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Sermon October 23, 2022
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
20th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, Track 2
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__October_23__2022
Video: https://youtu.be/Vl0IicJ7CQY
“I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
‘cause I get better lookin’ each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a heck of a man
Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble
But I’m doing the best that I can
When I read today’s Gospel, I was reminded of this song by Mac Davis. Seems like Jesus’ world was not all that different from our world. The self-righteous Pharisee was doing everything right according to the law…praying in the Temple, fasting twice a week, tithing his income. He was definitely closer to God than all of those other folk in the room, especially that tax collector.
Tax collectors were reviled in Jesus’ time, even moreso than today. You see, each tax collector had an amount they needed to collect to turn over to the Roman authorities who occupied their country. They could collect it any way they wanted. And of course they needed to collect a little extra for themselves. A tax collector was not someone you wanted to be in relationship with. And certainly, the tax collector was not following God’s laws.
Yet Jesus tells us the tax collector was more righteous than the Pharisee. How can that be? What is Jesus trying to tell us?
Jesus is teaching us that humility is necessary in our relationship with God. Notice, this is not humiliation, but humility.
One of the best discourses I know about obtaining humility is in the writings of Alcoholics Anonymous. From The 12 Steps & 12 Traditions the definition of humility is “a desire to seek and do God’s will.(pg 72)” Humility in action is a “clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be. (pg 58)”
The tax collector demonstrates humility. He knew he had done wrong. He was confessing his sins. Now we don’t know what happened next…whether he changed his practices at all. We only know he made a beginning by asking for God’s mercy.
On the other hand, the Pharisee took all of the right steps…lived by the law, and his motivations were clearly wrong. In essence, he was playing God, wasn’t he? He was being the judge, saying that his behavior made him not like the others in the room. How did he know what behaviors God would judge as worthy and righteous? That is for God to decide. In essence, the Pharisee was a control freak. He acted like he was in charge, not God. In the process, he acted as if he did not need God, because he was already perfect in every way.
It’s not the behaviors or actions that are problematic – the tithing, or fasting of the Pharisee – it’s the motivation and intentions that are problematic. The motivation to be better than… to judge others…to be in control… to not need God.
In the past month or so, I’ve been reading about and attending workshops and webinars on Christian Nationalism. This week, for instance, the church received a Pennsylvania Family Council Voter Guide and Survey. Sounds so nice, doesn’t it? Then you look at the questions that were asked of the candidates and what this nice-sounding and Christian group thinks are the “right” answers.
One was “Should the President nominate Supreme Court justices that adhere to the original meaning of the Constitution?” This one ALWAYS bothers me, because in the original Constitution those who were enslaved were considered 3/5 of a person and forget about women being able to vote.
A number of the questions also were discriminatory, in my understanding of our faith and following Jesus, of people who are transgender. And of course, there were questions about who should decide the curriculum in the schools.
The guide said we should copy it and distribute it freely.
A rally was held on Friday and Saturday at Spooky Nook Sports Complex, where our own Diocesan Convention was held last week. It’s part of rallies that have occurred over the past couple of years called Reawaken America. The rallies are part of the Christian Nationalist movement or the New Apostolic Reformation movement. Often Christianity is seen as the only religion and anyone who isn’t Christian or more correctly, Christian in the way defined by the movement, is an Atheist Globalist.
A Facebook post by Faithful America reported that “At the ReAwaken America tour stop in Pennsylvania today, Mike Flynn and Clay Clark claimed you're either a "Christian nationalist" or an "atheistic globalist." Christian nationalists shamefully twist the definition of "Christian" to try to seize power and capture the moral high ground for themselves and their extremist agenda -- when in reality, the majority of American Christians (including Faithful America's members) know better.”
A webinar I attended that was streamed from The Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary was a discussion of this issue with Dean Kelly Brown Douglas, an Episcopal Priest, and Katherine Stewart, the author of the book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Stewart is a journalist who has investigated and written about the issues regarding the separation of church and state. The main take away from the discussion was that Christian Nationalism is a leader-focused movement and while it says it is about following Jesus, its main goal is political power.
And candidates running in Pennsylvania in this election subscribe to the tenets of Christian Nationalism…that you’re either with them and their understanding of Christianity or you are against them.
There are movements and actions that are exposing and educating and responding to Christian Nationalism. In fact, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is participating in an event this Wednesday evening at Georgetown University titled “How White Christian Nationalism Threatens Our Democracy.”
Numbers of clergy in Pennsylvania are on a bus tour sponsored through P.O.W.E.R. Interfaith. It is the Freedom Bus Tour and concludes on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg on Friday, November 4. There will be activities from 10am until 2pm. A number of Episcopal clergy have been on the tour or at the various stops along the way.
Jesus warned us about becoming too haughty or certain that we and only we know the right ways to love God and love our neighbor. We need to be skeptical and really pay attention when people claim to have the one and only way. And we need to continue to be humble ourselves.
Amen
Reawaken America Rally: https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/covid-19-rigged-elections-and-a-prophecy-from-god-clay-clarks-reawaken-america-tour-comes/article_07937fc2-51ab-11ed-8c3b-dbdc793e4dea.html
Webinar with Katherine Stewart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1gDRnLNTMc t
Essay by Katherine Stewart: https://secularhumanism.org/2021/08/the-power-worshippers/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqc6aBhC4ARIsAN06NmMUSNJ8GVFKvFZC9E3-_tRg2xIU5ynxwxCNs0CaHjbzHF6GGUVIK7kaAmGZEALw_wcB
October 26 event at Georgetown University https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX9eN5CvVgcSwCgbDAic-6Q
POWER Interfaith https://powerinterfaith.org/
