been protesting at airports and other places, denouncing this de facto Muslim ban and declaring that if the freedom of religion we so cherish as Americans isn’t applied equally to all faiths, it is meaningless. The ban is a clear violation of biblical principles, which call us to care for the foreigners in our midst and remind us repeatedly of all the times God’s people have been strangers in a strange land ourselves. Our courts, of course, cannot base decisions on scripture, but in all likelihood, this ban will soon be shown to be unconstitutional and unlawful as well.

Meanwhile, some commentators have pointed out that there are numerous countries that could well be suspected of harboring terrorists, which did not end up on the list, and that it may not be coincidence that these unbanned countries are ones where our new president is known to have business interests. It is precisely because of situations like this that so many people advised the president to divulge and divest himself of his business interests before taking office, which, as you know, he refused to do. But what is perhaps less well known is that the list of the seven banned countries is most likely a holdover from the previous administration. Iran, Syria, Sudan and Iraq have been on a list restricting visa access since December 2015; Libya, Somalia and Yemen were added in February 2016. The total ban on entry is in some ways, merely a difference in scale.

So here is where we need to return to the scriptures and get very clear about some things. How closely were you listening when Mike read the Beatitudes earlier? Did you realize what a radical text that is? In case we didn’t notice, Paul then came along in First Corinthians and made it plain. What the world considers wise is not God’s wisdom. God’s priorities seem ridiculous to the world. The things God cherishes and protects and blesses are things the world looks down on. The things God asks of us are things the world thinks are bad or stupid or weak or just uncool. “We proclaim Christ crucified,” Paul reminds us. To the world, that looks like declaring our allegiance to a Loser with a capital L.

Before I go any further, let me say a word about what I mean when I say “the world.” “The world” is not just out there; it’s not just other people, advertisers, people who aren’t Christians. “The world” is very much also present in our own hearts and minds. It’s the culture that tells us to ‘look out for number one,’ the pressures to succeed no matter whom we have to hurt in the process. It’s the forces of tribalism that try to make us care only for our own children, rather than all God’s children. It’s the idea that ‘security’ and ‘the bottom line’ are values we should base policy on. It’s all the stuff out there telling us to be very afraid, when the gospel commands us to “Fear not!” This stuff is in our heads, as much as it’s anywhere else, which is why it’s vital that we gather here every week and turn back to scripture, so we can remember who we’re really trying to be.

Earlier in the week, before the plight of refugees grabbed our attention again, our country was engaged in a debate about the nature of reality. “Alternative facts” had been presented as a legitimate basis for developing an argument. And we all acted as though Kellyanne Conway invented “alternative facts.” But how about these? “Blessed are the meek.” “The last shall be first.” “Pray for those who persecute you.” It turns out Jesus has his own approach to offering alternatives, one that doesn’t involve lying, but rather goes deeper and asks us to examine our priorities and realize that God’s mercy invites us to assess our earthly circumstances very differently than the world would. This has always been the case.

Throughout history, Christians have been called to resist the powers and principalities that rule our world, the forces that divide us and command us to label some enemies and others heroes. Throughout history, Christians have been called to proclaim that our only security comes from God and can never be achieved through human violence. Throughout history, Christians have been called to love our neighbors as ourselves and to remember that our neighbors most likely to do look or act or eat or worship like we do. Throughout history, Christians have been called to serve those in need, whoever they are, as though we are serving Jesus Christ himself. None of this is stuff that makes sense to the world. It’s foolishness, weakness, a stumbling block. But that is the gospel we have been called to follow and the alternative truth we have been called to proclaim.

Is it harder to do that these days? Or has it, in fact, gotten easier because the lines have been drawn more starkly? The actions of our government have gotten more extreme, so we’ve finally begun to notice the incompatibility of the values of the Global War on Terror and the values of the gospel. The truth is that we ought to have been vigorously proclaiming our mandate to love our neighbors all along. Organized, governmental discrimination against Muslims has been happening for over 16 years now, and Christians have barely noticed. Syria has been hemorrhaging refugees for six years and the numbers our country has welcomed are an international embarrassment, especially considering how many supposed followers of Jesus live here. Christians need to be the ones who are infamous for proclaiming an alternative truth, not because we should be telling lies but because we know that another world is possible and we are called to keep reminding the world of that fact.

As often happens when crafting a sermon, we’re far enough in that we need to start finding our way out, and I remember what my preaching professors taught me: This is supposed to be good news. I’m not sure we’ve gotten there yet. We’ve talked about the gift that the gospel gives us – an alternative truth that looks at things in a very different way than the world does. We’ve talked about what we’re called to do in response to that gift. But we haven’t said a whole lot yet about what God is doing. And that, of course, is where the good news lives. It is on God’s action in bringing life out of death that the whole of our upside-down, inside-out faith finds its grounding. “We proclaim Christ crucified,” Paul declares, because that is how we point toward the power of God. This is why we know the dawn will always come. This is why we do not lose hope when all seems lost. God is surely on the move in these complicated times in which we live, in so many different ways. And one of the most important – for us anyway – is that it is God’s Spirit that is going to give us the courage and the wisdom and the strength and the compassion to follow Jesus in these fraught times. May we open our hearts to receive God’s gifts. Alleluia and Amen.