Loading...Sermon November 20, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 29, Track 2 Year C
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34
Please be seated.
As part of the discernment process in the Diocese of Washington, I was required to be in spiritual direction. Prior to the formal process, I had come to know that a spiritual director would be beneficial to me, so this requirement was not a challenge.
One of the Spiritual Directors I had and who is actually the one I still have… had sessions at her church just outside of Silver Spring, Maryland. It was The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in a section known as Hillandale.
The parish report shows an average attendance of close to 400, with 80% of the church composed of people who are immigrants from 50 different countries. It is in Montgomery County, which is known as a very diverse county in the country. It is also a place where diverse groups of people feel safe. When I lived there, for instance, the county government said they would not routinely question the citizen status of residents.
My spiritual director and I would meet in various places in the church, because repairs were being carried out. The money given for spiritual direction was all contributed to the church.
Then in Seminary, I was required by the Diocese to take a Spanish class. I feel so badly, because I’ve taken Spanish classes throughout my life and I just can’t seem to really remember the language. At Seminary we were fortunate to have a Liturgical Spanish class that focused on our Book of Common Prayer or Libro de Oración Común.
One of the requirements of the class was to attend a church service that was celebrated in Spanish. So on a school break, when I was visiting Washington DC, I attended the 1:00pm church service in Spanish at The Church of Our Saviour. It was all from El Libro de Oracion Comun, and yet, I struggled to keep up. The Prayers of the People were especially tough, because they just went around the parish with each person saying a petition. Luckily, they knew to pass me by. I at least knew The Lord’s Prayer or Padre Nuestro because memorizing it in Spanish and saying it to the instructor was part of our final exam.
I was glad for this requirement. I was glad to experience our familiar service in a different language. I was so happy to know that people with a language different from mine nonetheless found solace, comfort, praise and joy in worship in our common denomination. It was a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.
So last Sunday I was distressed to learn that this church had been defaced. Sometime before 7:30am Sunday morning, someone had defaced a sign that advertised the service for people who speak Spanish. They had defaced the wall of the memorial garden/columbarium. Both had the words: “Trump Nation – Whites Only” spraypainted on them.
Bishop Mariann Budde immediately changed her plans for the day in order to worship at the 1pm service for people who speak Spanish and a call went out throughout the Diocese for all to join her. According to the Diocesan website, the 90 plus regular worshippers at the service were joined by hundreds of others who came to support them.
While the parishioners were saddened by this, they responded with much love and forgiveness. During the service, Bishop Budde reported that Father Francisco Valle said:
“But we follow Jesus in the ways of love. To those who wrote those hateful words I say, ‘We love you. We are a congregation of working people. We mean no harm to anyone.’ He closed by exhorting us all to pray the prayer of St. Francis: “Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love.” https://www.edow.org/about/bishop-mariann/writings/2016/11/17/love-stronger-hate
After the service, the parishioners took chalk and wrote messages of love on the sidewalk. Many of them said, “Love Wins.” Father Valle told a local TV reporter, “on violence, we respond with a message of love.” A member of the parish said, “No matter what nationality, what color, what country…God loves everybody.”
In checking on this story yesterday, so far no one has been arrested for the vandalism. However, there is much going on. At 11:30 this morning, the nearby Silver Spring Unitarian church will join members of the parish in writing messages of love and healing in chalk on the sidewalks between the two churches. At 11:00, people from a number of denominations, including the Orthodox Synagogue, Ohev Sholom, known as The National Synagogue, will join the 1pm service that is in Spanish. Then there will be a discussion about the racist graffiti, followed by a forum on immigration. The sign that was defaced, is now covered with signs that say, “Love Wins.”
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” We all know these words. We hear them during Holy Week. Yet, how many of us understand the depth of love that these words represent?
Because Jesus says them while hanging on the cross. I don’t know about you, but totally meditating about those hours that Jesus hung on that cross is almost more than I can bear…to know the physical and mental torture inflicted on an innocent man. What horror. What suffering. What a show of power by both the religious authorities and temporal/government authorities of the time. Jesus hung there for everyone to see. It was supposed to bring shame to the community of Jesus’ followers. It was seen as demeaning and as an act of terror to keep people in line.
Yet, in the midst of this tremendous suffering…In the midst of the wrongful conviction of Jesus…In the midst of the punishment Jesus was given for demanding that we love our neighbor…for demanding that every human being was worthy of our love and was created in the image of God…Jesus once again remembers us!
Jesus does not desert us, even though we desert Him. Jesus does not tell God that God was wrong to send Jesus to earth, because we the people are not worthy of God’s love, mercy and grace. Jesus does not lament that his relatively short life on earth was in vain, because obviously no one listened to him or why would he be hanging on this cross? Jesus does not jump off the cross because it’s so awful and painful. Jesus does not bring the armies of heaven to relieve him of this suffering and show us who is in power in ways of violence and force.
Jesus suffers and goes through the horror of this wrongful torture…this man’s inhumanity to man.
And Jesus NEVER stops loving us…Never stops believing we are worthy of love…Never gives up hope that we are better than what is happening at the moment…that we can be better...that we can learn, change and transform from this one horrible, excruciating evil moment in time.
Jesus loves us so much. In the midst of suffering beyond what most of us will ever know, hopefully, Jesus asks that we be forgiven. Jesus asks that the slate be wiped clean…Jesus understands that we have no idea of the evil we are involved in…that we do not know what we are doing.
And it is in the footsteps of Jesus…in our true followship of Jesus…that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ…in our Episcopal denomination modeled the way of Christ for us. They responded to a message of hate and fear, with Jesus’ message. "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Love Wins!
Amen
A blog from my spiritual director sharing her experience of that morning and this past week: https://poetproph.blogspot.com/2016/11/vandalism-at-church-of-our-saviour-some.html
//wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-church-vandalized-with-racist-pro-trump-writing
https://www.edow.org/about/bishop-mariann/writings/2016/11/17/love-stronger-hate
//pr.dfms.org/study/exports/3954-1834_20161119_04462796.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/dioceseofwashington/?hc_ref=SEARCH Entry of November 18, 8:27am
