Sermon for Tuesday May 14th
CDSP Chapel
11:30 a.m. Eucharist
June 7 and October 7, 1998 may have
seemed like normal days for most people, but both days were days that changed
the course of American History. For on
June 7, 1998, a African American man named James Byrd was brutally murdered by
three white supremacists in Jasper, TX. James was tied up and dragged behind a pick-up
truck until he died. Later that year on
October 7, a young man named Matthew Shepard was also brutally murdered by two
men in Laramie, Wyoming for being homosexual.
Matthew was taken to a remote field, tied to a split rail fence and
tortured after which he was left to die.
Both men died lonely painful deaths. But more importantly, both these men were
killed not because of something they had done but rather because they were
different than others, James for being African American and Matthew for being
homosexual. They were innocent victims who did nothing to provoke the violence
done to them. They were victims of hate
and bigotry.
Back in
1998 and, to an extent, still to this day, society is separated by political
party, socio-economic status, beliefs on social issues, the list could go on
and on. It seems that as a part of
society, we can fall into any number of different camps based upon how we
think, feel or look. We only have to
look to the most recent presidential elections to see how divided the country
can be over issues affecting us. We are a people of division.
In today’s
Gospel reading, Jesus is speaking not about division but unity. Jesus looks toward heaven and begins to
pray. In his prayer he explains that his
job on Earth is complete and that he has shown his followers that just as he is
one with God so are they one with him.
Continuing he says that all that is His is God’s and all that is God’s
is Jesus’. His words show a unity unlike
anything his disciples could understand.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there.
Jesus continues by saying protect them so that they may be one, as we
are one.
Really! Isn’t that a really big order? Jesus is asking God to allow humanity to be
one. I don’t know about you, but growing
up with siblings, I know that is a pretty tall order. We never got along. We always fought and argued even if it was to
argue over the argument. Yet here Jesus
is praying that we, his followers may all be one.
In Jesus’
prayer, we are called to be in Christ as Christ is in us. We are called to live together in unity and
harmony with each other. We are called
to set aside our differences and love one another, not to look at the
differences we have but see the things we have in common. If we continue to think this through, there
is a bigger issue. If we are all to live
in unity, then there is no one on the outside.
We are ALL in. We no longer get to
choose who is in and who is out. The
decision has been made for us. We are
ALL in. That is a pretty profound
statement. One consequence of living as
Christians is that we must accept that decision and live our lives in that
manner.
As I looked
at life here at CDSP and within the GTU, I think we are doing a pretty good job
of living in unity. After all, we live
as one big community of travelers on this road, we call seminary. As a community, we share our classroom, our
learning, our professors, and sometimes even our meals. We share war stories about our papers, exams
and lectures. Heck, we even share our
worship experiences sometimes. But yet,
even with everything that unifies us, we can have our differences. We have differing religious beliefs and different
ways of being church, yet we share the same God. Each time we worship, we pray to the same
God. Unity is not easy though. Looking back on Christian History, we see
many different separations, Paul and Barnabas in the Book of Acts, Martin
Luther and the Rome, The East/West Schism, Church of England and Rome, just to
name a few. Even now in the Episcopal Church we cannot keep our house in
order. In our own church there are
discussions and divisions taking place as we speak over issues such as homosexuality,
marriage equality, and Open Table, just to name a few. We are divided over who is in and who is
out. Whether I am acceptable or not
based upon who I love or don’t love. Yet
it seems to me that the answer to that question has been decided already. We are called to love one another and live in
unity.
Just
yesterday, Minnesota became the twelfth state in the United States to pass a
law allowing for marriage equality. The
momentum has begun and it seems like more and more states are beginning to see
that equality and unity are not a choice but a necessity. Yet, I also know that it is difficult for
some people to accept marriage equality.
Some states are moving farther and farther away from it. In my home state of Pennsylvania a state representative
recently introduced a bill saying marriage was between a man and a woman. He felt that Pennsylvania needed to ensure
that the idea of marriage didn’t change.
This representative has views that I don’t necessarily agree with yet I
still must live in unity with him. I
still have to find a place for him at the table. The message Jesus sends us in his prayer is
to place relationship before rightness, mutuality above dismissal. My feelings toward the representative from
Pennsylvania shouldn’t be about who is right and wrong but rather about the
relationship we have in order to talk about and through our differences
For Matthew
Shepard and James Byrd, there was no chance at mutuality and relationship, for
them it was about rightness and dismissal.
Unfortunately, they died not because of what they stood for but because
of who they were. The people that killed
them did not see the unifying piece that we are all God’s creation but rather
the destructive piece of difference.
Whether we are African American, Asian, or European descent, whether we
are LGBTQ or straight, we are all creations of God and we all fall under the prayer
Jesus prayed in today’s gospel reading. We do not get to choose who God is in
relationship with; and that means that if we want to be in relationship with
God, we must also be in relationship with those who God has already chosen to
be in relationship with – whether we like them or not; whether we agree with
God’s choices or not. So, how can we love
persons whom God has chosen and that may be our enemies and possibly also our
neighbors as Jesus loves me?
