LAKEWOOD/TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com
Date: August 18, 2024
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-46
Sermon: Christian Voting
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
The novel This Other Eden by Paul Harding features a community on an island off the coast of Maine in the early 20th century. I was attracted to the book because our nephew married a woman whose mother lived for a time on an island off the coast of Maine. When we met her last Thanksgiving she told us some stories about the culture of island life that were extremely compelling and unforgettable.
So, in the book, This Other Eden, there is a small community that has been living on an island for many generations. They are descendants of people from all over the world, various races and colors, an amalgamation. A person from the mainland, Matthew Diamond, a retired teacher who has become a missionary, goes to the island in the summer to open a school to help to uplift the children and youth of the community. But Diamond brings to the island his whiteness, his ignorance, and his racism. The people of the island are not white. They are of mixed race. And we know that mixed means Black, or people of color, but it does not mean white. There is a young man on the island who appears to have talent as an artist. So Diamond comes up with a plan to have the young man stay with a colleague on the mainland and receive training in art. This is possible because the young man appears white though his parents are clearly of mixed race. So, Diamond reflects on this situation:
“Jews married Egyptians and Moabites Jews. The patriarchs took wives from far and wide. There was that on the one hand, and on the other there was the fact that Noah’s family peopled the world after the flood and therefore, like it or not, Scripture unquestionably told that every man and woman with whomever you are confronted is a member of your family . . .” [This Other Eden, Paul Harding, pp. 91-92.]
This is what the character Matthew Diamond thinks of as he creates this deceptive scheme to help this young artist. He is trying to use his Christian faith to undermine his ingrained racism and it’s not easy.
While we might not adhere to Diamond’s literal interpretation of scripture, it is a fundamental premise of Christianity that all people are part of the family of God. All beloved and imbued with the image of the Divine.
And while Christian people may have many disagreements about scripture and doctrine and theology, another foundational claim of Christianity is concern for the ‘least of these.’ We heard the story of the sheep and the goats again this morning. People devoted to Jesus, people who claim to be Christians, are people who take action to minister to those who are suffering – including, but not limited to – those who are hungry, those who are thirsty, those who are strangers, those without clothes, those who are sick, those in prison. Not only are followers of Jesus expected to directly minister to those in need, when they do so, they are ministering to Christ Jesus. That is how we engage with the Savior. In this story and throughout the gospels, Jesus directly aligns himself with those most in need. So how you treat others is how you treat Jesus. And this especially applies to those who are suffering most.
Unsavory as these two major threads of Christianity may be to some people, they are fundamental. One human family. The least of these. You can add lots of other doctrine, dogma, and interpretation, but these are basics that are part of defining Christianity. They express the fundamental orientation of the Christian life.
As Father John Dear, the Catholic peace activist explains in his monumental commentary, The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, “Every time we do something ‘sheepish’ – that is, gentle, peaceful, nonviolent, and loving – we move closer to Jesus and step into the reign of God. Every time we act like ‘goats’ — that is, mean, selfish, violent, and bullying — we move away from Jesus and step away from God’s reign.” [p. 127]
So, as Christian people, we are always committed to addressing the suffering and pain in the lives of others with healing love and material assistance. We look for Jesus in the least of these. We welcome the opportunity to move more fully into the realm of love and peace with our orientation toward the needs of others.
Having affirmed this orientation, we turn to three of the sermon topics requested this summer: Voting rights, systemic racism, and election and partisan stress. These are undeniably turbulent times. We are facing issues that many of us would never have thought would be front and center in 2024. Issues that threaten the functioning of our society as we have known it and threaten rights we thought were undeniable in this country.
We start by looking back. In the book, A Pilgrimage to Eternity, New York Times journalist Timothy Egan shares the story of his journey along the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route in Europe from Canterbury to Rome. I found the book not so much about a walk as about a journey through the history of Christianity and the church. Egan’s stops at towns, churches, and shrines, provide the impetus for discussions of many chapters in church history – including the good, the bad, and the ugly. And there is a lot of bad and ugly despite the beautiful foundation of Christianity that we outlined at the beginning of this sermon.
At one point, Egan discusses the contrast between Savonarola, who was a Catholic priest who terrorized Florence in the 1400’s, and Francis of Assisi who established an order of poverty and generosity and respect for nature.
Egan tells us about Savonarola who “turned his fellow friars into warriors, and the most cultured city in Europe into delirium.” [p. 280] Savonarola became obsessed with the book of Revelation and the punishment that humanity was going to receive at the hands of God. Egan tells us Savonarola “denounced sodomites, gamblers, and blasphemers, as well as the Medici family, the wealthiest in Europe, enriched by a monopoly on the material used to dye clothes granted them by an earlier pope.” [p. 281] Savonarola’s goons went house to house confiscating, Eagan tells us, “perfume, art, poetry, chessboards, playing cards, mirrors, tapestries, musical instruments, books of poetry by Dante and Petrarch, statues, vases, portraits, fine clothes — anything of material beauty, anything that brought pleasure.” [p. 282] Then it was all set alight in the Bonfire of the Vanities on Feb. 7, 1497. Eventually, Savonarola was arrested and killed. His body was burned and the ashes were disposed of in the Arno River so that there would be no relics or grave.
Then there is Francis of Assisi of the 13th century, who also eschewed wealth, taking his clothes off in the town square and returning them to his father before heading off to a life of asceticism as a monk. Choosing poverty, chastity, and obedience. But also choosing peace, non violence, and harmony with nature.
Egan uses Francis and Savonarola to capture two different tendencies within the Christian faith. Eagan writes: “Savonarola and Francis of Assisi were not unsimilar. Both practiced self-denial. Both rejected the material gluttony of their spiritual overlords. Both sought a purified Christianity. But Francis
was not afraid of poetry; he wrote some of the best verse in Europe. Francis did not turn against music, laughter, and art. He was a troubadour. Francis did not call for the execution of people deemed sinful; he befriended the shunned. The spirit in him had wings. In the dichotomy of these two men is the dichotomy of the Christian faith, one side struggling against the other, an open heart against a fist.” [p. 283]
Here we see the contrast between using the gospel of Jesus Christ to foster life and peace and joy and using the Christian religion as a tool of control and terror and violence. There are so many instances of harm being done in the name of the church and the Christian faith. Christianity has had these two streams flowing throughout its history since Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century. There has been the tension: to be taken in by the forces of control, domination, Empire, and violence. Or to lean into our natural inclination to love, care, compassion, generosity, and sensitivity. We see these two impulses, these two divergent streams, these two manifestations of Christianity continuing to clash today.
So what we see today is Christianity being used as a weapon to implement power hungry political aims. This is nothing new. Christianity has been used to kill, and kill, and kill again as well as to foster injustice and suffering. It was used to justify slavery. It was used to justify the Holocaust. Now it is being used to make war on women’s bodies, and to criminalize poverty, and to demonize the stranger. This is nothing new.
And, yes, all along, there have been expressions of Christianity concerned with the least of these. Concerned with seeing all of humanity as one family. And finding joy, celebration, community, and goodness on that path.
So, the situation we see today with the misuse, the manipulation, indeed the coercion associated with Christianity in the politIcal sphere of our country, this is nothing new.
The challenge to voting rights, something some, including Lyndon Johnson, thought we had laid to rest in this country, this is nothing new. It is yet another expression of systemic racism that is woven into the warp and woof of our society. It is inherited. It is absorbed like the plastic that is in our food and water that is killing us. So is systemic racism.
So we come back to what we have always known in Christianity. Joy comes from being engaged with others, especially those who are suffering. It comes from looking for the Christ in each and every person. It comes from seeing ALL others as your siblings. It comes from treating every person the way you would treat Jesus and letting that become second nature for you.
Should we vote? Yes. But no government or state or candidate will be perfect, or will perfectly embody the Divine Love, universal acceptance, and profligate generosity of Jesus or of God.
As for candidates that claim to be Christian, we must look at their behavior. At their concerns. At their attention to the least of these. Do they treat every other person as if the person were Jesus? Would these candidates who claim to be Christians hurl the lies and insults toward Jesus that they hurl toward other politicians? Are they really even trying to be sheep?
Recently I was part of a conversation about food being offered in the schools. Like a food bank so that kids aren’t hungry over the weekend. And I read an article about All Children’s Hospital here in St. Pete offering a free grocery store to patients, families, and staff. And, yes, on the one hand, this is beautiful. To be reaching out to the hungry.
But Jesus tells us to look for the truth. So we must go deeper and ask why are all these people, especially these young people, hungry? In the richest country in the world, why do children need to take home free food to eat so they will not be hungry over the weekend? This is where the role of the government, elected officials, comes in. There are changes to the system that need to be made to address the most pressing issues of the day: violence, war, hunger, healthcare, racism, and most important, though seldom mentioned in political debate, climate change. While good people like us are busy recycling and driving hybrid cars, scientists and climate experts tell us that the only way to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change is through government policy that addresses the use of fossil fuels. Period. And this takes us back to voting.
The way to vote as a Christian, is to vote as a Christian. To remember that we are all one human family. Every single person on this earth is our sibling and every life form part of our family. And to remember that however we treat another person, especially someone in need, is how we are treating Christ. It is not about voting for people who say they are Christians, it is about voting for people who have the values of the gospel at heart. Whatever their religion. Or lack there of. And there are precious few.
Sheep and goats. It’s up to us. Who we will be? And what kind of society we will be part of?
I recently attended the memorial service for GW Rolle. Some years ago, LUCC hosted a group of about 30 houseless people at the church for about three months. GW was among the houseless. He was also involved in running the project.
As a young man, GW was convicted of manslaughter. He served his term in prison. Having paid his debt to society, he went to college and got a degree in English and Philosophy. He served in the merchant marines. He became a chef. But through it all, his past continued to create obstacles and impediments related to employment and housing. We live in a society that leans into being punitive and judgmental. There is that tendency in Christianity. The fist. But we can learn to lean into grace and transformation and forgiveness. The heart.
We saw this contrast again recently at the Olympic Games. Twenty nine years old, married, a father, and on the Olympic Team for the Netherlands as a beach volley ball athlete, was Steven Van De Velde. When he was 19, he raped a 12 year old girl with whom he was having a relationship. He was tried and convicted. He did his time in prison. He participated in rehabilitation. Experts saw no likelihood of recidivism. So, he played beach volley ball for the Netherlands in Paris. [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5645577/2024/07/25/van-de-velde-child-rapist-volleyball-olympic-games/]
The Netherlands is not a very religious country, not like the US, and yet they are leaning into grace, transformation, and forgiveness. That is that other stream of Christianity. The heart.
So, despite the many obstacles that he faced, GW Rolle, here in the US, also leaned into the heart. He had a heart for the least of these. He was a tireless advocate, not just for those without housing, but for the dignity of each and every person. He truly saw each human as his sibling. He was an ordained Christian minister and served with Rev. Sam Picard at Missio Dei. GW embodied the best of the gospel. He lived a life of struggle and joy. His bottom line: “I consider myself the lesser of no man and the superior to no one.”
When did we see you? Amen.
A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.
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