January 20, 2008 Second Sunday after Epiphany,
Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday
First Congregational Church in Thetford, Vermont, UCC
Psalm 27; Mark 11:15-19; plus readings from King included below
The title of this sermon is “Courage and Kingdom.” Like many progressive
churches we do not use the word kingdom much. We tend to prefer the gender-
neutral, less hierarchical word “realm.” We could also use Martin Luther King
Jr.’s term Beloved Community. I chose kingdom today because it seems fitting on
Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday, but whatever word you choose for God’s order
and Christ’s way established on earth, courage is what must come first. As the
Rev. Bill Coffin was fond of saying, courage is the first Christian virtue because it
makes all the other virtues possible. We may never see God’s kingdom come
unless we have the courage to help it come.
The Rev. Peter Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at
Harvard University. He is the author of bestsellers like The Good Book: Reading
the Bible with Mind and Heart. He is also the member of two minorities that have
suffered oppression in his lifetime. He is African American and homosexual.
Gomes’ latest book is entitled The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So
Good About the Good News? It includes a chapter on the “The Gospel and Fear.”
In it he says, “Perhaps the greatest tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the life we
have come to live in its aftermath, is not the loss of human lives or buildings,
tragic as those losses were and painful as they are to recall. The greatest tragedy
may be that we have since been programmed to live by our fears and not by our
hopes.” (p 104)
Gomes echoes Martin Luther King Jr.’s observation that fear is at the root
of many evils—not only war, but the system of racial segregation that the Civil
Rights movement worked to change, and the illegal wire-taps, the people held
without legal rights and the use of torture by America today.
Gomes believes that one of the greatest current fears is of “the
normalization of homosexuality.” He says, “Gay marriage is seen to threaten
heterosexual marriage to such an extent that constitutional amendments must be
designed to prevent it, although no one seems prepared to propose similar
legislation to prohibit divorce, which is a far greater threat to marriage and family,
and on which Jesus himself had distinct views. On homosexuality, he had nothing
to say.” (p 106)
Gomes points out that “Fear is no policy; it represents the absence of
courage and a poverty of imagination.” And then he makes an unusual distinction.
He says, “The opposite of fear is not courage but compassion.” (p107) I might
quibble with that, but his point is a good one. He says, “We cannot fear that which
we love, for…perfect love casts out fear; we are too busy doing what we can, what
we must and what God wishes us to do, to take time to fear the consequences.”
I think this goes a long way to explain the courage of Martin Luther King
Jr., which was not an ability to be without fear—because he felt fear at every
turn—but was the ability to rise up and move beyond fear and to act despite his
fear. His courage came from his faith, from his constant turning to God for the
strength and peace he needed in every situation, but it also came from compassion.
The ability to remain nonviolent takes far more courage than violence, and that
courage comes from compassion both for the victim of oppression and for the
oppressor.
Gomes’ observation also explains why this church had the courage to wage
its own struggle against fear ten years ago. On Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday,
January 18, 1998, we were in the midst of our journey to become Open and
Affirming. The year before on that Sunday we had voted to undertake a yearlong
study of homosexuality and the church and homosexuality and the community.
Even that was a bold controversial move. In fact we lost more members as a result
of that decision than any other along the way, including the final vote. Some
people did not want to be a part of a church that even discussed such things.
Ten years ago today we had just gone through that thorough discussion and
learning process, and it had changed many of us in dramatic ways. One member
of our congregation shared publicly for the first time that her beloved son was gay
and had died of AIDS. Another member, Craig Palmer, who grew up in this
church, told of how he was harassed and attacked at Thetford Academy just on the
suspicion of being gay, and how he had nowhere to turn. He could not be sure
how the people of this church would respond if they knew he was homosexual.
As we approached Annual Meeting in 1998 the Deacons sent out a
summary of what we had done and learned up to that point. They recommended
that we vote at Annual Meeting to move into the next phase of the discussion, and
consider what it would mean to become Open and Affirming. Bev Vaughan was
Chair of the Deacons at that time, and wrote the letter that went out to the
congregation. Toward the end she wrote these words, words that must have taken
tremendous courage to write, a courage born of compassion. She wrote:
I would like to close this letter on a personal note…
I did not know very much about the lives of homosexuals
before this year, and despite my thinking that I was unbiased,
I have been at times indeed homophobic. We heard stories of
how difficult it was growing up for the men and women we met—how
they were afraid to share even with their parents and their families
the feelings they were experiencing. After hearing this, I have come to
understand the issue of “open and affirming” as one of social justice.
Craig Palmer grew up in this church with my children and had no one
to turn to in his struggles—not at church or in school or in the community.
This to me is tragic. As I look at all the young children in our
congregation, I hope that this will never happen to them. And I hope
that the children we raise in our church will learn from us to stand up for
anyone discriminated against for any unjust reason, including
homosexuality…
Bev’s extraordinary honesty, courage and compassion were qualities
that characterized the entire Open and Affirming process. They really
shaped the congregation we became, and the church we are today. It was
not only the stand we took but what the struggle called forth from us that
changed us. We grew into the Beloved Community of an Open and
Affirming church because we learned to act like a Beloved Community
along the way.
We have heard many stirring words and stories today; the words of
Martin Luther King Jr. and the story of the Birmingham children’s courage;
the words of Psalm 27 and the story of Jesus demonstrating in the temple
for justice and beloved community; the words of Bev Vaughan and the
story of our struggle against oppression and discrimination.
It is tempting to stop here, and let this service be about the
celebration of that journey toward peace and justice that spanned three
thousand years, as if it culminated in our doing our small part on May 3rd,
1998 when we finally voted to become Open and Affirming.
But the truth is that the work is unfinished, as is painfully obvious
when we look around the world today. The journey continues on. As we
celebrate this tenth anniversary year, we need to ask ourselves if we are
doing all we can to end the oppression and discrimination against people
who are not heterosexual. A recent study showed that gay men and to a
lesser extent lesbian women suffer discrimination in the workplace, earning
less than heterosexuals, reflecting the prejudice that still exists. And while
Vermont’s government extends equal rights in almost every area to
homosexuals and homosexual couples, the one right it still withholds is the
right to be legally married. Gay and lesbian couples are given a separate
status of civil unions, and so they are officially marked as second-class, as
separate and less than equal. They are oppressed by this lack of freedom
and dignity. They are excluded from the psychological and spiritual and
emotional and legal fullness of life that married couples enjoy.
Oppression and discrimination begin as attitudes of the human heart
and mind. We need to send a strong signal to the world that our attitude
follows the extremist love of Jesus Christ, who scandalized his society by
his inclusivity, who lifted up the downtrodden, who embraced those his
religion called unclean, who brought in the outcast, who proclaimed release
to the captive and let the oppressed go free.
Today let us celebrate not only King and Christ and all those who
have nobly fought of old for the cause of justice and love, but let us
celebrate that we are still part of that same long, beautiful and heroic story.
Let us celebrate when we tell the story of Martin Luther King Jr. that it is
our story still today, that we are the next chapter in it. Let us celebrate
when we tell the story of Jesus courageously overturning the temple tables
of the status quo that it is our story, too, and we are in it now. We are in the
same story and we still have work to do and thank God, because that work
ennobles us and gives our lives meaning and joy, as we help God co-create
the beloved community of God’s realm right here on earth in our own time
and place.
As Dr. King said of his time and place, when they write history of
this age, they will have to say that here was a church that overcame its fears
with courage and compassion, a church that moved the cause of justice and
peace and beloved community forward in its day, a church that kept the
story going and did its part.
Let us pray together, recommitting ourselves to the journey, asking
for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and for powers equal to our tasks along the
way.
Let us pray in silence….
Readings from Martin Luther King Jr. read in church today:
Is not fear one of the major causes of war? We say that war is a consequence of hate, but
close scrutiny reveals this sequence: first fear, then hate, then war, and finally deeper
hatred. The nations have believed that greater armaments will cast out fear. But alas!
They have produced greater fear. In these turbulent, panic-stricken days we are once
more reminded of the judicious words of old, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Not arms, but
love, understanding, and organized goodwill can cast out fear.
I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I chose to…give my life for those who
have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity….This is the way I’m going. If it means
suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it
means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heard a voice saying, “Do
something for others.”
A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live…
Don’t be afraid! When I say don’t be afraid, you know what I really mean. Don’t even
be afraid to die. For I submit to you tonight, no man is free if he fears death….
I’d rather be dead than afraid.
There is nothing to be afraid of if you believe and know that the cause for which you
stand is right. You are ready to face anything and you face it with a humble smile on
your face, because you know that all of eternity stands with you and the angels stand
beside you and you know you are right.
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust….
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable
network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever effects one directly
affects all indirectly….
Because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for his suffering and
helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them….We are called to speak
for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls
“enemy,” for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our
brothers.
I think this is what Jesus meant when he looked at his disciples one day and said, “I come
not to bring peace but a sword.” Now certainly he didn’t mean he came to bring a
physical sword. Certainly he didn’t mean that he did not come to bring true peace. But
Jesus was saying in substance:…whenever I come, a conflict is precipitated between the
old and the new. Whenever I come, tension sets in between justice and injustice.
Jesus took over the phrase “the Kingdom of God,” but he changed its meaning. He
refused entirely to be the kind of a Messiah that his contemporaries expected. Jesus made
love the mark of sovereignty. Here we are left with no doubt as to Jesus’ meaning. The
Kingdom of God will be a society in which men and women live as children of God
should live. It will be a kingdom controlled by the law of love.
The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved
Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into
friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the
old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about
miracles in the heart of men.
Sermon 01/20/2008