Loading...
Sermon February 3, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral, Harrisburg, PA
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
http://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Epiphany/CEpi4_RCL.html
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. Jeremiah 1:9
Please be seated.
It is a vague childhood memory. I am not sure whether I can trust that it is true. I was 11 years old and sitting in our TV or family room in our home just outside of Mechanicsburg - Shepherdstown. My memory is that I was alone watching TV, but that just doesn’t seem right. Seems like my parents or my brothers would have been in the room with me. It was the after 8:00 in the evening on Thursday, April 4, 1968. The news broke in on whatever show I was watching to announce that The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated.
I cried and cried. I was angry. Somehow, even though my young age, I knew that Dr. King spoke truth. I knew he was doing important work for our country. I was scared, because there had been terrible riots during the summer of 1967, and I was afraid what would happen in response to Dr. King’s murder. I was angry…angry at all of the adults who had not kept Dr. King safe. I believed the adults all around me and in our country could have done something to stop this assassination.
As a result, over my lifetime, I have studied and gone on pilgrimages regarding the life of Dr. King. I have visited his birthplace and where he was buried. I have visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. I have visited the Civil Rights museum in Memphis, which is built behind the Lorraine Hotel with rooms, the balcony and parking lot preserved as it appeared on April 4.
I have read books about his life and work. I have gone through archives at The Washington National Cathedral related to his last Sunday sermon there and his relationship with the then Dean Francis Sayre. I have attended commemorations of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Day services wherever I have lived. I have watched movies and videos and TV shows about his life and his work.
I never tire of learning more or reading more about this man…a modern-day prophet, I would suggest. Someone whose mouth was touched by God and whose words came from the mouth of God.
In our reading from Jeremiah today, Jeremiah hears the Lord tell him that he has been consecrated and appointed to be a prophet. Jeremiah responds with incredulity, like so many in the Bible, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”
God calls and the first response often is, “I don’t know how to do that.” Jeremiah’s excuse is that he is only a boy. In Exodus, chapter 4, Moses argues with God, saying he cannot speak eloquently. He says there is no way he can confront Pharaoh. He pleads with God to find someone else. And God continues to choose Moses.
And if you have read about the life of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you know that he was reluctant to carry on the work that he felt called to do.
Sometimes we are called to speak the truth to power. God’s message and Jesus’ message and teachings, often confronted those in power. In our Gospel today, Jesus speaks some truth to the people in his home town of Nazareth. Jesus is in the Synagogue on the sabbath. He has just read some of the vision of a wonderful community contained in Isaiah, chapter 61…some of you heard this last week:
‘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.’ Luke 4:18-19
Jesus says this scripture has been fulfilled that very day they are hearing it. At first the people are amazed. Yet when Jesus challenges them some more, insinuating there is something awry in their community so they will not receive or experience some of the benefits Jesus has performed elsewhere, the people turn on him. In fact, they want to throw him over a cliff. They want to kill him.
And we all know that Jesus’ agitation of and demand for change in the Israelite community, as well as, in the governance of the people through Rome, got him killed in a most horrible way through crucifixion.
Speaking up and calling people and systems that are powerful into account is dangerous. You may be killed.
And then there’s the danger of discerning exactly what God is calling us to speak up about. I think being part of a community helps. We can share what is happening with us and gain new insights or clarification. We can find support. Sometimes there is something that just keeps coming up again and again urging us to speak out. There is the help of ongoing, nearly constant prayer…becoming quiet and still to hear God’s voice. There is Bible study and immersion in scripture.
Today, Paul also reminds us that speaking up and out needs to be done in love. I’ve heard people say that honesty without love is brutality. In our baptismal covenant, we are called to respect the dignity and worth of every single person. We are called to see every person as created by God and beloved of God, even though in the moment that person’s behavior and actions may not be of God.
We are called to speak in love and that includes saying words that may be hard for people to hear…words that may be hard for a community to hear. I think it certainly is a challenge to speak the truth in love. Our anger or disgust get the best of us. Our sense of superiority gets the best of us and we lash out rather than coming from a place of love.
While speaking up and bringing God’s word and justice to fruition is challenging, ultimately, we can trust in God’s words to Jeremiah:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Do not say, 'I am only a boy';
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you,
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
We can trust that God will put God’s words in our mouths.
Amen
