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Sermon September 6, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 18, Year A, Track 2
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp18_RCL.html
Video of the Service: https://youtu.be/pmOZ4XlUw38
Audio Only: /documents/September_6_2020_service_audio_only
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life. Ezekiel 33:7-9
Sometimes speaking up feel futile. How many times have you said, “Why do I waste my breath? What I say won’t make any difference.”
I’m sure it’s no surprise that I have a heart for social justice, social change and political action. I am a child of my parents and the church community who raised me. Blame them. My parents were always politically active. My church community taught me to work for the Kingdom of God right here and right now. Then I chose a profession, social work, that has a Code of Ethics requiring one to work for social change so all have equal access to the resources needed for life.
So I found it easy to become involved in efforts to address racism personally and collectively in Harrisburg in the late 1980s. Dody Matthias mentored me and so many others. Addressing racism, sexism and heterosexism through the lens of Christian faith was and still is her life’s work. When she moved to Harrisburg, I was fortunate to connect with her and learn from her, as well as take part in work throughout the City.
I’m sure you can imagine that the work was rarely welcomed with open arms by the people running governments, especially. In the early 1990s, when 20 of us filed a taxpayer’s lawsuit against then-Mayor Stephen Reed, pressure, both serious and silly, was brought against us. For instance, I was on the Harrisburg City School Board. That summer, while the other Board members received tickets to a baseball game, I did not. Also, when I tried to see my home because I was relocating to Kansas, I could not get a “clear city letter,” which would make the sale easier. My realtor, who sold many homes in the City, knew this action was politically motivated.
Why waste our breath? Why even speak up? Silly things could happen. Serious things could happen. That’s when Dody shared this passage from Ezekiel with us. Failure to speak up for what is just and right in the sight of God has consequences. When we do not speak up and “the wicked die,” the blood is on our head. If we do speak up and people “do not turn from their ways,” they die, but we will save our lives.
This is a teaching I have always remembered, because speaking up is not easy, right? Sometimes we have a truth that comes to us from God. We can check it out with our faith community. We can pray about it. And yet…knowing how to speak about it is scary.
Will we have the right words? Will people get hurt? Will relationships end? When we speak up, we are vulnerable, right? We are vulnerable to being attacked. And what if we are not heard? What is the use?
So, like Jonah, we try to run from having to speak the truth that has been given us. And we all know what happened to Jonah; he ended up in the stinky belly of a whale, and eventually was spit out on the beach. Ultimately, we are not able to flee from the work God is calling us to do.
And in the case of Jonah, he spoke the word from God and the people did change their ways and were saved.
Our other readings today give us guidance and support for speaking up. Speaking the word God gives us is an act of love. It may not feel like love, because the truth can be harsh and not always easy to hear, even when presented in the most loving way. We have all heard about tough love. Paul reminds us that when we love one another we fulfill all of the law. Love is the key. We are encouraged to speak the word of love from God.
In our Gospel, Jesus gives us some good advice in how to go about speaking up. While it is advice for relationships between church or faith community members, I think we can apply it to many situations.
First we go to the person or institution directly involved in a private way. If there is no change, then we take one to two others with us to speak directly to the person or institution. If that doesn’t work, then take it to the community or in other words, make it more public.
As Christians, we are called to speak up. Fortunately, we have each other and our church community to help us discern the Word from God we are to speak. We have each other to help us form the right words. We have each other to be a support and to hopefully be able to work through any of the difficult things we need to speak and we need to hear.
After all, we don’t want to be like Jonah in the belly of the whale.
Amen
