Year A, Epiphany 2/M. L. King, Jan. 15, 2017, Grace TC
(Original M. L. King readings referenced) - The Reverend David Lillvis The world in which I grew up knew nothing of Cedar Point, Six Flags, or Sea World, not to mention computer games and streaming home video. Our entertainment options were not that varied, nor that high tech. But in Northwest Detroit, a small, local amusement park called Edgewater, was a popular destination for young people. Edgewater Park, which wasn’t located near any sizable body of water, drew large numbers of kids to its premises almost every day of the summer. It was there that I was exposed for the first time to a House of Mirrors. You paid a quarter or so to get into this building where you went upstairs and down, from room to room, all filled with the strangest mirrors you could imagine. Mirrors that made you look tall. Mirrors that made you look short. Mirrors that made your feet look bigger than your legs. Mirrors that made your face look like that of a pig or a person from outer space. As a twelve or thirteen year old I remember being struck by the all the different images that could be reflected back at me by the many different mirrors. My friends and I looked different indeed, depending on which mirror we happened to be staring into at a given point in time. Attempting to see God is not unlike looking into a mirror, sometimes even an amusement park mirror. We never see God clearly face to face. We can only see God reflected back to us in a variety of different ways. While there is often truth in these reflections of God, there is inevitably some distortion as well. But this is the best we’ve got. It’s the best we can do when we try, as human beings, to get a look at God. What are the “mirrors” we use in our attempts to see God? There is the mirror of scripture. There is the mirror of Church tradition. There is the mirror of prayer. There is also the mirror of the saints, in whose lives we may see God reflected in particularly powerful ways. Monday we remember one of those saints, one of those Christian people through whom God is reflected to us in an especially clear and compelling way. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born eighty-eight years ago on January 15th, in Atlanta, Georgia. The son and grandson of Baptist preachers, Dr. King became a preacher himself. In 1954 he accepted a call to become pastor of a Baptist congregation in Montgomery, Alabama. He’d not been there long when in December of 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus. Martin Luther King became the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, and as a result, gained national prominence. He became a well-known and articulate prophet who could rally his followers to the cause of racial justice. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which took the lead in organizing non-violent mass demonstrations against racism. Dr. King stood for the dignity and human rights of all persons, and on August 28, 1963, he electrified a crowd of nearly 250,000 with his "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King, and the campaigns he led, were in large measure responsible for the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1965, and 1968. Having made significant progress in the area of legal rights for all, he then turned his attention to the economic empowerment of the poor, and to opposition to the war in Vietnam. Dr. King preached his last Sunday sermon in an Episcopal church, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., on Passion Sunday, March 31, 1968. From Washington he went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of sanitation workers who were struggling for better wages. It was in Memphis that he was fatally wounded by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. The life I've just described was a life that reflected the life of God. Martin Luther King was a mirror in which we could, and still can, see God manifesting himself to the world. How do we know that he was such a mirror? We know because his life, in and through the events we have just recalled, showed forth the same passion for love and justice that is shown forth to us in scripture. Listen to a part of God's call to Moses in the Book of Exodus: Then the Lord said, ”I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed I know their sufferings and have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” In Exodus, God is revealed to be a liberator, acting through Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in a Promised Land. It is the God of liberation who once again revealed himself in and through the life and ministry of Martin Luther King. I don't believe it too much of an exaggeration to call Dr. King a twentieth century Moses, who led his people out of widespread institutionalized segregation and political disenfranchisement. We know that the Promised Land of full political, educational, and economic equality for all persons has yet to be reached. But Dr. King began a journey, a Godly journey, along a road that we too are called to travel. Dr. King not only mirrored to us the God of Liberation, but also the God of Love. In his public life and work we saw a person who took seriously the words of Jesus in chapter six of Luke’s Gospel: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Do to others as you would have them do to you." Martin Luther King both preached and lived the life of non-violent resistance. While others were ready to take up the weapons of violent revolution, he maintained his belief in the ultimate superiority of non-violence. Listen to his own words: "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Recall the beginning of today’s collect: “Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world.” Among other things, Jesus is the light of non-violent love. Martin Luther King knew that. And not only did he know it; and speak it; he lived it out day to day. Day to day he lived in constant danger. His home was dynamited, he was almost fatally stabbed, and he was harassed by death threats for years prior to his eventual martyrdom. He was jailed some thirty times, and the FBI sought to discredit him, suspecting him of having communist connections. What sustained him through it all was his deep faith in God. In 1957, after an exhausting day, he received, late at night, a vicious telephone threat. Alone in his kitchen, he wept and prayed. He told how he heard the Lord speaking to him and saying, "Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice." God then promised never to leave him alone--"No, never alone." Dr. King referred to this vision as his "Mountain-top Experience." When God called Moses, God said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." For both Moses and Martin Luther King, it was the abiding presence of the Lord that sustained them in their work. Without that presence Moses would never have been able to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. Without that presence Martin Luther King would have been unable to persist as an ambassador of the Prince of Peace in the face of unrelenting hostility and hate. It is fitting that we celebrate the life of this great twentieth century Christian during the season of Epiphany. For “epiphany” means "manifestation" or "showing forth." In and through Martin Luther King, God once again manifested his love for his people; God showed forth his constant care for those who are oppressed and downtrodden. And through him, God also provided us with an example of Christian service, a way of following in Jesus’ footsteps. For we are all called to be saints; we are called to be mirrors that reflect God's love and justice. No one of us may possess the profound leadership gifts of a Dr. Martin Luther King. Yet each of us is called to exercise the gifts he or she has been given in the service of God's kingdom. If we do that, God will take our self-offerings and make them adequate to face the challenges before us. Some of you may be aware that soon after the election last November, a crudely painted swastika showed up on the back wall of St. James’ Church in Albion, one of the parishes of our Diocese. I don’t know precisely how this came about. I don’t know what motivated the painter to choose St. James’ Church. Perhaps Episcopalians in Albion don’t know either. But we all know that a swastika, spray-painted on the back of any building, is a symbol of darkness, the darkness of prejudice and hate. Those who use this symbol walk on a path of darkness. Martin Luther King Jr. walked on a different path, a path of light. As Jesus call him to walk on that path, so Jesus calls us. It’s a path that is well-described by Darlene Kuhn, the rector of St. James’, Albion, in her Christmas letter to the congregation. She wrote: “We acknowledge a God who loves His creation so much that He sent his Son Jesus to live as one of us in the human condition, to be born an infant in Bethlehem and to die on the cross in Jerusalem. We love Jesus Christ who gives us an example of what it means to be a child of God living in the Kingdom of Heaven, sharing God’s story, teaching, healing, feeding and befriending the other. “We dream of a time when we live in the Kingdom of God, where there are fresh fruits, vegetables and bread for all and no need for food stamps, where the water runs pure and fresh without lead or other harmful chemicals, where there is education and training for boys and girls that leads to meaningful employment, housing and clothing for all, a world where we are free to love God, our neighbor, ourselves and all of God’s good creation without fear of judgment and recrimination, a world full of hope, peace, joy and love for all with no exceptions. May we wake from our dreams to realize that we live in a land of plenty with many fields waiting to be planted and a state surrounded by the world’s greatest source of fresh water. May we wake to realize that God has blessed us with the able hands and feet and bright minds to strive for justice and peace among all people!” Thank you, Darlene. Thank you, Dr. Martin Luther King. Thank you, Jesus, for calling all your children to a life of light, a life which boldly manifests your justice, righteousness, and love!
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Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Epiphany 1, The Baptism of Our Lord Happy New Year! Did you have a good Christmas break? Were you able to participate in Twelfth Night activities at the Gardner House Museum for the end of the Christmas season? I had a great Christmas and New Year’s. Jon worked the whole time, but I read and made puzzles and worked a little and colored and cooked and partied and slept and worked a little more. Now that is what I call a Christmas Break! We have moved quickly from Advent through Christmas and into Epiphany, anticipating the coming of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus the Messiah to his manifestation as the savior of all nations. The Gospel of Matthew has been careful to let us know that Jesus comes from a good Jewish family, is a descendent of King David and a descendent of Abraham. Joseph has been hesitant to commit to his pregnant fiancée Mary, but Joseph listens to and is obedient to God and marries Mary. In the Jewish tradition the baby is circumcised and Joseph names him Jesus, legally accepting Jesus as his own son. Matthew is concerned that we believe that Jesus’ birth is a fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah. Jesus is not just any Jewish child, but is the Son of God, the Messiah, the long hoped for savior of the Jewish nation and even more, Jesus is the savior of all nations. God had promised Abraham that through his son Isaac his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore and not only that, but that they would be a blessing for all the nations of the earth. Matthew is the only gospel that tells of the visit of the Magi, the wise men, the three kings from the East. The manifestation of the Christ to the Magi is Matthew’s proof that God has fulfilled his promise to Abraham that his offspring will be a blessing to all people, that God is the God of the Jews and of the Gentiles, that Jesus is the savior for all nations. This idea is reinforced in today’s reading from Acts when Peter says: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:34) Just before Peter’s visit to Cornelius, Peter had a vision of a sheet lowered from heaven full of four-legged creatures, reptiles and birds and God had shown Peter that he should not call anyone profane or unclean, that he Peter should be willing to share the Good News with Jews and Gentiles, Jews and non-Jews. This is what Epiphany means; the Epiphany is God’s revelation of himself in his son Jesus Christ to the Gentiles; the self-revelation of the divine to all people, Jew and Gentile, man and woman, child and aged, rich and poor, shepherd and king, black and white, family and foreigner, to all people. God had revealed himself to Mary and Joseph, to shepherds and finally to kings, not the Jewish king Herod, but to Gentile kings from far away. Today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany and the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ by John the Baptist. Jesus’ baptism is another manifestation of God to the whole world through God’s Son Jesus Christ. Jesus was immersed in the River Jordan. As Jesus rose from the water, symbolically washed clean of his sin, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested on Jesus. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The stories of Jesus’ baptism by John are very similar in Matthew, Mark and Luke and the wording is almost identical. In Mark and Luke the voice from heaven tells Jesus “You are my Son”, but in Matthew God says “This is my Son”. God has revealed himself to the world and told all people that Jesus is God’s beloved Son with whom God is well pleased. God’s appearance in Matthew is not for Jesus’ benefit, but for the benefit of the world. This message was very hard for the Jewish leaders to hear. That God would reveal himself through a poor carpenter’s son was unbelievable! When King Herod heard the Wise Men’s story, he was so protective of his throne for his own progeny that he was willing to order the murder of all children two years old and under who lived in and around Bethlehem. As an adult the leaders were still not willing to accept that Jesus the son of Mary was the Messiah. In their jealousy for their version of the story of the Messiah and for their role as religious leaders, they orchestrated Jesus’ execution. They were unwilling to see the manifestation of God in a peasant, a carpenter’s son. This was hard to accept even by Jesus’ own disciples, people who had followed him for several years in his ministry in Jerusalem, Galilee and in Gentile territory. Peter had to be shown again and again what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah and that the Spirit of God was available to all people. In our own baptism we were adopted as sons and daughters of God and the Spirit of God was given to each of us. At our confirmation this Spirit was stirred and awakened so that we might be strengthened in our work of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people and our commission to feed the hungry, to offer drink to the thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to cloth the naked, to care for the sick and to visit the prisoner. (Matthew 25:31-46) Just to be clear the Spirit of God is not with us because of what we do, but through the grace and mercy and love of God. Like King Herod and Saint Peter, we continue to find it difficult to see the Spirit of God in the other. This past week Jon and I went to see the Movie “Hidden Figures”. I recommend it. In the words of the trailer, this is The incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson - brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big. These colored computers faced the barriers of a society that had no protocol for including women in high level strategic planning discussions, who had no respect for the intelligence of African-American women, who did not expect women to understand the new IBM machine even though the men did not either. Can you imagine having to run half a mile to use the toilet or your peers being unwilling to accept you pouring coffee from the same pot or being called by your first name when others are referred to as Mrs. Michael or having to petition the courts for permission to take courses at the local all-white high school so you could study to be an engineer or being refused the right to buy a copy of a Fortran book because it was unavailable in the black section. This was 1961, only fifteen years before I studied FORTRAN at the University of Waterloo. In the mid-80’s I was still a token female as a computer programmer in a man’s world. Four years ago I was called as your first female priest, a role that some still find hard to accept even within our own church. Albion College is a prestigious, private Midwestern college founded in 1835 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church and yet when a group of students of color were invited to attend they met with resistance and ugly racism from peers and faculty who were unable to see the Spirit of God in these students. Exclusivism is not a sin of the first century or even the 60’s or 80’s, it still exists today. We continue to differentiate between us and them, failing to see the Spirit of God in the other and this will probably be true for a long time. As Christians we are called to search our own response to the other, to work to change this mindset, to understand, to believe and to share the Good News that God chose to reveal himself to the whole world through his Son Jesus Christ. Amen. |
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