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Sermon July 12, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10, Year A, Track 2
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp10_RCL.html
But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’ Matthew 13:23
Please be seated.
This past week I received notice of a new video in The Episcopal Church’s Traveling the Way of Love series. You might remember hearing the various practices that comprise the way of love: Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest.
This new video was about Go – going into the world. It is about a program called the Triangle of Hope, which has three people living, praying and working together for a year to try to bring reconciliation and healing. You see, the program takes place in Liverpool, England. The three participants come from the United States, The United Kingdom and Ghana. These formed the triangle of despair during the time of the international slave trade.
Canon Malcolm Rogers from the Cathedral in Liverpool explains that the wealth of the City of Liverpool came from this trade in human beings; that nearly every old building you see was built by those ill-gotten gains, including the Cathedral. Chris Sikkema, Manager of Special Projects in The Episcopal Church Office of Communications is the interviewer of this piece. He makes a remark that the building of the city on this misery happened, “beneath our noses, but how did we miss it?”
I want to play just a short portion of this video for you (Minute 3 of video):
https://episcopalchurch.org/twol/special-episode-go
This segment has stayed with me all week, especially the statement by Canon Rogers about what people in future years will be asking us: “How could you have done such a thing? How could you have dehumanized human beings in such a way in the light of your faith, in the light of your own humanity.”
In terms of the parable Jesus told that we heard in our Gospel reading this morning: Why were you not seeds sown in the good soil?
What are the current day horrors taking place right under our noses? What are the things that future generations will shake their heads and wonder how we could have done such a thing; how we could have dehumanized human beings in such a way in the light of our faith and in light of our own humanity?
In the past few months, we have heard about the horrors of the Corona Virus. The stories of the people who have died. The anguish of the families left behind who could not see nor be with their loved ones. The anguish of the health care providers. The disparities in who gets the disease and who dies from it and who can access care and who cannot.
While there is much we still do not know about this virus and its potential long-term effects, we do have some fairly simple rules to mitigate its spread. Yet, there is controversy and defiance in abiding by those rules.
Last week, we agreed to help care for a family or at least a child who might be released from an immigration detention center. The virus is spreading throughout these centers, one in Berks County. Children have been separated from their family members. These families are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries, only to arrive here and be put in dismal living conditions, even cages.
For too many years, we have known that the criminal justice system is out of whack. Bi-partisan efforts for reform have been thwarted. What kind of public safety system do we need? Who should be a part of a public safety system that works well for everyone? Can we dream and imagine something better, something that works well for all communities?
Each and every day following Jesus Christ requires us to examine our own lives and the life of our Christian community. We must ask the question, are we ones/are we a community planted in good soil or are we the seed sown on the path, or on the rocky ground, or in the thorns? Are we holding out our hands for the Eucharist while nearby people are suffering?
Amen
