Sermon 14 - Bugging God and the Powers-that-Be

Dear friends:

Today we gather as a people awaiting the coming of our God, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that our Savior Jesus Christ is the embodiment of love – and not just some vague principle, but rather of sacrifice. We give our lives to Jesus, because in him we discover what love should look like in this world of pain and suffering. If you haven't discovered yet, you'll note that theologically, the way I choose to speak about God is rarely reflective of current trends in the church around language and propriety – the way I speak about God is often directly related to suffering people – I tend to often emphasize the God who comes into the world to save the wicked and to bring renewal to the children of God who are caught in the eye of the storm. You may notice that I often refer to the violent torture and 6-hour-long crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Today, as we hear the Scripture and watch today's sermon, preached by Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns, you may understand why I emphasize the violent nature of God's death – for if God did not suffer, then God has nothing to say to suffering people. If Jesus Christ was not lynched, and hung on a tree, then Jesus Christ has nothing to say to all of those Negroes who were hung on trees as White folks held barbecues around their dead bodies. If you take away all of the bloodiness of the cross and deodorize the Gospel so that it is comfortable for your White, middle class sensibilities, then you have already declared a Gospel that is unable to extend into a multicultural context. Colored people, women, First Nations folk, gay brothers, lesbian sisters, and transgendered sisters and brothers have all suffered in the same, violent way that Jesus Christ did – you take away the blood of the cross, then you take away the God who knows their experience, because this God suffered the same way they have. The central theological question we are always wrestling with as the church – all of the people and creatures and objects (animate and inanimate) that Jesus Christ has called to follow him – is this one:

How is my soul made right with God?

Or worded a different way:

How can I live harmoniously with God and with my neighbor?

Because, as I've mentioned before, the archaic word atonement literally means harmony or reconciliation – bringing back together a people who have been torn apart relationally.

Let us, together, here the proclamation of a 1^st-century physician. Our reading today comes from Luke 18:1-8. I invite our reader to come forward at this time. Please stand for the reading of the Gospel.

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

May God add a blessing to the reading, hearing, and understanding of the Word. Amen!

Today, I don't have much to say, except to show you a video that puts forward an important message related to our Gospel. Let's watch:

We Watch ~ “Joel Burns Tells Gay Teens “It Gets Better”

Dear friends:

I want you to know today, that we are a community of faith whose flourishing is grounded in the violent and unjust torture, suffering, and execution of God – the God who took on human weakness.

Though you might say that our video this morning is “just an American problem” we have seen a handful of teen suicides in Canada as well. If you have some time this week, please go over to youtube.com and type in the words “it gets better” and see the moving stories and reflections about gay teens who have committed suicide because of bullying, and some of the inspiring proclamations created for those who are in the midst of the storm. The video speaks loudly, because we know that bullying has often been used by the strong against those who are gay and lesbian, but also against those who are perceived to be gay and lesbian. We also know that kids are bullied for other reasons as well. If you are different, in any way, it is probable that you will be bullied – if you're the Black person in a white community; if you have a cleft palate, people will make fun of you; if you have any form of disability – learning or physical – you will become the butt of really bad and hurtful jokes.

We used to say, even when I was growing up, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” We know right now that that cliché is a DAMNED lie!!! We know that name-calling literally kills our young people. We, as the church, are called by God to evangelize the world and to edify the church, which means that we are to, as evangelists, “become bearers of Good News in a troubled world” and as ones called to edify the church, “to build up our fellow disciples” regardless of any social demographic that we may or may not agree or disagree with. It is not our job to condone or condemn sisters and brothers, it is our job to equip them to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I served in youth ministry in London, Ontario my young people, at one youth group, were overcome with grief over the suicide of a boy in the area who had committed suicide because he was perceived as being gay. I want to share some of his story.

“I had to cut my son down from the tree” said John Melo, father of 15-year-old Joshua Melo, who died by suicide after being relentlessly bullied because some students thought the he was gay. “I told the kids at the funeral that if you don't get together and confront the bullies, it will be your parents cutting you down. You guys have to stick together, stand up to the bullies, take away their power and they will back down. If you guys don't do it, the system won't.”

He had to cut his son down from a tree. A cold, hard, and lifeless body. The body of the one he loved.

The meaning of our parable today, folks, is that as the church, we are commanded to keep bugging God and the powers-that-be in our world for justice. To keep earnestly praying for justice. For, as Martin Luther King Jr. said:

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Amen.