blog

Against Whom?

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Creator and Created

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Appealing to God's Better Nature

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0600

Repeat Offenders

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:00:00 -0600

Honorable Observance

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:00:00 -0500

I probably don’t have to remind you that this is September 11th. Similarly, I probably don’t have to call to mind particular images from that day, 10 years ago, when, for many of us, time stood still for a while. We held our loved ones closer. We paid less attention to the little things in life. We watched the news like we were addicted to some kind of drug. We kept asking questions like, “why?”, “how?”, and perhaps most importantly, “what’s next?”

In the days and weeks afterwards, we worried about that last question. We worried about it a lot. We worried about our water supply, our mail, our power grid, our public transportation system, our buildings, our airports, our cities. The worry only got worse as time went on, and it all was ignited by the events of this day, exactly 10 years ago. And since that time, the worry has divided us as I never would have expected.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11/01, I was touched by the unity we all had for each other, especially the support we got from around the world. It was as if, and don’t take this the wrong way, it was as if everyone became an American on 9/11. It was as if all of the hate and intolerance and fear in the world were crystalized in those four airplane crashes, and those horrible acts were perpetrated not just on the United States, but on the whole of human kind. And the whole of human kind understood that. They showed solidarity with us like never before. Even a French newspaper declared, “Nous sommes tous Américains”, We are all Americans. But that moment didn’t last.

Since that time, our national worry about security has snowballed into suspicion of anyone, anything, any nation, or any religion who might wish us ill, no matter how tenuous that connection. The worry has affected our relationships with the rest of the world, has prevented progress in the areas of racial diversity, religious diversity and diversity of national origin within the United States of America.

Our national worry took a human tragedy, an attack against civilization and basic human decency itself, and wrapped it in our national identity. More than that, to an extent, the tragedy of 9/11 has been wrapped in the Christian religion as well, so that American and Christian, for some, became identities that are akin to the unquestionable, unimpeachable ‘victim’, so that any wrong we may have done before or after that event became unimportant at best, or justified at worst, by our victimhood.

Anyone remember eating Freedom Toast or Freedom Fries?

I heard Tony Robinson say in a sermon once, “the quickest route to the moral high ground is to claim the status of ‘victim’.” And while we were most certainly victims on 9/11, this does not take away our capacity to make mistakes, and it does not make us a super-nation of perfection. This national response to the traumatic events of 9/11 has paralyzed our country.

I actually see a connection between the interpretations of this traumatic event, and the current climate of public debate in our country. I see a connection between the absolutist, black and white, ‘with us or against us’ kind of thinking, which took root among many of our fellow Americans in the wake of that day, and the severe distrust of any difference of political opinion or political criticism.

And we in this church can identify with this on a few different levels. Some of us can locate ourselves in this tension politically, others religiously.

On the religious side of things, it often feels like our church is a bit different from other Christian communities. In my conversations with many of you, we have talked about the struggles many of us have with the identify of ‘Christian’, in a world that tends to identify Christianity in a way we may not recognize. Many of us in the United Church of Christ are passionately committed to social justice, to Jesus’s vision of love, inclusion, radical hospitality; where the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for; believing that Christian faith is not just about faith in Christ, and loving God, but also about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. We tend to be less concerned with agreeing with one another in our belief, and more concerned about what our faith calls us to do - to make the world a better place for the least of those among us.

This puts us in some contrast with many Christians who have very clear and very exclusive viewpoints about the right way to believe, the right way to live, the right way to be a Christian. I don’t have to tell you, that many of our sisters and brothers in our faith (and for some of you, it may be your biological sisters and brothers), but many of our fellow Christians are far more motivated toward faith by what might happen after death, than what happens in the world in which God has given us to live.

Many of our fellow Christians want to know simply one thing: “Are you saved?” (And by this they mean, have you been saved from hell.) This attitude toward faith, shared by many Christians, is understandable when put in the context of a fear-based mentality. When one begins in a place of fear, one’s first reaction is to find the place of safety. So when you start with the assumption that we’re all sinners deserving of eternal punishment, your first reaction is going to be, how can I save myself from this terrible fate? And the answer, according to a very surface level, cursory reading of some parts of Paul’s letters, is that you have to have faith in Jesus Christ.

That’s it.

Problem solved.

Similarly, if one feels our nation is under attack, and people out there hate us and want us dead, the first reaction is going to be - to find the way to be safe. So, in the pursuit of safety, we get more and more secure. We have hours-long lines at airports. We have quart-sized ziploc bags for our travel-sized liquids. We have messages on the Metra that remind us “if you see something, say something.” And because it was “Muslims [who] attacked us on 9/11”, according to Bill O’Reilly, we must be suspicious of Islam. So we burn Qur’ans. We protest the building of mosques. The idea that the President might be a Muslim is described as an “accusation”. We have racial profiling of Muslims, including national news commentators, an African American even, admitting he gets nervous if he sees a Muslim-looking person on an airplane. So the answer, according to a very surface level, cursory examination of some aspects of the 9/11 attacks, is you build a fortress of security, both physical and spiritual.

That’s it.

Problem solved.

When afraid - find the safety.

Fairly simple.

But what if fear isn’t actually the place to start? What if the baseline of human life, of religion, was not fear at all, but love?

Anyone who takes my Confirmation class will tell you that I blame a lot of Christianity’s issues on the Roman Emperor Constantine. It was Constantine who took what was a diverse, ramshackle peasant movement, and turned it into a state religion. Constantine moved all the emphasis in our faith from what a Christian needed to do, and placed it on what a Christian needed to believe. Since his goal was not the Kingdom of God, but the Empire of Caesar, he lessened the emphasis on relationships and justice, and raised the emphasis on correctness of belief. So we have Constantine to thank for the traditional Christian emphasis on agreement and unity, over diversity and justice. Before that time however, there was quite a lot of theological diversity within Christianity. And we can see evidence of this throughout much of the New Testament, and certainly in other contemporary texts from that time.

In the text we heard this morning, from Romans 14, Paul is very clearly welcoming all people into the community of Christ. He says, “Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.” Or put in modern terms, “Welcome people who have no faith history, but not so you can tell them where they’ve gone wrong.” He talks later about other things - saying some people celebrate special days, and others don’t. Some people eat certain foods, others don’t. Whatever you do, says Paul, do it in honor of God. One translation reads, “What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli.”

Differences may sound obvious with this modern translation, but in the original context, Paul is talking directly about specific faith practices that some early Christians did, and others did not. Paul is describing a diversity of belief, and unequivocally saying that so long as God is the center of your practice, the way in which you practice is essentially irrelevant. In our context, it would be similar to saying, ‘whether you celebrate communion once a month, or every Sunday, whether you use leavened or unleavened bread, grape juice or wine, so long as the focus of communion is God’s love and grace, the means and methods are less significant.

Paul is affirming and uplifting a diversity of faithful, Christian expression, and saying that in the end, we all stand equal before God. Paul encouraged the beginning of a diverse religious tradition, open to old timers and newcomers, open to people of diverse theological expression and different ritual practices, a tradition based solely in the love of God as expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

While modern Christians may try to unite in our fear of damnation at the end of existence, and thus assume that we all must agree on every bit of doctrine in the spirit of emperor Constantine, Paul describes a church that is not united in belief or religious dogma, but a church united in mutual respect and regard for each other, a church united in love, not fear or judgment or division or exclusivity; a church open to all, regardless of who we are, or where we are on life’s journey. It would not be too far of a stretch to say that the current plurality of belief among Christians is certainly affirmed by Paul’s words in this letter. It would also not be too far of a stretch to find hope in this text - that whether we agree on the details of our faith, we can affirm the oneness of God, and that if we are to be accountable for our faith practices, it is not to each other, but to a God that is big enough to love all of us and incorporate the whole diversity of belief in the human family.

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?,” writes Paul, “Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

It seems that both within our faith, and our country, there is far too much passing judgment on our brothers and sisters. Far too much despising of our brothers and sisters.

I want to return to a more specific question in the text, that which relates to proper observance of holy days.

Paul writes,

“Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord.”

Let all be convinced in their own minds - let each of us come to understanding and acceptance in our own minds - this is not a coercive, dogmatic, my-way-or-the-highway kind of theology being described here.

As we as a country discern how to deal with this anniversary, however, I find this passage about holidays to be intriguing. It seems to me that a lot of us aren’t really sure what the appropriate response is - what would be an appropriate way to honor this day as we move forward? I’m happy to see that many of us seem to still recognize the need to keep the integrity of the anniversary, marking it with programs of remembrance, solemnity, honoring the dead, honoring first responders who became the most visible symbol of that day. I would hate to see a national holiday on 9/11, complete with department store sales, as seems to have happened with many other holidays.

Here in Naperville, there are two public ceremonies I’m aware of - one at the Shanower memorial, where our own Ron Keller will be leading the Community Band as the City officially recognizes the events of 9/11. The other ceremony will be a commemoration of the events of this day ten years ago, but it’s also a recognition of the pain and hatred from whence this day had its genesis. It’s a recognition that it was hatred and intolerance that caused the violence and pain of ten years ago, and in order to prevent it happening again, we must build relationships and understanding among diverse traditions and faiths.

Paul recognized that the same day may have different meanings for different people. Some may think today should be a religious holiday, others a federal holiday with time off from work or school. Some may see parades of remembrance, others may see interfaith dialogue and experiences of diversity as more appropriate commemorations of the 9/11 anniversary. The point is, all are valid if done in honor of the events and in sincerity of heart.

Coming back to my comparison between fear and love, and Paul’s description of the beginning of Christian faith in love and acceptance of diversity, what if our reaction to the events of 9/11 were not fear for our own security, but love for each other and our fellow human beings? What if we reacted to the hate, intolerance and anger that caused those tragic events not with more hate, intolerance and anger, but with love? What if we reached out to those who were different from us with compassion and a desire to understand, rather than assuming they wish us harm, and closing ranks on ourselves?

My hope would be that we, as Christians, can, like Paul, affirm the beauty and diversity of faithful expression - that we can affirm the diversity of political expression, and realize that whatever our practices may be, whatever confessions of faith or expressions of patriotism we may have, the reality of the divine, and all that the Almighty God encompasses is sufficient to embrace us all - believer or not, American or not, Christian or Muslim, Democrat or Republican, no matter what race or gender or sexuality defines our identity - and, paraphrasing Paul, all will be upheld - for the Lord is able to make us stand.

Then, however we mark this anniversary, however we understand or worship the Divine, or whatever ways we express our theology or our opinions about public policy - we will be truly participating in honorable observance of this day; observance worthy of a God who is big enough to embrace us all, this day, and every day.

Amen.

Proof of Grace

Sun, 01 May 2011 09:30:00 -0500

Tough Love

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 09:30:00 -0600

Realizing God

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:30:00 -0600

Reformation Sunday

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 09:30:00 -0500

Happy Reformation Sunday!

Mixed Messages

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:30:00 -0500

Several days ago, popular novelist, Anne Rice wrote a message for her fans on Facebook. "Today I quit being a Christian,” she wrote. "I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity...For 10 years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.... In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

I learned from an NPR interview with her, that Ms. Rice grew up Catholic, then became atheist at one point and left the church, only to have what she describes as a conversion experience 10 years ago, which brought her back to the Roman Catholic faith. Now, it seems, in her leaving the Church, she says she still believes in God, and claims that there is a difference between being converted to faith, and being converted to membership in Organized Religion.

[‘Organized religion’ is one of my favorite oxymorons. No one who has ever really been a part of a religious community should accuse us of being organized.]

Several of us in our United Church of Christ denomination responded rather quickly to Ms. Rice - wanting her to know that there is actually a church in which she might feel theologically at home. Indeed, the Christianity she describes - as being anti-gay, anti-birth control, anti-Democrat and anti-science - is hardly an accurate picture of the wide breadth of the Christian Faith. She may be describing the current views of some of our more conservative brothers and sisters. But does Rome speak for the entirety of Christianity?

If someone were to ask me to define Christianity, of course I’d be ready with a quick, “it depends on which Christian you’re talking to!” But if they wanted my opinion, I would define Christianity as a religion centered around the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the one through whom I understand who God is and how God works in the world. In addition, being Christian means participating in the life of a church - a family of believers and seekers, who occasionally disagree with one another, but who are nevertheless committed to each other and to all of God’s people. It is the duty, I would claim, of all Christians to resist hatred of all forms - be it sexism, racism or heterosexism--because that’s what Jesus did.

Now, based on Ms. Rice’s statements, and based on your own experiences probably, many of you may rightly conclude that I might not be defining Christianity in a way that all Christians would recognize, let alone support. If I may be so bold, I would hazard a guess that Ms. Rice might find my definition of Christianity to be at least slightly less offensive than her operating definition. But clearly, the fact that she has her definition means that there are some mixed messages out there about who we are and what we believe.

When multiple voices, on opposite ends of the spectrum, both claim the authority to define Christianity, who gets a claim on ‘the Truth’?

And this of course isn’t limited to religion!

Anyone who watches Fox News and then switches over to MSNBC is getting very mixed messages about our country and the direction in which we’re headed. One sees armageddon, the other sees utopia; and of course, during the last administration, those respective roles were reversed.

What are we to do with these mixed messages?

In the Luke passage we just heard, Jesus begins by talking about how God takes care of us, and we shouldn’t worry so much. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Creator’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” How lovely, this image, how soothing and comforting - it is God’s pleasure to give to us the gifts of God’s realm, and we can just let go of our worry and our questions and rest calmly in the love of a gracious and generous God.

So here I am, with my aloha shirt and flip-flops - I’ve got my sun block in one hand, and a nice drink with one of those little umbrellas in it in the other hand - and I’m just getting ready to sit back on a comfy chair under the shady palm tree of God’s grace; And Luke’s Jesus turns on his heals and says,

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit...Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes!”

Holy smokes! I think I just got flipped out of my chair!

Does this not seem like a mixed message to you?

Relax - don’t worry - God loves you and will take care of you - but get ready because you never know what’s coming!!

‘Christianity has failed - it is exclusive and self-serving.’

‘Christianity is the embodiment of hope - a religion of love and justice for all people.’

Mixed messages.

‘Deficits don’t matter, except when you want tax cuts for your major contributors.’

‘We’re going to drain the swamp of Washington corruption - but only those areas where our people aren’t going to suffer the consequences.’

Mixed messages.

‘Relax! God loves you and has sufficient grace to sustain you through any trial.’

‘You’d better get your house in order, because Jesus is coming unexpectedly - like a thief in the night.’

Mixed messages.

So what is a person to do?

How are we supposed to know which way to turn - who’s in charge here? Where does the buck stop?

A couple of weeks ago, I preached about prayer as a way of discerning God’s will. I think that prayer in these moments, when we’re getting conflicting messages about what Christianity is, or about resting in God’s grace vs. getting ready for Jesus’s return - I think prayer can be a source of comfort in times of confusion.

When I’m in these spots, I often feel better, just saying out loud, “God - I’m getting mixed messages here, and I’m not sure what to do. If you could help me out, I’d really appreciate it!” (Prayer doesn’t always need to be formal.)

Asking God for help is a way of acknowledging our own limitations, of humbly approaching the Divine and opening not just our ears, but our psyche as well, to be more aware of the messages around us--even if they’re mixed.

Many Christians find the Bible to be an effective guidebook in sorting out the mixed messages - but as we’ve already heard, the Bible is hardly absent of mixed messages. Indeed - the thing is full of contradictions and ironies, of complex theologies and even some rather disturbing images of God. To claim that the Bible speaks in a unified voice, that it is unanimous and clear at all times about all things, simply reveals the fact that one has not actually read much of the Bible.

In Psalm 33, which we heard this morning, the Psalmist says to us,

“a king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength...Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear God, on those who hope in God’s steadfast love; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”

Reading this literally for a moment, we can understand liking the idea of a strong army. In our country, our strong military is a source of great national pride for many of us. Our elected representatives laud our large and capable military, love surrounding themselves with soldiers, celebrate their successes over seas, and often brag about us being the last ‘superpower’ in the world.

But we have other kinds of warriors too.

We love our sports in this country. We send warriors out to do battle on football fields and basket ball courts. We put warriors in cars and on boats and on bikes and on skis - and send them hurtling around at phenomenal speed, always trying to go faster, higher and further.

We love strong warriors in the army, in sports and even in business. Even in spite of our economic collapse, there are still a large number of folks who think the free market is the only thing that can restore our economic well-being. And who does better in that system than a large army and strong warriors?

Ours is a culture that claims to value competition, but even moreso, we value certainty. We value making lots of preparations - perhaps because it’s easier to heed Jesus’s warning about being prepared, than Jesus’s assurance that all will be well.

The Yankees are a hugely successful baseball franchise, based on winning at any cost.

Our military wants to think of itself as undefeatable.

We are home to the largest, wealthiest corporations in the history of the planet.

We celebrate strength and large numbers. We celebrate military and economic success - we are that King with the large army. We love a warrior with great strength.

But, “A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.”

Those who think they have it all figured out, and don’t want to acknowledge that the messages are mixed; those who have all the resources and those who have all the talent and good looks are not saved by those resources or good looks. At the end of the day, winning on the battle field, football field or Marshal Fields is not what God is looking for. [I know, it’s Macy’s now. The poetry was too good to pass up.]

The psalmist says, “Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear God, on those who hope in God’s steadfast love.” The eye of the Lord, or, God’s attention, is on those who are humble toward the divine - those who acknowledge they don’t totally understand the divine. Fear comes from a lack of understanding--an acknowledgement, if you will, of mixed messages! So maybe those mixed messages, rather than something to worry about, are actually what leads us to a closer relationship with God.

I was critical, a moment ago, about how mixed and confusing the biblical messages can be. I have to admit, that I actually love the Bible. I love it because it’s as messed up as we are. I love it because it does give us mixed messages, and doesn’t do our faith for us - it invites us into prayer and discernment. It invites us into relationship with each other and with the text; because without that relationship, the words on the page are meaningless! Without us opening the Bible and reading the stories, wrestling with the images, and discussing it with each other - without us praying to God and saying, “what the heck are you talking about?” - then faith is meaningless.

Faith isn’t about certainty.

Faith isn’t about amassing large armies and strengthening yourself for battle.

Faith is a willingness to open oneself up to other thoughts and ideas - a willingness to open yourself up to the movement of the Holy Spirit in prayer and in relationship with others.

I think there’s hope in that. I think there’s hope in the fact that God knows we’re getting mixed messages. God doesn’t expect us to have everything figured out, and is actually more interested in us when we acknowledge that we haven’t figured it all out - we might even fear some of those mixed messages and our hope is that God will love us anyway.

So even if others define Christianity in a way we don’t recognize, and even if we get mixed messages about Jesus himself - it’s okay. We have each other, we have prayer, and we have God.

I have faith that all will indeed be well.

Amen

Stuff Will Go Here.

All Or Some

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 09:30:00 -0500

Rev. Mark Winters

20 June 2010

First Congregational UCC Naperville

Luke 8:26-39, Galatians 3:23-29

“All or Some?”

“All of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

That’s a big statement. And not an easy one.

Perhaps the biggest word there is one of the smallest - ‘all’. ‘All’ of you are one in Christ Jesus. Not ‘some of you’, not ‘these special people who I like’, ‘all’ of you are one in Christ.

I was a big fan of the recently concluded television series, “Lost”. “Lost” is a bizarre story, about survivors of a plane crash who are stranded on an island in the Pacific Ocean. They get lost not only geographically, but also in time, and I occasionally got lost myself in the convoluted plot twists. The crash survivors, were made up of young and old, men and women, black, white, Asian; they had a doctor, a rock star, someone in a wheelchair and numerous additional characters. It was easy to identify oneself in at least one of the characters, and to locate oneself among this diverse cast.

After some time being stranded on this mysterious island, the survivors of the plane crash discovered that they were not alone. There was in fact another group of humans living on the island, a group who became known simply as, ‘The Others’. ‘The Others’ were every bit as mysterious as the island itself. They appeared most of the time to be threatening to the crash survivors, but other times, they provided help. Even up until the very end of the story, it was not clear if their leader was a trustworthy character. By calling this second group of island inhabitants, ‘The Others’, the writers kept them at an emotional distance from viewers - constantly reminding us that these folks were not the protagonists; not the ones we should be identifying with.

‘Others’ are inherently different--not the same, as ‘us’--simply by virtue of the fact that they are ‘other’.

I wonder what is behind this apparently innate sense of tribalism among human beings - this need to create some kind of structure in which one group is ‘in’, and groups that are different are ‘out’. It creates an automatic hierarchy, where the in group is defined as normal, and the out group is somehow less than normal. The ‘in’ group quickly becomes that which dominates the ‘out’ group.

We all do it - just ask any Chicago baseball fan!

While sports fans keep it entertaining for the most part, this process of ‘otherization’ can actually be quite dangerous. Noted scholar, Edward Said described the notion of “Orientalism”, as a process of otherizing people and cultures--of making the Other some kind of exotic creature to be studied and cataloged, as if these groups of people were some sort of scientific curiosity, rather than human beings with history, culture and traditions fully equal to any in Europe. Those cultures of Europe were arrogantly defined as ‘civilized’ (i.e. ‘normal’), whereas the Orientals were in need of European influence and approval before they could be legitimized as their own unique culture.

Otherizing people is a dangerous path to go down, and has frequently excused terrible human behavior, including slavery and the holocaust. In spite of its danger, it is, I’m afraid, all too common. Whether by race, gender, sexuality, religion or ethnicity, it has historically been dangerous to be in a category ‘other’ than that which is dominant.

I’m pleased to see that in our American military, we seem to be approaching the end of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, an example of treating gay and lesbian members of the military as second class, ‘other’, citizens. I’m proud that many political and military leaders have shown tremendous courage in the move to end the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and I pray for the day its repeal is made law, so that all of our servicewomen and men can uphold the ideals of integrity and honesty with regard to their sexuality as well--and they no longer have to be seen as the Other.

In spite of this apparent success in the military, we have a long way to go for our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers to have their full humanity recognized. There are significant social and legal rights that married heterosexual couples enjoy for example, to which gays and lesbians do not have access. Married heterosexual couples have lower tax rates, have their inheritance rights protected and enjoy parental prerogatives that homosexual couples do not.

I realize you and I may have differing views on the issue of marriage equality, but the fact remains that denying legal recognition to all families as families, maintains the definition of our homosexual sisters and brothers as ‘the Other’, and does not allow the full expression of their humanity. Moreover, so long as their basic human rights are put up for a majority vote, their status as ‘Other’ will continually be used as a tool for oppression.

We have a serious and divisive immigration debate going on in our country. I have no doubt that within this room, we have strongly divergent opinions on this topic. In my reading about this extraordinarily complex legal, economic and political issue, I have been compelled by the arguments that the only way to practically fix the immigration issue in our country is to look at it through the lens not of security, but of human rights.

Security is by nature adversarial. It tends to oversimplify things, and on top of that, tends to be quite expensive. Security sees immigrants as ‘others’ who need to be controlled. This is most obvious in the dehumanizing terminology, ‘illegal alien’. When we look at the human issues however, and see the inequality, the family relationships, the poverty, the desperation--we can no longer use otherizing terms like ‘illegal alien’, but begin to see them as brothers and sisters in the common struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And it is at this point, that we can have a productive conversation about how to solve this problem, ensuring basic human rights to all of God’s children, regardless of the geography of their birth.

“Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.” (Luke 8:35-37)

Those who had seen this man, this ‘other’, this crazy, possessed man, this man who could not be considered fully human--those who had seen the man possessed by a legion of demons, and who now was healed; who now, was human--they were seized with great fear.

Why do you think the people were so afraid? Shouldn’t they celebrate this man’s good fortune? Shouldn’t they celebrate his returning to full mental and spiritual health?

The truth is I don’t know exactly why they were afraid. Perhaps they were concerned that he might try to get married and damage the sacred institution of marriage. Perhaps they were worried he might now take a job away from a hard working, sane Gerasene; or worse, that Jesus would stick them with the bill for the man’s miracle healing!

What I do know, is that seeing the full humanity of ‘the other’ can be risky. It can be difficult, and it can be costly. But at least in the way I understand the meaning of my faith in Christ, I don’t have much of a choice.

“There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

The Apostle Paul wrote these words in his letter to the Galatians, because in this early church, they were having a difficult time deciding who was in, and who was out. Who should be considered ‘one of us’, and who was ‘the other’. There were many Jews who thought that in order to follow Christ, one must follow Jewish law, Torah. Paul spent a great deal of his ministry trying to convince his fellow Jews that the very existence of Jesus the Christ meant that something fundamentally new had happened. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus meant that the axis of reality was changed, and that old ways of thinking did not have to hold sway in this new reality. It was faith in God through Jesus Christ that was a new covenant, a new relationship between God and humanity. This Jewish Messiah named Jesus had come to tell the whole world that God was not just for the Jews, but also Greeks, and everyone else for that matter.

Therefore, through faith in Christ, there is no longer Jew nor Greek, no longer slave nor free, male or female. Paul chose these identities specifically because each of them represented a power structure - a structure of domination that had been fundamentally changed through faith in Christ. He chose ethnic, social and gender relationships to signify that Jew no longer has dominance over gentile, slave is no longer subservient to free, and male is no longer dominant over female. In Christ, human difference becomes a cause for celebration, and ceases to be an excuse for domination.

I want to stress here that this oneness does not diminish our individual identities. Often, in discussions of diversity, there is a desire to wash away those characteristics that make us unique from each other. We hear statements like “aren’t we really all the same?” or we might think it’s a good thing to be “color blind” when it comes to race. The reality is that color is a part of who we are. Race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality--all of these things make up who we are as individual human beings and are not something to be ashamed of. Nor are they something that makes any one of us either better than, or subservient to, someone who is different from us. Difference makes us neither superior, nor inferior, to another.

Paul spent a good deal of his ministry bringing Gentiles into the church as Gentiles. If the Gentile identity was to be left at the church door, then all of Paul’s work to welcome Gentiles into the church would have been a waste of his time. Paul intentionally wanted a church in which all people, not just some, but all people--Jews, Greeks, men, women, old, young, long-time members and newcomers--all people--could be in the one family of faith in Jesus Christ.

Scholar and preacher Brad Braxton notes that this declaration in Galatians, liberates “believers not from the tyranny of difference, but from the tyranny of sameness.” Braxton goes on to note that our “faithful relationship with Christ is meant to ensure that we relate to each other, in the midst of our many differences, with mutuality and equality.”

Any musician knows that harmony is only achieved when multiple voices maintain their unique identity, but cooperate together to produce harmonious music.

Finally, I want to note that Paul was someone who hoped for a pending return of Jesus Christ, at some point during his lifetime. Paul hoped that Christ would return someday and bring with him a revolution of epic proportions. But this ‘someday’ was to happen some time in the future. In this particular passage, however, this Oneness in Christ, is not something that will happen someday in the future. Paul writes in the present tense. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female--for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Now! Today!

Brothers and sisters - this is the good news Paul has for us: through our faith in Christ, there is today no longer gay or straight; there is no longer CEO and warehouse worker; there is no longer old timer or newcomer; there is no longer citizen and immigrant; saint or sinner; there are no longer divisions of domination and exclusion, separations that keep some people ‘in’ and other people ‘out’--for all of us are one in Christ Jesus!

Amen.

“All of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

That’s a big statement. And not an easy one.

‘Others’ are inherently different--not the same, as ‘us’--simply by virtue of the fact that they are ‘other’.

We all do it - just ask any Chicago baseball fan!

Why do you think the people were so afraid? Shouldn’t they celebrate this man’s good fortune? Shouldn’t they celebrate his returning to full mental and spiritual health?

“There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Any musician knows that harmony is only achieved when multiple voices maintain their unique identity, but cooperate together to produce harmonious music.

Amen.