Genesis 1:26-31; Matthew 25:31-40
“Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in human history. A movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world–and a movement mandating people to live that love, and in so doing to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself.
“I’m talking about power. Real power. Power to change the world.”
Do those words sound familiar? They might, if you were one of the millions of people around the world who got up early or stayed up late to watch the royal wedding a few weeks ago. These words come from the sermon offered by the Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
It was a beautiful sermon about the power of love. It was an important moment, an opportunity for millions of people, many of whom have given up on the church or decided Jesus is irrelevant, to hear a clear articulation of the heart of our Christian faith.
This sermon was certainly the best publicized public expression of faith that Bishop Curry has made in recent weeks, but it is not the only one. On May 24th, just last Thursday, Bishop Curry joined more than 2000 people participating in a worship service at the National City Christian Church in Washington, DC, followed by a candlelight procession through the streets of our nation’s capital, culminating in a silent vigil outside the White House. It was not protest but witness–bearing witness to the power of love that Bishop Curry had proclaimed only a week before.
The vigil was initiated by the “Reclaiming Jesus” movement, which began at an Ash Wednesday retreat of a group of national Christian leaders, including Bishop Curry. At that retreat, the group prepared what they call “A Confession of Faith in a time of crisis.”The statement begins with these words:
“We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.”
Powerful words to begin a powerful statement. It’s not a perfect statement. I would have chosen to use different language to express the heart of our faith. And there are a few glaring omissions in its assessment of the problems we need to confront. Alas, they did not ask me to help write it. While I would have suggested a few changes if they had, I honor the statement as an inspiring witness that invites all of us to reflect more deeply. How, it asks, does our faith call us to live in this complicated time in this broken world?
The statement is addressed to the church, calling us to reclaim the central principles of our faith, challenging us to speak boldly when we see our faith being co-opted, watered-down or twisted. The statement is also addressed to our political leaders,wading boldly into that murky intersection of religion and politics. As it does so, it draws inspiration from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.”
That, for me, is both a helpful distinction and a tall order. In a nation founded on the separation of church and state, the church does not get to tell our government leaders what to do, nor to they get to tell the church what to do. Instead, the church is challenged to be a voice of conscience, calling our communities and our leaders back to our shared principles, back to our better selves.
The Reclaiming Jesus movement draws upon the ancient biblical tradition of prophecy. “What we believe,” the authors write, “leads us to what we must reject. Our ‘Yes’ is the foundation for our ‘No.’ What we confess as our faith leads to what we confront.”
The authors articulate six foundational principles of the Christian faith, which lead to six “therefore’s,”–rejections of things that they believe are corroding our national soul.
The first principle comes from today’s Hebrew Bible reading. “We believe each human being is made in God’s image and likeness. That image and likeness confers a divinely decreed dignity, worth, and God-given equality to all of us as children of the one God who is Creator of all things.” This affirmation leads to a rejection of the resurgence of racial bigotry in our nation and a call to dismantle the systems that keep racial injustice alive.
The second principle is closely related, drawing upon Paul’s letter to the Galatians to proclaim that we are one body, in which human divisions must be overcome. That principle leads them to proclaim: “Therefore, we reject misogyny, the mistreatment, violent abuse, sexual harassment, and assault of women that has been further revealed in our culture and politics, including our churches, and the oppression of any other child of God.”
The third principle is based on today’s gospel reading. “We believe how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself.” And so we must reject, they continue, language, practices and policies that debase or abandon the most vulnerable in our society. The statement specifically names immigrants and refugees and the need to address the growing inequality between the very rich and the very poor.
Number 4: We believe that truth is morally central to our personal and public lives.” “Therefore, they conclude, “we reject the practice and pattern of lying that is invading our political and civil life.”
Number 5: “We believe that Christ’s way of leadership is servanthood, not domination.” This belief leads to an affirmation of the checks and balances that are central to our democracy and a rejection of movement, here and around the world, toward more autocratic leadership.
The final principle draws from the last line of Matthew’s gospel, in which Jesus calls his followers to go out and make disciples of all nations. This passage serves as a reminder that we are part of an international community and called to love and serve all the world, and leads to a rejection of “xenophobic or ethnic nationalism that places one nation over others as a political goal.”
Wow. There is a lot to unpack in those six principles. I would add a seventh about the biblical call to be stewards of God’s creation, and I am disappointed that they did not confront the backlash against marriage equality and transgender rights.
For me, the most helpful part of this Reclaiming Jesus statement is the reminder that “Yes” and “No” are both essential parts of our faith. We must always start with the “yes” of our faith: the affirmation that God is love, and that all God’s people, and all God’s creation, are deserving of respect and dignity and compassion. When what we see around us and within us denies that Yes, we must say No: to speak the truth in love, to reject hatred and fear and greed whenever they seep into our world, our nation, our communities, and our lives.
The ancient biblical prophets–including Jesus–were not afraid to let Yes lead them to No, as they spoke out boldly against the things that were pulling their people away from God. Their “No,” as loud and harsh as it sometimes was, was never their final word. In the end, they came back to a new “yes”–to a reaffirmation of the power of God’s love, to the promise of a fresh start, to a challenge to reclaim a way of life that leads to wholeness.
The Reclaiming Jesus statement, similarly, comes back around to “yes,” in its calling for the church to move deeper into our faith: “The present crisis calls us to go deeper–deeper into our relationship with God; deeper into our relationships with each other, especially across racial, ethnic, and national lines; deeper into our relationships with the most vulnerable, who are at greatest risk.”
Even as we say No to the things that are tearing our nation apart, we are called to say Yes to the things that can heal us. We are called to say yes to spiritual practices that open us to the strength, compassion and courage God offers us. We are called to say yes to the radically transformative power of friendship: breaking the fast eating dates and samosas with a new friend at Tuesday’s interfaith iftar; hanging in through awkward attempts at conversation in Portuguese and Spanish and English over black beans and rice this afternoon; being quiet long enough to allow someone else to tell their story of pain and hope; risking sharing our own stories of awakening and healing. We are called to say yes to relationships that awaken us to the brokenness of our world, relationships that lead us to generosity and inspire us to work for justice. What is the Yes to which you are called?
Let us be bold to say Yes to the good news of our faith, that God’s love is powerful enough to transform our lives and our world. Let us dare to say No to all the forces, within and around us, that deny and distort that love. And let us be courageous enough to come back to Yes–Yes, we will open ourselves to the power of God’s love; Yes, we will allow that love to flow through us for the healing of our nation and our world. Amen.
Quotations come from: Wedding sermon preached by Bishop Michael Curry at the Royal Wedding, and Reclaimingjesus.org website.