Loading...Sermon February 11, 2018
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s, Newport, PA
Last Sunday After the Epiphany, Year B
Observance of African-American History Monty
//lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpiLast_RCL.html
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Mark 9:7
Please be seated
Earlier this week, I read a story about Ithaca High School and the controversy over the casting for their 2018 musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Many of the students had grown up watching the Disney version, where Esmeralda is the heroine. Esmeralda represents a minority group in Europe, known as the Roma, who traditionally have a darker skin.
When a student who is white was given the part of Esmeralda, some students objected. A letter to a local publication that was signed by over 25 people, explained:
“Esmeralda is a Roma, part of an oppressed class of people. It is her oppression and that of her people, which allows her to better understand the perspective of the Hunchback and to ultimately advocate for him.”
It was decided to change the musical for this year.
The father of the white student who had been cast for the part of Esmeralda said in an interview that even though it was a sacrifice on his daughter’s part, the questions being raised by the students were important and ones that needed to be addressed.
But then the awful attacks started happening. Some conservative publications published their version of the story. Suddenly students who had raised the important questions found themselves targeted by an online mob. They are receiving threats and being called racial epithets
One of the students remarked how hard it is to be the focus of these attacks at the age of 17 and with the stress of graduating from high school and trying to apply to college.
In our Gospel today, we hear a story about how once again, God’s voice is heard proclaiming Jesus as the beloved son of God. The disciples with Jesus on the mountain, Peter, James, and John, are told to “listen to him.”
It seems like Peter just wants to stay in this most amazing moment. I mean, it must have been truly astounding. They saw Moses and Elijah, major figures in their culture, who had long ago died. They saw Jesus in a new way. The experience was powerful, unlike any they’d ever experienced.
Yet, these disciples had traveled with Jesus for a while. They had left their homes and their families…dropped everything to follow this man. They had seen miracles. They had heard his teachings. But once again, they needed to hear that Jesus was God’s Son come to earth. Once again, they needed to be reminded to listen to Jesus.
If those who lived with Jesus…who breathed his air…who heard his teachings…who could ask him questions…needed to be reminded to listen to Jesus, how much more must we hear the message? How difficult it must have been and still is to truly follow Jesus…to truly listen to him.
Some of what is difficult, I believe, is that Jesus demands that we come down from the mountain and move forward…that we, too, continue to be transformed. In plainer terms, it means that following Jesus REQUIRES that we change. We cannot stay in the same place.
This week, especially, I have been thinking about transformation and listening to Jesus in terms of addressing racism. When I think about listening to Jesus, I think of these words Jesus said:
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-31)
And what Jesus read in the Synagogue in Nazareth from the Book of Isaiah (Luke 4:18-19)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
Jesus taught us to be careful about aligning ourselves with the dominant powers on the earth. Jesus taught us to look at each other through a different lens…one where all are family, created in the image of God. Jesus taught us to be very careful when hierarchies of human value are created. Jesus taught us to align ourselves with the poor and the oppressed and work to bring an end to their suffering. Jesus taught us to listen to those who are poor and oppressed, because that is what he did and that is how we can work for freedom for all people.
This week, I once again looked at three books I’ve found helpful on this subject. They speak from a Christian context. All three make a number of recommendations about what we as a Christian community need to do to listen to Jesus regarding the subject of the church and racism. Messiah College Professor and Pastor Drew G. I. Hart wrote Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism. Georgetown University Sociology Professor and Pastor Michael Eric Dyson, wrote Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, Kelly Brown Douglas wrote Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. I commend these books to you.
One recommendation is to Engage in Self-Examination. Dr. Douglas calls this Moral Memory and says it is about “telling the truth about the past and our relationship to it.” (P. 220-221)
Another is to educate ourselves about Black life and culture. I have a reading list I can give you and we have some books we can loan out. There are TV shows, movies and cultural events we can watch and attend.
On March 17, for instance, our Diocese will have a service in honor of Absalom Jones at our Cathedral in Harrisburg. I don’t have the time yet. Absalom Jones was the first African-American Episcopal priest in the United States, ordained in 1804. We remember him on February 13, the date of his death in 1818. He founded St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a vibrant parish to this day. Remembrances of Absalom Jones are held throughout The Episcopal Church. I hope some of you can attend this service with me.
Today in Parlor People, we finish our 4-week series on Preparing to Become The Beloved Community. This is The Episcopal Church’s most recent effort to address racism. The Stevenson School for Ministry is offering a 5-week course during Lent on this topic and there is a longer course available through the school. It is online and an expanded version of the 5-week course.
In April, the Diocese will sponsor an undoing racism training for 40 leaders by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond out of New Orleans. From that training, a long-term plan will be developed for the Diocese as we listen to Jesus and live out his teachings regarding the necessity to address racial oppression and racial reconciliation.
Pastor Dyson says we must cultivate empathy to make a change…to transform.
“The practice of empathy means taking a moment to imagine how you might behave if you were in our positions. Do not tell us how we should act if we were you; imagine how you would act if you were us. Imagine living in a society where your white skin marks you for disgust, hate, and fear. Imagine that for many moments. Only when you see black folk as we are, and imagine yourselves as we have to live our lives, only then will the suffering stop, the hurt cease, and the pain go away.” (p. 212)
Amen
Ithaca High School Musical
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/theater/hunchback-of-notre-dame-ithaca-high-school.html
Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew G. I. Hart, https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Ive-Seen-Changing-Church/dp/1513800000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518299743&sr=8-1&keywords=drew+hart+trouble+i%27ve+seen
Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson https://www.amazon.com/Tears-We-Cannot-Stop-America/dp/1250135990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518298086&sr=8-1&keywords=tears+we+cannot+stop
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God by Kelly Brown Douglas, https://www.amazon.com/Stand-Your-Ground-Bodies-Justice/dp/1626981094/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518299825&sr=1-1&keywords=black+bodies+and+the+justice+of+God+Douglas
