Author: Rev. Wells

NOTE:  This sermon was preached at Naples United Church of Christ on Sunday June 4, 2023.   Rev. Kim Wells was invited to be a guest preacher.  Kim’s daughter, Rev. Angela Wells-Bean, is the Minister for Congregational Care at Naples UCC. 

LAKEWOOD 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: June 4, 2023
Scripture Lesson: I Corinthians 12:3b-13
Sermon:  Still Smoking
Pastor:  Rev. Kim P. Wells

We moved to Florida in 1990 when Angela’s father was called to serve Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg.  We moved at Thanksgiving and then it was on to the Christmas season.  The congregation of Pilgrim Church was largely made up of retirees and they liked to get together for social events especially during the holidays.   So we were invited to numerous gatherings and it was a good way to get to know people.  I remember a conversation at a party in which one of the church members, John Bucklin, known as Bucky, a retiree, laughingly told me about how busy he was.  He told me that he and his spouse jokingly refer to December as their season of 3-event days.  They routinely have three scheduled events to attend most days in December.  I tried to appreciate this good natured poke at being retired.  But as a mother of 2 young children and used to working full time, I thought a three event day sounded like a vacation!

Yes, we are used to being busy in the Christmas season.  And then after the holiday, we put the tree and the decorations away and resume ‘normal’ life – many fewer three event days for some of us! 


In the early centuries of the Christian movement, there were three great holy day seasons each year.  Christmas, of course.  Easter.  Yes.  And, Pentecost.  These three festivals anchored the church year.  We celebrated Pentecost last week.  It’s the festival of red and flames and wind and speaking in various languages.  You probably had red paraments on the altar and pulpit and lectern last Sunday.  The pastor probably wore a red stole.  At our church we had windmakers which the congregation uses to make sound effects during the reading of the scripture referring to the wind. 

But it is the week after Pentecost, and like the week after Christmas when the tree and wreaths are put away, we have likely put Pentecost away for another year.

In the Pentecost story in the book of Acts, we are told that over 3,000 people were baptized that day.  What a success!  But their mission did not end when everyone went home from Jerusalem at the end of the Festival of Pentecost.  Those disciples went on to carry their message of love far and wide over many years.  And it is because of their efforts, those simple country people, who were not sophisticated or well educated, that we are here today.  And the compelling message that galvanized their mission was spreading the universal, unconditional love of God.

Dr. Stephen Patterson, once a professor at Eden Seminary where your former interim minister, David Greehaw, was president, is now a professor at Willamette University in Oregon.  He is a scholar of religion, early Christianities, the historical Jesus, and the New Testament.  He has written a book that outlines a reconstruction of an early Christian creed, the good news that the followers of Jesus repeated as a statement of their core beliefs and their mission.  This creed has echoes in the verses that were read today from 1 Corinthians.  Here is how Patterson translates what he calls the ‘forgotten creed’:


You are all children of God:
There is no Jew or Greek;
There is no slave or free;
There is no male and female;
For you are all one.

[See The Forgotten Creed: Christianity’s Original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism by Stephen J. Patterson.]

This is the essence of the teachings of the earliest followers of Jesus.  To me, this forgotten creed expresses the kind of community that the church is still called to be today.  Community that is egalitarian, not patriarchal, not sexist, not stratified, not biased or prejudiced in any way.  If this seems dreamy now, it was even more visionary in the early centuries of the Christian movement in the context of the Roman Empire which was founded on patriarchy and class division and in which people owned slaves and women were considered property as well.

Yet even in that context, Christians embraced this creed:

You are all children of God:
There is no Jew or Greek;
There is no slave or free;
There is no male and female;
For you are all one.

This creed remains an expression of the core mission of the church today.  And we know that there is still a lot of work for our churches to be doing to create this kind of radical egalitarian community.  And Naples UCC is blessed to have the expertise of associate pastor Angela Wells-Bean who was well-trained in diversity, equity, and inclusion as a


sociology major at New College  — back when Florida still had DEI.  Angela is a wonderful resource for pursuing this egalitarian vision for the church.  

This creed expresses the mission the disciples were given on Pentecost.  They were able to speak to everyone; to reach out to all.  The church is called to create community where all are beloved — where it doesn’t matter where you are from, whether you are a citizen or an immigrant, where it doesn’t matter if you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a janitor, where it doesn’t matter how you vote, where gender does not matter and all loving relationships are affirmed and there are bathrooms for everyone.  And where there is a safe, clean natural environment to support human and other than human life.  One beloved human community created in the Divine Image.  The body of Christ.  One body with different parts, yet an organic whole.

We may have put away the red paraments, and the windmakers, and the red candles, but the work of the church is not done.  And the power of the Spirit being given to the church has not diminished. 

I am not a movie person and I seldom watch TV.  My spouse loves movies.  At least once a week he asks me, Wanna watch a movie?  I politely suggest he to go ahead — without me.  Once in a while someone suggests a movie and I make it a point to watch it especially if recommended by a parishioner.  But generally speaking movies are not on my menu.

So, several months ago, our son Malcolm and partner, Samantha, mentioned there was a movie they wanted to watch with us.  We scheduled it.  I don’t say no to our kids!  They told us the name but not much else.  I looked into it a bit so that I would have some context that might help me to appreciate it more. Instead of being illuminated I was confused by what I read.  So I thought I’ll just watch politely and see what’s what.

So, we watched the movie.  And I found myself thinking about it.  Like every day.  And I thought I would like to see it again.  Maybe on the big screen so that I could see better what was going on. 

Then, months later, lo and behold, the movie was in the theaters and I went to see it  —  three times.   By now you’re probably wondering what the heck the movie was!  Well, here goes.  Everything Everywhere All At Once.  How many of you have seen it?  Now, in our family, there seem to be very strong feelings about this movie.  Love it. Me.  Or hate it.  Angela.  Not much in between.  And that seems to be the case in the wider culture.  Either you think it is great or you think it’s garbage, a waste of time.  If you have any opinions about this movie, don’t look to me to change your mind. 

To give you a bit of background, the story involves a Chinese American family that owns a laundromat.  The owners, a couple, are being audited by the IRS.  They go to the IRS office to meet with an auditor.  In the course of things, the husband and wife find themselves in a utility closet, think brooms and mops, and he tells her a ludicrous story about an evil villain trying to take over the worlds, and how he has come from another metaverse to tell her that after searching the universes, they landed on her as the one who needs to defeat the evil villain.  They have chosen Evelyn, this unremarkable wife, mother, business owner, daughter, to vanquish the evil villain. 

Evelyn is having none of this story.  She thinks the man, who appears to be her husband, is crazy.  She is worrying about the IRS audit.  And the Chinese new year party that night at the laundromat.  And her father who is visiting from China.  And her daughter who has a girlfriend, and making sure the Chinese grandfather does not find out about that.  And she is thinking about the laundry of the woman with the little dog in a stroller.  An evil villain threatening the metaverses and she is to vanquish this evil character, who, by the way, turns out to be her daughter?  She is having none of this.

After this preposterous situation has been revealed to Evelyn, the messenger from another metaverse, presenting as her husband, Waymond, pleads with her, begs her, implores her, WE NEED YOU!   And she replies, “Very busy today.  No time to help you.”  And she dismisses him.  I love that scene. 

So, Pentecost the third big festival of the church year is over.  We have celebrated the birthday of the church.  And the power of the Holy Spirit.  And the monumental calling of the church to create egalitarian community.  And ‘the season’ is over.

But the Spirit still has work for us to do.  We are all in the church because we have been called, we have received the Spirit, we are needed to fulfill the mission of Jesus and spread the message of the forgotten creed year in and year out.  There is still evil to be vanquished in the world, and we are called to confront evil by creating communities where everyone is welcome and loved and all are equally valued.  We are to include people of all ethnic backgrounds, all gender and sexual identities, and people of all financial means or lack there of, yes, even the houseless, with everyone valued, respected, and treated with dignity.  We have been given work that needs to go on all year, not just at the holy days.  The Spirit is still smoking with power, revving up, blasting us, for this mission even though the red banners have been put away.  “Very busy today.  No time to help you.”  Never.  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.

LAKEWOOD 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: June 25, 2023
Scripture Lesson: Galatians 3:26-28
Sermon: The Forgotten Creed
Pastor:  Rev. Kim P. Wells

This past week many people were riveted by a tragedy claiming the lives of those aboard a vessel which sank to the bottom of the sea. 

Fifty miles off the coast of Greece, a fishing trawler with a capacity for 400 passengers may have been carrying up to 750 passengers when it sank after being stranded for several days awaiting assistance after making repeated distress calls for help.   The ship finally capsized and sank.  Aboard were immigrants from Egypt, Syria, and Pakistan who had paid up to $8,000 per person to be taken to Europe to seek a way to make a living.  At the moment, it appears that there are 104 survivors and that all of the women and children aboard the vessel perished. 

Or maybe the sea tragedy that had you riveted this past week was the ill-fated deep sea submersible Titan, missing for 4 days, carrying 5 passengers who had paid $250,000 each to see the resting place of the Titanic, some 13,000 feet below sea level.  The search for the submersible included resources from several countries and covered an area of 10,000 square miles and 13,000 feet into the sea.  Evidently, the vessel imploded and all 5 lives were lost.

Two horrific tragedies.  At sea.  Involving loss of life.  Very similar.  And also very different.  And which captured the attention of the global community to a greater degree?  I’m sure it was that submersible.  I know I was checking the news constantly.  Is it because it involved the infamous Titanic?  Was it the glitterati that peopled the vessel?  I’ll admit it, I was not tracking the news stories about the immigrants lost in the Mediterranean off the coast of Greece.

Somehow, we humans have a way of turning differences into divisions.  And then making hierarchies that reflect those differences and divisions.  That fishing boat had poor, struggling brown people on it.  Expendables?  Who were trying to escape an unlivable situation and make a better life for themselves and their families.

But the submersible, it had wealthy people on it.  People who were prominent and successful and noteworthy.  Yes, two were brown, from Pakistan, but on the top tier of that society.  Not worrying about how to sustain a family and how to go on living like the Pakistanis on the fishing vessel.  The people on the submersible were rich and famous and were notable because of the way our culture chooses to place different value on different kinds of lives and people.

Some years ago, I had a Black colleague tell me that in St. Petersburg, a Black life does not have the same value as a white life.  Period.  Money not withstanding.  And we have seen this as prominent Black people have been treated in a degrading manner by police and other officials around the country.

Somehow, racism and sexism persist.  Degradation of people who are not cisgender persists.  In our culture.  In western culture.  In Christian culture.  In some indigenous cultures, people who are ‘different’ in some way are esteemed.  They are thought to be special.  Holy.  Maybe with special powers.  But that is not the way in this culture.  Different, I have been told by another Black colleague, different means other, and that means less than. 

Different means other.  And we turn that into ‘us’ and ‘them’.  The ones who are like us, whom we trust and respect, and the ones who are not like us – whom we do not trust and respect.  Because they are less than. Foreign doesn’t just mean different, it means less than.  The whole system of difference and division, us and them, is often driven by fear – fear of being left out, fear of being less than, fear of not having enough, fear of not fitting in, and other fears as well.  But we readily turn differences into division.  And then there is competition and hostility that emerges. 

Things were not so different in the context of the New Testament.  We have inherited much from Greek and Roman civilization in Western culture.  So, that should not be a surprise.  Society was set up according to a caste system that included status based on citizenship, financial resources, ethnicity, gender, and religious affiliation.  And so it is that Jewish men regularly prayed: 

         Blessed art thou who did not make me a Gentile;
         Blessed are thou, who did not make me a woman;
         Blessed art thou, who did not make me uneducated [or a slave].

[See The Forgotten Creed: Christianity’s Original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism by Stephen J. Patterson, p. 32.]

Distinctions around race, religion, class, and gender are nothing new!
This is the context in which Jesus lived and offered his ministry.  This is the context in which the apostle Paul sought to spread the gospel after Jesus’ death.  Paul’s focus was on attracting and welcoming Gentiles, non Jews, into the communities of followers of Jesus.  This invitation had certain issues – yes, one was diet.  Jews kept kosher.  Were Gentiles who became part of the Jesus community to keep kosher?  And more importantly, another issue was circumcision.  Jewish males had to be circumcised to be part of the Jewish community.  Were Gentiles who became part of the Jesus communities to be circumcised?  This was a major consideration in the time of emerging Jesus communities.  And could be a significant obstacle to church growth!   This was an issue of much contention among the circumcised leaders of the Jesus movement. 

Paul decided that circumcision was not necessary to be part of the new communities that were forming around the Jesus tradition. The argument about justification by faith associated with Paul was about circumcision.  Paul believed you could be justified by faith, you did not need to be circumcised, to be part of the Jesus community.  We can see the issues of difference, division, less than, written all over this debate and this issue.

In the midst of all of this, we find the lines that were read today from Galatians:  

         Each one of you is a child of God because of your faith in Christ Jesus.  All of you                    who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  In Christ                        there is no Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, male or female.  All are one in Christ                    Jesus.

Scholars who analyze ancient texts have determined that in these verses, Paul is quoting a baptismal creed that was probably being used at the time.  After studying the original language and the way Paul wrote, the creed that has been teased out of these verses may have been:

         For you are all children of God in the Spirit.
         There is no Jew or Greek,
         there is no slave or free,
         there is no male and female;
         For you are all one in the Spirit.

There is a wonderful book about all of this written by Stephen Patterson, a scholar of the Bible, early Christianities, and religion in general, called The Forgotten Creed:  Christianity’s Original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism.  Patterson is a professor at Willamette University and very involved in Westar Institute which spawned the Jesus Seminar that studied what can be known about the historical Jesus.  Before Willamette, Patterson was a professor at Eden Theological Seminary, a seminary of the United Church of Christ.

I heard Patterson give a lecture about the forgotten creed at a Westar Event a few years ago.  It was so exciting.  The book is very good and I recommend it if you would like to know more.

To me, it is very significant to learn about one of the first creeds of the people who followed Jesus and what was important to them:

         For you are all children of God in the Spirit.
         There is no Jew or Greek,
         there is no slave or free,
         there is no male and female;
         For you are all one in the Spirit.

Now, let’s remember that the society of Greek and Roman origins was a caste system.  It was extremely stratified.  There were classes.  And there were slaves – largely the spoils of war.  And there were serious restrictions on the rights of women relative to the rights of men.  So, this:

         There is no Jew or Greek,
         there is no slave or free,
         there is no male and female;

was not just symbolic, poetic language.  This creed wasn’t lofty and dreamy.  It wasn’t flowery metaphorical language.  It was radical revolution.  These phrases were related directly to the prayer of the Jews cited earlier, the three parallel dyads, and this creed was a direct commentary on the most ingrained divisions that defined society.  
And notice what this early, maybe first, forgotten creed does not mention.  The creed was used at baptism to mark new life in Christ.  And Patterson points out that this creed does not mention the attributes and character of God.  It says nothing about the character and nature of Jesus Christ and how he saves people from their sins through his crucifixion and resurrection.  It says nothing about heaven or eternal salvation.  It talks about people, here and now, and the foundation of human identity which is not in our differences, but in our sameness – we are one.  The creed is a testament to solidarity.

This creed is one of the earliest statements about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and part of a community of Jesus.  It was a statement of solidarity with others as children of God.  Regardless of heritage or characteristics or status in society.  A child of God.  And so each and every person was sacred.  All have this in common.  And that created a commitment to solidarity, to oneness.

This was as far out then as it is now.  And it wasn’t long before the church developed new creeds and left this one largely behind.  So Patterson calls his book, The Forgotten Creed. 

I think it is well past time that the church remember this creed.  Recite this creed.  And recommit to this creed.  And work at remediation of all the damage that the church has done by ignoring and denying this creed. 

Could the church of Jesus Christ say –
There is neither democrat nor republican?
There is neither city dweller nor rural, small town dweller?
Could we say there is neither first world nor developing world?
There is neither rich nor poor?
There is neither white nor Black nor brown nor Asian?
Could we say there is neither east nor west?
Could we say there is neither trans, nor straight, nor gay, nor cis?
All are one?
Sociologists and statisticians tell us that the Christian church is largely behind the culture wars in this country.  The church has veered far from it’s origins.  

And since this is Pride month, I want to comment briefly on the division of gender and the related topic of sexuality.  In that early baptismal creed, there is reference to no Jew or Greek, slave or free, and then, male and female.  The last phrase, the connector is ‘and’, not ‘or’.  It’s not male or female, but male and female.  Patterson offers a very interesting perspective on this phrase.  Apparently, this goes back to the understanding of the creation story in Genesis.  It was thought that God originally an earthling.  This earthling was nongendered.  But for procreation and social relations to ensue, there was the need to have two genders, so this earthling was divided into two, male and female.  So the last phrase of the creed, There is no male and female, is a reference back to the origin stories in Genesis when a human was an earthling, maybe androgynous, but not gendered.  This is the recalling of an ideal state because with gender, difference, turned into division and subjugation, as it usually does.  With gender came the power dynamics of male dominance borne out in society and in the church.

Patterson cites how in the first communities of Jesus women were prominent as leaders.  They were really living out the creed despite the social context that strongly mitigated against that.  Baptism, new life, really meant a different orientation of values and relationships.  It was about being one.  In solidarity.  Everyone a child of God.  That was the primary identity of all who were baptized.

But oneness is not sameness.  When we are rooted in this fundamental oneness, then we can talk about diversity without diversity leading to division and hierarchy.  With a basic foundation of oneness, as human beings, we can explore and examine our differences without fear and without creating constructs that stratify and glorify one construct over another.  Oneness makes it possible to celebrate diversity, to share differences, with appreciation and not fear.  It makes it possible for us to learn about each other and from each other in a way that is mutual and fosters interdependence not hierarchy and subjugation.

This Pride season is a time to celebrate differences.  It is a time to appreciate who we are as human beings in all of our diversity and difference.  It is a time to appreciate the wide spectrum of identities and proclivities of our amazing species.  And for people who follow Jesus all of these differences and divergences are grounded, rooted, in our oneness as children of God.  This solidarity leads us to appreciate, celebrate, and value who we are in all of our rainbow diversity.   And the oneness, this valuing of each and every person, expresses itself in respect, dignity, and equal rights for all.  That is what the church should stand for in society.

         For you are all children of God in the Spirit.
         There is no Jew or Greek,
         there is no slave or free,
         there is no male and female;
         For you are all one in the Spirit.

This oneness is radical.  It is revolutionary.  And we need to reclaim this forgotten creed.  This abandoned creed.  For it is needed to save the church.  And to save the world.  The basic premise of our Christian faith is:  WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT.    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.

LAKEWOOD 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: July 16, 2023
Scripture Lessons:  Genesis 1:20-31 and John 10:7-15
Sermon: What Is Pro Life?
Pastor:  Rev. Kim P. Wells

Summer Sermons 2023 are based on topics suggested by the congregation.

While we were in Los Angeles this past week and a half, our son asked me to take his pick up truck into the shop for a repair.  When I dropped the car off, I asked the technician if there was something to see near by, somewhere to go, while I waited for the car.  He suggested going to the park with a lake a few blocks away.  So that is what I did.  I spent several hours enjoying Echo Park Lake, in the heart of Los Angeles.  The park includes a small lake with a walking path around it.  There are swan boats that can be rented.  The ones that you pedal to paddle.  It turns out that the lake began in the 1800’s as a reservoir for drinking water for the city of Los Angeles.  In the 1890’s the decision was made to turn the area into a public park and the four owners of the land around the reservoir donated 33 acres to be used as the park. 

Development of the park continued in the 1930’s as a Works Progress Administration project during the Depression.  A beautiful fountain was added when the 1984 Olympics were held in Los Angeles. 

Yes, Echo Park Lake is an attractive city park with a gorgeous view of the downtown skyline and lovely homes and apartments surrounding the lake.  But what really got my attention when I visited was, well, the posted rules for the park.  Among the rules for the park, along with things like no dumping and littering were:
        
         No feeding of non-domesticated animals
         Cruelty to any animal is a felony
         Abandonment of animals is against the law
         Harassment of animals is against the law
         All migratory birds are state and federally protected
         No injury to park property or plants

Frankly, I was surprised at the many rules that were intended for the safety of the wildlife and the trees and plants, as well as the water itself.  The protections seemed very comprehensive and specific which probably explains why, here at this lake, in the middle of urban Los Angeles, there is a plethora of bird life including various species of ducks and geese and other water birds. 

I was really glad to see the concern for nature conveyed in the rules for Echo Park Lake and I throughly enjoyed my afternoon at the lake while my son’s car was being fixed.

Concern for nature is at the heart of the purpose of the human species according to our faith tradition, as we heard from Genesis this morning.  Humanity was created, in the image of God, to carry out God’s mission of caring for the wondrous creation.  That includes human life as well as the life of plants and animals – all forms of life –  and it involves protecting the health of the environment that supports all of the myriad forms of life that make up the natural world.  So to be pro life is to be a supporter of all forms of life and of all of the habitat that is needed to support that life. 

The rights of nature movement is a beautiful expression of being pro life in our time.  This is a movement, worldwide, that seeks to get legal protection, rights, for land and water, as well as other than human species of life.  The rights of nature movement seeks to gain legally recognized rights for animals and plants and waters as well as people.  To me, this is a beautiful expression of our calling as a species to be pro life in all of its diversity, adaptation, abundance, balance, and interdependence.  That is what it means to be pro life in the Christian tradition:  To support the flourishing of all life, all of creation, by taking seriously our place in the vast system of creation to be caretakers entrusted with the stewardship of all that is. 

And this faith-based conception of what it means to be pro life is manifested in the ministry of Jesus and his focus on what it means to fully support and protect human life.  In the stories and teachings we have that are associated with Jesus, we see Jesus completely protecting the sacredness of human life.  He offers not only material support for human life – food, water, wine, healing –  but he offers spiritual support and the support of the community for all people.  This is expressed through forgiveness, grace, egalitarian community, generosity, equal rights for all people, and the decrying of laws, practices, and attitudes that diminish the lives of some people and privilege others.

Jesus shows us what abundant life for everyone looks like.  No one living at the expense of another.  Everyone valued and cared for.  No one demeaned or degraded.  No one beyond redemption or transformation.  No one.
I recently read a novel that takes place in Finland in 1946.  One of the characters, a doctor, reflects on the treatment of the dead body of another character:  “She weeps, too, for the care and attention she knows this body [the dead body] is being shown, in contrast to the countless labour-camp prisoners, her husband perhaps one of them, whose bodies are disposed of like so much offal.”  [Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg, p. 400.]  To be pro life to is to care at least as much for the living as for the dead.

When we are not pro life, fully supporting the life and habitat entrusted to our care and keeping, then we are denying and diminishing ourselves as human beings.  In the verses from John, we hear of false teachers, those who will try to lead the flock astray.  Well, we could spend until next Sunday discussing how we have gone astray when it comes to our calling to care for all of life; the ways that we have manipulated and dominated so that much of life is made subservient to the interests of a small portion of the human population.    

Here in Florida, an environmental coalition wanted to protect the rights of the waterways of Florida so that they can provide suitable habitat supporting many species of life.  But a ballot initiative to protect the rights of the waters of the state would never be supported.  No industrial dumping, no agricultural run off, no dumping of sewage and waste water, no spewing of heated water.  This kind of initiative would never gain widespread support here in Florida where people supposedly come first – which really means the economy comes first and that translates into rich people come first.  People in Florida don’t care enough about nature to bear the cost of needed protections.  BUT we do care about ourselves.  Overall, we are a selfish, self-centered lot.  And so these environmental groups came up with the idea of protecting not the rights of water or nature per se, but the rights of people, us, the inhabitants of Florida, to clean, safe water for consumption and recreation.  Now, that is something which serves us, so we can get behind that.  So that is the ballot initiative we have been promoting here at church and in the state.  It’s watered down, but it is a way to make a step in the right direction.  Oh, we know those thieves, marauders, and hired hands, that Jesus talks about, who are monopolized with serving what they see as their own personal interests. 

Our faith teaches that we are created to be pro life.  We were put here to be protectors and care takers of all that supports life, all life, not just human life.  And Jesus shows us how to create human community that does just that: supports all of human life, through faith and community, and fulfills its role in the wider Divine plan by living simply and sustainably with generosity and compassion.  To be pro life, in the human community is to support life in all of its diversity, adaptation, abundance, balance, and interdependence.  ‘I am because you are’ as the African proverb puts it.  We are in this together.  And we are in it with the wider community of life around us and the habitat that supports all of life. 

Now we all know that when we say ‘pro life’ these days, the phrase is usually associated with the issue of abortion and reproductive rights.  The words ‘pro life’ are associated with protection of the life of an unborn fetus. 

And, let’s be clear, there is no direct mention of abortion in the Bible.  There is a reference to life before birth in Psalm 139:  “It was you who formed my inward parts; you who knit me together in my mother’s womb.  My form was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.”   These verses are poetic professions of theology not biology.  They speak of God, a God that knows us fully and completely and still loves us!

Interestingly, the roots of what we know as the pro life movement are in the 1800’s among doctors who were concerned about protecting the lives of women who were having abortions that were often fatal to the mother.  They wanted to protect the lives of women.  That is a far cry from the position associated with the pro life movement today.  Today what is known as the pro life movement, is a movement that is centered on making abortion illegal and unobtainable.  Period.  It is supposedly protecting the life of those not yet born.  It is definitely protecting patriarchy, privilege, and subjugation of the masses.  What is called the pro life movement is not protecting life in the broader sense that encompasses the wellbeing and flourishing of creation as whole. 

In fact, supposedly protecting an unborn life – is it really pro life?  One of the speakers at the UCC General Synod in Indianapolis talked about “children born into a world of horrors.”  And there are so many.  Flooding. Heat.  Houselessness.  Famine.  Censorship.  Climate change.  The school to prison pipeline leaving so many children without fathers and mothers to raise them.  The addiction epidemic that prevents parents from providing adequate love and care for their children.  Lack of access to health care and affordable child care.  And what about, here we will touch on a real hot button, the ravages of extractive capitalism irreparably damaging the earth and the lives of people from whom labor is extracted for the gain of a few leaving children without the basic necessities of life?  To be pro life is to dream and invest in a new economic system that provides for all.  Not for a few at the expense of the many which is what we currently have in this country. 

When we get sucked into capitalism and rugged individualism, we are perpetrating the thievery and marauding Jesus talks about.  When we look out for number one, for ourselves, our family,  our tribe, our kind, and allow the society around us to continue to privilege the rich and ensure their rights at the expense of those made poor, we are not pro life.   And we cannot find our highest good, our true purpose, our deepest joy without honoring our place in the Divine plan to care for all of life and all of creation.  To separate ourselves from that web is to cut ourselves off from our health and wholeness.  It is to throw ourselves to the wolves, to that which is death dealing, instead of that which is life giving – the way of egalitarian community that we see among the followers of Jesus. 

I want to close with another story from Los Angeles.  When I was making my way home, we got to the airport a bit early.  After checking my bag, I wanted to take a few minutes to repack my carry on bag.  I looked for a place to sit down in the ticketing area.  I didn’t see any seats.  I went up a floor to the security and gate level of the airport.  Again, I looked for somewhere to sit.  There were no chairs to be seen.  I went back down to ticketing, surely I missed seeing a seating area.  Ah, there were some seats.  An airport attendant was standing next to the row of 6 chairs.  There was a sign indicating that this was the place to wait for wheel chair assistance.  There was no one in any of the seats.  I asked the attendant if I could sit there for a few minutes to repack my small backpack.  She said no.  That’s when an expletive which should not be repeated in church escaped my lips.  The attendant, a middle aged Black woman, said, regretfully, “I’m sorry.”  I told her, my home airport was Tampa and there were chairs and places to sit down everywhere you turn.  That’s when I learned that there used to be a lot more seating in the Los Angeles airport.  But it has been removed.  To discourage houseless people from staying at the airport.  There is a woman who has lived at the airport for the last 5 years, moving from bathroom to bathroom.  And that would explain why there are repeated public service announcements at the airport saying that only people involved in traveling and employees of the airport are permitted on the airport premises. 

After the tutorial about the issues relating to the houseless in the LA airport, the attendant told me to go down a floor, to baggage claim and ground transportation, and walk past the coffee and tea shop, down to the last carousel, and there were a few chairs there.  Sure enough.  So, I sat down and repacked my little carry on backpack.  Then headed up two levels to airport security and the gates. 

The houseless problem of LA prevented me from having a convenient place to sit down to repack my bag.  Really?  But that is how it is with the web of life, the web of reality, the web of creation.  Everything is interconnected.  Interdependent.  To be pro life, is to be aware, to care about, and to make choices, that are for the benefit of the whole.  And then what we find is that we are taken care of.  We have what we need not only materially, but also spiritually and emotionally.   When we are truly pro life, according to our faith tradition and the teachings of Jesus, we find that we have life.  To the fullest.  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.

LAKEWOOD 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: June 18, 2023
Scripture Lesson: Genesis 11:1-9
Sermon: Becoming An Anti-Racist
Pastor:  Rev. Kim P. Wells

When you started your day today maybe you chose what kind of juice you wanted to drink.  Maybe you selected which clothes you would wear.  Maybe you decided what to have for breakfast.  And whether to have a coffee or a tea.  Maybe you chose which aftershave to splash on.  Maybe you picked out something from the freezer to defrost for dinner. 

Maybe you even decided whether to mow the lawn or come to church this morning.

Most of us probably made numerous choices and decisions, just this morning, before church.  We are very fortunate to have so many options!

And as we awoke this morning with all of these choices to make, we also want to notice that we awoke into a society that is characterized by systemic and individual racism.  That is a trait of our culture.  It is part of our reality at this time in this place.  And if we open our eyes and our minds, it can be seen all around us.  We don’t wake up and say to ourselves, “I am going to choose to participate in systemic, institutional racism today.”  Or, “I am going to choose not to participate in systemic institutional racism today.”  As long as we are living in this country, we are living in a reality imbued with racism.  It surrounds us and it is within us.  We don’t really have the choice of opting in or opting out. 

We don’t have health insurance for all, like Europeans, because when the New Deal was being implemented the white people and politicians would not support paying for health care for all of the Black people in the country.  And as a consequence, millions of white people have died and are dying from lack of access to needed healthcare as well as countless Black people.  This is systemic racism.  And there are countless examples of similar decisions in our society – past and present.  And this hurts everyone.  And it is part of our reality like the air we breathe.

I just finished listening to the book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, (by Beth Macy), a thorough examination of the opioid addiction epidemic focussed on northern Virginia.  This is a horrifying family and community destroying health crisis.  Interestingly, it has been revealed that this epidemic is a bigger problem among whites than Blacks because doctors more freely prescribed pain relievers to white people than to Black people because they had less trust in the Black people to use the prescriptions appropriately.  There it is again, systemic racism. 

You can see it all the time in the media, including in mainstream news, not just social media.  More negative images and assumptions relating to Black people and people of color.  More reporting on crimes perpetrated by Black people and people of color. 

All of this and so much more helps to form the reality we are living in.  And it is passed on from generation to generation.  Like we know from the song in the musical South Pacific, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.”  And we are.  Carter G. Woodson, the African American historian and journalist, would call this ‘miseducation.’  And it is.  And it is something we all learn.

Systemic racism is so imbedded in the culture we are in that we often don’t even see it.  I certainly don’t.   It has become part of the atmosphere we live in.  It’s simply like the air we breathe.  We don’t really notice it.  It is just there.  And it impacts the reality of whites and Blacks alike. 

Thankfully, there are people in our country who are helping us all to see this reality; what is actually there but has been ignored, forgotten, or very often, intentionally suppressed.  I mean, if you are not allowing people to teach actual history, the story of past events and actions, it can only be because you are afraid of the truth.  We are waking up to see more honestly and clearly the reality that we are all a part of.  

The Bible story that we listened to of the Tower of Babel is a story that helps us to see our reality more clearly.  Yes, this is a story that helps to account for the diversity among the human species, of habit and language.  It helps to explain why there are humans all over the earth and not just in certain specific habitats.  The story has been taken as a commentary on humanity over reaching and trying to attain the Divine.  And there are other lessons in this story of ancient lore intended to express truth that applies to all of humankind, the whole world, not just one culture, time, or place. 

When this story is considered in its wider context of the book of Genesis, we remember that the human creature has been tasked with filling the Earth and taking care of the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the Earth.  And in the Babel story, what is the human community doing?  They are concentrating their energy and efforts on building a tower that they believe will bring them closer to God.  They are concentrating their power in what they see as self-preservation.  They are limiting their attention to themselves and their perceived  desires.  The building of the tower is a sign of self absorption and devotion to self preservation.  It is self serving.  All this while they are supposed to be spreading themselves around the planet and taking care of each living creature including its habitat.  Instead, they are monopolized with concentrating on taking care of only themselves.  They are limiting their attention to themselves instead of the whole of creation.  Obsessed with their tower they are neglecting the greater good; the needs of the whole creation, not just their own desires and needs.  This is a problem.  They are not carrying out their appointed role in the created order.  They are denying the image of the Divine within them that is concerned with the wellbeing and flourishing of the whole of creation, not just one community. 

We can see how these lessons shed light on the human construct of race and racism.  It is a system, integrated with patriarchy and capitalism, that has been built into a huge monolith of power, consuming resources, energy, and creativity.  And it is all concentrated on the self preservation and self serving desires of some at the expense of the greater good, not only of other people but of the planet.  Systemic racism which is embedded in our society has caused us to neglect our responsibilities to the greater good and to the well being of the whole of creation.  Investment in this enterprise has come at an enormous cost, to people of color, to the planet, and even to those we consider ‘white’ who are supposedly benefitting from this system.  Tell that to the unemployed, depressed communities of Appalachia where the most reliable way to feed your family may just be by dealing drugs. 

Racism.  Systemic.  Institutional.  It is like that big tower in the story from Genesis.  It is something that has been constructed by human beings.  The concept of race has been created by people.  There is no such concept among other living creatures – a hierarchy based on variations in color.  Color is a feature in nature that may be related to mating and procreation, but there is nothing like the humanly created construct of race.

So when we consider race, it is not like getting to know more about, say, space – something that exists that we did not create or construct.  Race is about something that people have made, constructed, invented, designed, and created. 

Now, here is what I think is important about that.  Since we have created it, we have perpetuated it, we have woven it into our reality, we have passed it on from generation to generation, we have given it power, this means that we can change it.  It is within our power to deconstruct, to destroy, to dissemble, the tower we have created – racism.  Bill McKibben, the well-known environmentalist and founder of 350.org talks about our ability to ‘de-create.’  Since humanity has created race and racism, we have the power to de-create racism.  Take it down.  Brick by brick. 

It’s small, but just having the national holiday Juneteenth is a tiny brick being removed from the monolith of racism that can then be used to construct a new reality that is not only not racist but is proactively anti racist.   That tower of Babel came down and humanity spread and flourished across the earth to take up caretaking of the entire planet.  Sometimes what we have constructed must be demolished so that something better can take its place.

This is work for us as Christians, followers of Jesus, people of love and compassion for at least two reasons.  One is we have a responsibility for dismantling racism because as Christians, believing we are created in the Divine Image, we are called to take care of the whole earth, every person, every life form, every acre of land, every fathom of water.  This is work for us as Christians who are citizens and inhabitants of this country who want to make it a better home for everyone and who are called to serve the world entire. 

This is also work for us to do as the Christian church because the church and religion have been used, or I would say abused, to construct and reinforce the racist system in which we find ourselves.  Yes, there were abolitionists in the church.  Yes, there are people in the church today working tirelessly to deconstruct racism and build an egalitarian culture in which all people and the Earth itself flourish.  But the church is imbued with racism just as the society that we are part of.  As the church, we have helped to create this society and we have upheld it.  At best with ignorant, benign intentions.  At worst, with completely self serving motivations. 

So, we as Christians, have a particular responsibility, obligation, motivation, to do this work of de-creating the racism of the society we are part of in this country.  And there is work for us to do in every aspect of society – education, politics, government, religion, healthcare, sports, arts, entertainment, social relations,  economic arrangements, the legal and criminal justice and law enforcement systems – all across the board.  We must ferret out and remove all obstacles to equity and justice like removing asbestos or lead paint from an old building.   And there must be recompense and assistance to those who have been sidelined, redlined, and maligned by the racist reality that has infected our society.

This is work we all need to be doing.  And we need to be doing it together and helping each other.  Helping each other learn, grow, self examine, strategize, mobilize, and offer support and encouragement along the way.  And if I say something that appears to be imbued with racism today, or at any time, I hope you will point it out to me.  You see, we have all been very carefully taught.

So I am going to close telling a story on my dear husband.  He knows this is coming.  I warned him!

Now those of you who know Jeff know of his kindness and his commitment to justice.  He would never knowingly harm anyone.  He is always helping people.  In addition, he is very well-educated, Harvard.  He has a doctorate.  He is a student of American history having been the assistant curator of the Paul Revere House in Boston.  He majored in Government.  He’s been a pastor, a science teacher, a social worker, and a garage door installer, among other things!  Yes, his people came over on the Mayflower but he is very much committed to being on the side of the oppressed. 

This will help you to understand the story I am going to share about the pervasive nature of the absorption of racism into our psyches simply by being in the society we are in. 

We were in Colorado last month attending a baby shower for my niece.  As we were driving to the airport in Denver, with the mountains in the background, and unending flat plains as far as the eye could see, we were commenting about the terrain.  I mentioned that if I was coming across the country in a wagon to settle in the west, I would take one look at those mountains and turn around.  Jeff commented that there was all this land, this space, with nothing there.  It makes sense that they settled there.  I questioned him.  Nothing there.  I reminded him there were people living there.  Indigenous people.  Who lived there.  And were nomadic.  And who lived off that land.  Oh yeah, Jeff said, sheepishly.  I forgot about that. 

I tell you this not to condemn Jeff.  But to remind us how deeply rooted racism, ethnocentrism, whiteness, and patriarchy, are embedded in our reality whatever our background or ethnicity.  It’s a tall tower.  And it keeps us from our calling to tend and care for all of the earth and all of the earth’s inhabitants, human and other than human.  It separates us from God.  From Divine Love.  From the reality of God.  From each other.  And from the natural world.  And we all have work to do on this – whoever we are, wherever we are, in this society. 

I am reminded of someone from our congregation who was in his last days in the health center at Westminster Suncoast.  He made it a point to get to know, take an interest in, to learn about and show compassion for the nursing aids, mostly Black women, who took care of him.  He was still trying to help dismantle the edifice of racism to his dying day.  Many of you knew him – Lloyd Conover.

We all have lots of choices that we can make each and every day.  Today, you decided to come to church instead of mowing the lawn, or going out to brunch, or reading the paper, or catching up on your social media feeds.  As the church, as Christian people, as followers of Jesus, may we choose to fulfill our calling to attend to the flourishing of all people, all life forms, and the creation itself.  This necessitates eradicating the systemic, institutional, and individual racism that pervades our society.  Like the tower in the story from Genesis, the humanly constructed tower of racism must be dismantled and the bricks used to create egalitarian community where people of all hues and tongues not only thrive and flourish but take care of planet Earth.  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.

LAKEWOOD 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: June 11, 2023
Scripture Lesson: Jeremiah 32:1-15, 42-44
Sermon: History and Hope
Pastor:  Rev. Kim P. Wells

This is a season for graduations and weddings and other celebrations.  We attended a baby shower recently.  It is wonderful to celebrate these events that point to the future with hope.

We might send a card with a message like, ‘Congratulations!  May all your hopes and dreams come true.’  Or ‘With all hope and good wishes for a wonderful future together.’  These celebrations call for excitement about what is ahead.

We don’t sent a card to a college grad saying something like, ‘We hope you enjoyed your last 4 years at school.’  No.  We say something about hope for the future, not looking back to the past.

So how do we maintain hope in dark times?  As we look around today, much of what we see does not point to a better future but seems like more of an erosion of the gains that were being made toward peace and security and well-being for all.  We seem to be backsliding.  On voting rights.  On gay rights.  On trans rights.  On reproductive rights.  On freedom of speech.   On economic justice.  And so much more. 

So how do we hold on to hope?

Our faith has much to say about hope.  Yes, hope is about a better future.  It has a future orientation.  But our faith tradition teaches us that hope is rooted in the past.  Our faith teaches us that hope is about looking back and seeing what has happened, how far we have come, seeing the workings of Divine Love in the past, which then gives us the courage and faith to face the future with hope.

Again and again and again in the Hebrew scriptures there are references to the Exodus.  This is the story of the Hebrew people being brought out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.  This is the story that involves Moses confronting the Egyptian Pharaoh.  The plagues.  The river of blood.  The angel of death passing over the houses with lamb’s blood on the lintel.  Going through the Red Sea.  Wandering in the wilderness.  And then finally being brought into the land of milk and honey. 

That story is referenced again and again in the Bible because it is a source of hope; especially when people are going through hard times.   People look back and see what God has done, what they have come through.  And they know that the perils and pains they are experiencing are not the end of the story.  There is a brighter future awaiting them.  As God brought the people out of Egypt, so God will bring us out of whatever hardship we are currently facing. 

The Psalms, especially, which are regularly repeated in worship, are full of heartfelt pleas to God and affirmations of trust in God’s saving power, including specific references to the Exodus.  In worship, on a regular basis, people recount past experiences and this gives them hope in the power of God to see them through current travails to a more promising future.  People have hope in the future because of what they believe has happened in the past.  Rooted in that history, they face the future with hope. 

So, how do we maintain hope in dark times?  We look back.  We take a long view.  Even back to Exodus. 

Just in our country, let’s look back.   Despite intentional efforts to eliminate indigenous peoples and cultures, there are still native peoples and cultures in this land.  That is a reason for hope.  Slavery is over. That is a reason for hope.  The centuries old vendetta against the Jews has not resulted in their eradication.    Even with the recent rise in incidents of antisemitism in this country, there is still reason for hope.  Assault weapons were banned for 10 years in the US.  If we did it before, we can do it again.  That is reason for hope.  There was safe, legal access to abortion for decades.  It can be that way again.  That is reason for hope.  There was a moratorium on the death penalty for decades.  It can happen again.  Again, reason for hope.  We have had a Black president.  And a Black vice president.  That is reason for hope.  Look back.

My spouse Jeff was listening to an audio book about Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft.  Roosevelt was an adamant trust buster.  He fought the power of big money in American society.  He wanted a fair shot for the average worker.   He called it a square deal.  And he was a millionaire.  And a Republican.  Look back. 

Just a side bar.  This looking back is not encouraged in our country.  We like to stay oriented to the future.   We are trained to look ahead.  We don’t think we need the past.  We only like to remember the past when it serves our purposes as we pursue something in the future.   Gore Vidal has said that we are the United States of Amnesia.

But our faith teaches us that to maintain hope, especially in dark times, we must look back and remember and recite the ways that Divine Love has been made manifest in our history and in our lives.  Take a long view.
This is also the case not only with society, and the human community, and cosmic history, but also in our personal lives.  To maintain hope, we must remember.  Think of the health crisis that you have come through.  Or the grief that knocked you down, but you are standing, if shakily, once again.  Think of how you or someone you are close to has faced addiction with courage and has come through.  Think of the tragedy you have experienced, or someone close to you, something beyond horrific.  And somehow, life is still going on.  And there can still be joy.  Think of what you and your loved ones have come through.  That, too, fosters our hope in the future.  Because of what we have come through, we do not give up. 

When I saw this sermon topic request, Hope in dark times, I immediately thought of the story of Jeremiah and buying the field at Anathoth.  Here is Jeremiah.  In the worst of times.  He is in prison for delivering the word of God, that was not to the liking of the king.  His country is being ravaged by the Babylonians and Chaldeans.  Their land is being devastated.  They will be taken away as the spoils of war.  So, in jail, about to be overrun and deported or worse, Jeremiah buys a piece of land.  It is a prophetic symbolic gesture.  He makes sure everything is done legally and in good order.  Then, the deeds are put in an earthenware jar where they can be preserved for decades?  Centuries?  Millenia?  Who knows?  But Jeremiah is declaring his trust in the promise of God that they will once again inhabit the land and be a flourishing community though everything else at the moment is pointing in a different direction.

The most important part of any real estate transaction is location, location, location.  And the prophet Jeremiah wants everyone to know that he is buying a piece of utterly worthless land, putting good money down, making a public display so that everyone knows what he is doing, preserving the documents related to the sale – because this location, location, location will once again be a place where the community of the faithful will flourish and thrive.  He is making a scene.  Based on the faithfulness of God in the past, Jeremiah buys the field.  And puts everyone on notice that change is gonna come.  Based on the past, the Exodus, for example, this prophet is making a down payment on a bright future.  He is demonstrating hope.

We can look around us and see that things are pretty bleak.  There is global warming and the horrific weather, fires, and floods that are happening.  There is an impending presidential election with the continuous barrage of lies and blame and rancor.  There will be more Supreme Court decisions that curtail our liberties.  There is the continuing rise in racism, jingoism.  There are the backward strides in education.  There is the continuing escalation of violence.  A gun has more rights than a person it seems.  There is the continued erosion of voting rights. 

But there are prophets in our midst who tell us that these are the last, desperate, fearful gasps of those who are threatened by a more open, compassionate, egalitarian society.  They are scaling up because they see the way things have been going.  They see the progress that has been made.  And they are rising up. 

But we are looking back.  In a speech delivered  before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Convention on January 29, 1858, Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister, declared:  “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight, I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”   We are familiar with this from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice. 

How do we maintain hope?  Our faith teaches us to look back.  For the Jews, this involves continually revisiting the story of the Exodus and other stories.  For Christians, this also involves revisiting the story of the crucifixion and resurrection.  We are told that from the cross Jesus is remembered quoting Psalm 22:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  This is a plea uttered at a very dark moment.  And if Jesus knew the first verse of the Psalm, surely it is implied that the knew the 4th and 5th verses.  He would know them from reciting them in worship settings.  They are:

“In you our ancestors trusted;
         they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
         in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.” 

This is a direct reference to the Exodus event.

Just as we are describing, Jesus, too, looked back to the Jewish experience of the saving power of God in his darkest hour and that sustained his hope.

How do we maintain hope in dark times?  Look back and see the wider reality of the purposes of God.  Look back a decade.  A century.  A millennia.  Eons.  Look back.  Take a long view.  See what has been done.  See the progress that has been made.  Trust in the power of Divine Love.  And what love can do. 

And then, like Jeremiah, invest in the future.   Invest all you can, all you have, in a future of justice and peace and well-being for all, especially for our dear mother Earth.  Invest in a future that you may never see.  Look back.  Then invest.  And that investment will give your life, right here and right now, meaning and purpose so that you will not only survive but thrive.  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.