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Sermon January 13, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
First Sunday after the Epiphany
http://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Epiphany/CEpi1_RCL.html
Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made…. Collect for First Sunday After The Epiphany (p. 214, Book of Common Prayer)
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Book of Common Prayer, p. 293
Please be seated.
Last week after church, I traveled to Pittsburgh. Well, Monroeville/Penn Hills to be more exact. My friend Mike was having hip replacement surgery.
The surgery was at Allegheny General Hospital. I’m sure many of you know how long the pre-op time can be and then there’s the time in surgery and recovery. In other words, LOTS of TIME to wait.
At some point in the day, in one of the waiting rooms, the news was on. One of the events occurring that day was a rally for people who want to openly carry guns of all types. You see, the Pittsburgh area is still reeling from the shooting in October at the Tree of Life Synagogue.
There continue to be memorials at the Squirrel Hill location. The Synagogue and its various building continue to be closed and shuttered. The congregation is trying to figure out next steps. Can the spaces be cleansed from the blood that was shed from the 11 people who died and 7 who were injured? Or should the whole complex be torn down and something new built?
The community is trying to figure out their response to gun violence. In December, legislation was proposed in the City Council to ban assault type weapons, extended magazines, and to allow courts to temporarily take guns away from individuals deemed to pose a significant danger to themselves or others. These have been proposed before, and given new impetus since the shooting in October.
Then I learned that the shooter, Robert Bowers, had been treated at Allegheny General Hospital. Allegheny General was the place designated to treat the shooters’ multiple gunshot wounds, inflicted by the police who arrived on the scene to stop the killing.
Early news reports said this was a hate crime, given Mr. Bowers’ social media statements which were anti-Semitic. While in custody and receiving medical treatment, according to reports by CNN, Mr. Bowers “told a SWAT officer he wanted all Jews to die and also that ‘they (Jews) were committing genocide to his people’….”
Yet, when the wounded Mr. Bowers arrived at Allegheny General Hospital, a number of the nurses and doctors who tended to him were Jewish. One of the doctors, Jeff Cohen, was the President of the hospital and headed the medical team for Mr. Bowers. Dr. Cohen personally went to meet Mr. Bowers and the interview he gave to news media went viral on social media. Dr. Cohen said, “My job isn’t to judge him…my job is to care for him. Quite honestly, he’s just a guy…He’s some mother’s son. And how did he get from that to where he is today? That’s going to be a large debate that we have to wrestle with as a society.”
Nurse Ari Mahler worked in the Emergency Room. A week after the shooting, he wrote a Facebook post about his experience.
He wrote:
“I am The Jewish Nurse.
Yes, that Jewish Nurse. The same one that people are talking about in the Pittsburgh shooting that left 11 dead. The trauma nurse in the ER that cared for Robert Bowers who yelled, "Death to all Jews," as he was wheeled into the hospital. The Jewish nurse who ran into a room to save his life.”
Nurse Mahler goes on to write about the bullying he experienced in his life as a result of being Jewish and having a father who is a Rabbi. Then he talks more about that day in October…
“The fact that I did my job, a job which requires compassion and empathy over everything, is newsworthy to people because I’m Jewish. Even more so because my dad’s a Rabbi.
To be honest, I didn't see evil when I looked into Robert Bower's eyes. I saw something else. I can’t go into details of our interactions because of HIPAA. I can tell you that as his nurse, or anyone's nurse, my care is given through kindness, my actions are measured with empathy, and regardless of the person you may be when you're not in my care, each breath you take is more beautiful than the last when you're lying on my stretcher. This was the same Robert Bowers that just committed mass homicide. The Robert Bowers who instilled panic in my heart worrying my parents were two of his 11 victims less than an hour before his arrival.
I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish. Why thank a Jewish nurse, when 15 minutes beforehand, you’d shoot me in the head with no remorse? I didn’t say a word to him about my religion. I chose not to say anything to him the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honor his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong. Besides, if he finds out I’m Jewish, does it really matter? The better question is, what does it mean to you?”
Our Gospel today is about the baptism of Jesus. When all of the people who had come to hear John preach that day were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. In this version of Luke, Jesus was praying “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
In our reading from Isaiah, we hear what I call God’s valentine to us. It is beautiful poetry about how precious…how beloved we are by God.
In a few minutes we will renew our baptismal vows. We will recommit to learning, teaching, praying, resisting evil, repenting, returning to God, proclaiming in words and actions the Good News of God in Christ; striving for justice and peace and respecting the dignity of every human being. We will also “seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s so hard to believe that Christ is in all persons, isn’t it? Christ is in Robert Bowers, we think! He seems like evil incarnate. Yet, I believe the doctors and nurses who cared for Robert Bowers, especially those like the people he murdered, were able to see that part of Mr. Bowers that is from God. It may not have been very evident on that day, yet they somehow believed it was there somewhere. They saw his God-created humanity.
We shake our heads in disbelief. This part of our baptismal vows can be especially difficult. I think Nurse Mahler said it best when he wrote:
“Love. That’s why I did it. Love as an action is more powerful than words, and love in the face of evil gives others hope. It demonstrates humanity. It reaffirms why we’re all here. The meaning of life is to give meaning to life, and love is the ultimate force that connects all living beings. I could care less what Robert Bowers thinks, but you, the person reading this, love is the only message I wish [to] instill in you. If my actions mean anything, love means everything.”
Amen
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/17/us/pittsburgh-assault-weapon-ban/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/27/us/synagogue-attack-suspect-robert-bowers-profile/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/ari.mahler/posts/10218102032530177
