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Sermon September 17, 2023
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Track 1, Proper 19
https://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp19_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__September_17__2023
Video: https://youtu.be/w9PgqNi_Zms
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:7-8
Have you ever been to New Mexico? My good friend, Toni, who I originally met in Harrisburg, moved to New Mexico in the 1990s. She lived in Pecos, near Santa Fe. Toni was an artist and loved helping young people design public murals and paint them. There is still one in Harrisburg and a number in Santa Fe.
I was able to go visit Toni twice. I immediately noticed that the state was so different. I’m not totally sure why, but I suspect it’s because of the deep roots of the people who live there. For instance, indigenous people still live on the same land as their ancestors, albeit in many cases significantly reduced in size. There are people whose ancestors lived there when the land was part of Mexico. In other words, the connection of the people to the land is deep and long and you can feel the difference, I think.
This past week, we learned of the death of the Bill Richardson. He was a Member of Congress and former Governor of New Mexico. In addition, he served in the federal government under President Clinton. He was Secretary of Energy and our representative to the United Nations. He was of Mexican, Anglo and Spanish descent.
One of my favorite cartoonists is Ricardo Cate’. He is the only Native American cartoonist to draw a daily cartoon for a major newspaper in the United States. The cartoon is called Without Reservations. He follows the ways of the Kewa and lives in the Santo Domingo Pueblo.
Ricardo has been having some health issues and was in the hospital this past week when he learned of the death of Bill Richardson. Ricardo posted that he really wanted to be at the funeral, but was unable to attend. He posted a cartoon he’d made a number of years ago and talked about what a good person Richardson was.
The comments on the post were just as enlightening.
There were native drummers and chanting from some of the indigenous nations at his funeral one person wrote. There were many personal stories about how caring and kind he was.
Some of us may know him because of his work getting people from the United States out of places and prisons in countries that we do not have diplomatic relations with. The New York Times obituary headline was, “Bill Richardson, Champion of Americans held Overseas, Dies at 75.”
Yes, Bill Richardson would go into countries that were considered dangerous to us and would talk with the head leaders of those countries. I know that is something I could never do. How do you talk to someone who in your own mind has done and continues to do horrible things to people?
Ah, but our readings today remind us that no matter how difficult it is, we must be extremely careful about judging others. Can we see others, even those we feel are evil, as beloved children of God? Can we let the judging up to God in the end?
It’s definitely tricky. We must be clear-eyed about who people are and what is happening in various places in the world. Yet, we also must be careful, right? “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” is something we know. I think that understanding and attitude helped Bill Richardson go into such dangerous places. In the end, he helped free people and return them to their homes and to their families.
It is so hard not to judge, isn’t it?
And I think our judgmental attitudes also make it nearly impossible for us to forgive. Our Gospel reading and the words of Jesus are really hard to hear today, aren’t they? And yet, probably nearly all of us can recite them or the understanding of them. We must be willing to forgive ad infinitum in essence. YIKES!
But I think when we accept that we are not perfect and when we accept that we have sinned and when we accept that we have fallen short and when we accept that we have been unduly judgmental, then we are in a different space and can do different things in our lives. We can live more like Jesus asked us to live. We can see each other more clearly. We can have more compassion for each other. And maybe, like Bill Richardson, we can even sit in a room with people we do not like very much and work together for love and peace.
Amen
Ricardo Cate’: https://indianpueblo.org/in-toon-with-cartoonist-ricardo-cate/
Ricardo Cate’Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kewacate
Bill Richardson Obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/us/politics/bill-richardson-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1
