Forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke
23:24
We are called as Disciples of Christ to live a hopeful
vision of present and future things, to seek to live an authentic life grounded
in Christ and community. In this light there was a desire to
focus today’s message on affirmation, love and the implications of
communion. Mindful of a deeper longing within to address this time we
live in I found that I should not bypass a particular terror that engulfs so
much of life in our time. We live in a world of
complications, complexities, challenges and oppressions which characterize more
and more of life in America. Thus, as people of faith, we are
called to critically reflect on the issues of our day which emerge as symptoms
of the world we live in. We reflect on the many lives lost at the
hands of violent racism, police brutality, bigotry, privilege, increasing
inequality, poverty, and polarization, considered by some people who embrace
white supremacist ideology, to be a matter of tradition. We remember the
recent death of a Black woman stopped for a minor traffic violation in Prairie
View, Texas who allegedly committed suicide in a Waller County jail cell by
hanging herself. I receive her tragic death as one more act of terror
inflicted on a diverse population of people who are living in states of righteous
anger and fear as hope, long defined by productions of white supremacy and
black subordination, historically mediated through law enforcement, wane, shift
and fall like tectonic plates resulting in seismic shifts in the midst of the
California sun. This became evident as I and my mother watched and
then discussed the removal of the confederate flag from the grounds of the
South Carolina State Capital and ensuing protests which occurred.
They said, “I Forgive You”
A
Very Uncommon Act
In the midst of the echoes of a civil war one hundred
and fifty years passed but not forgotten we are called to do the joyful work of
ascertaining hope in the midst of a time which unsettles so many
people. Reflecting on hope I am mindful that hope is not the exclusive
purview of the naive or the optimist but a calling of faith, courage, and a
love that is unyielding. Hope is exemplified in action as the
spirit within calls forth a glimpse of the arc of justice. This becomes
clear as we watch the family members of nine beautiful people massacred at
Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston South Carolina by a
man filled with hate do what might be called an uncommon act of love.
They said, “I forgive you.” Surely Jesus is the author of forgiveness as
it is written in Luke 23:24, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.”, in
the midst of his own slow and painful crucifixion. Listening to the
many reports from around the country I find that forgiveness, boldly standing
with grace and mercy in the face of hatred, compelled a nation of people and
their president to give homage to its presence. That said,
their statement of forgiveness has also been controversial, as some people, not
considered religious, have said that the relatives showed weakness by forgiving
the shooter[1] and some call for a type of moratorium on
forgiveness, in regard to black people forgiving white racist.[2]
Yet because it is this type of uncommon act of love that has the
potential to contribute, even in controversy, to a mediation of the ills of our
present time I believe each of us should, if feasible, sit in silent meditation
regarding forgiveness, so that we might come to some understanding of such an
uncommon act of love.
The Fool says in their heart I have no need of God
God cannot speak to
the issues of humanity
Living in a society of materialism, rationality
and a gradual marginalization of God and Church in common life and space, a
critique of love should be undertaken. I have come to belief that love,
the kind of love defined by the life and ministry of Jesus, the one who taught
us how to love, has been sequestered and a form of love, now considered common,
constructed by various corporate institutions has been given its former holy
and sacred space. Of course this has occurred over time as the purveyors
of capital and its politics sought to enslave the heart, its religion and
western clerics for matters of greed and profit, for me an extension of the
plantation narrative. Now I must be careful not to become too
philosophical, abstract or theological about love, a certainly not cynical,
since I do want to communicate with you today, yet love the love I
encounter in Ephesians 3:14-21 is abstract, uncommon and
sacrificial. Yet it is this abstract, uncommon and sacrificial act
of love that breathes life into our souls and empowers us towards forgiveness,
considered as part of a spiritual medical regimen needed to heal a sick and
bewildered nation and its people yearning for some type of solace.
For those who profess Christ forgiveness emerges out of
their heart as they intimately engage in the hope found in the everlasting
God. God and the things of God are the anchor and the inspiration of
their life. Their life and their hope rest secure as they walk humbly
with their God as written in Micah 6:8. Recent discourses on identity
inclusive of the political, economic, racial, gender, sexual and scientific
rhetoric remind me that walking humbly with our God, in a blessed state of
forgiveness is not so popular in a world of materialism which looks within
itself for hope believing that the ability to overcome the deeper more
substantial ills of society rests in the latest technological trinket inclusive
of weapons of personal, communal and mass distraction, or illicit drugs will
somehow fill a void or sooth the pain within. Indeed this is a fool’s
errand. The fool says there is no God. In this sense they
believe that God, if there is a God, bears no consequence and in this sense has
no bearing regarding issues of a population of people in severe emotional,
mental and spiritual pain, in need of real and sustainable sustenance,
considered by some as a yearning for a year of Jubilee, and a time of blessed
forgiveness. This is a challenge for the fool as they see forgiveness as
an admission of weakness and a denial of certain profit. Yet for those in
love with God forgiveness is life and this more abundantly. Psalm 14:1-7
has a lot to say about the fool. It reads
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of
men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge******
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call on the Lord?
5 There they are in great fear,
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You shame the counsel of the poor,
But the Lord is his refuge.
7 Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of
Zion!
When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ, considered the voice of
God by many in the Catholic Church, and received as a breath of fresh air by
some in the Christian religious community beyond the Catholic Church, recently
released a papal encyclical or a papal letter on the climate crisis and the
economic system that has led to our present environmental crisis. He has
also been speaking out regarding issues of forgiveness, this in regard to the
participation of the Church in the brutal colonization of South America. He
has been roundly criticized, even taken to task regarding his comments
particularly on the economy and the global climate crisis by many in his own
Church and by secular authority. Pope Francis blames climate change
on apathy, political shortsightedness and a pursuit of profits. He calls
climate change one of the principal challenges facing humanity
today. His encyclical intimated that our present state of
affairs is a crisis of the soul, making more evident an economic system morally
bankrupt. Of course his encyclical incurred the rhetorical wrath of the
capitalist, environmental skeptics, conservatives, less progressive voices and
right wing political pundits and candidates running for president. I
remember listening to National Public Radio and hearing a staunch capitalist
cry in frustration about the Pope, and the Church seeking to address the issues
that impact the poor, the homeless and those of a lesser state. The
response reminded me that God, at least in the mind of the capitalist, has no
voice. Fools have no use for God as capitalism is the great savior and
protector of humanity. Surely we live in foolish and even dangerous
times indeed.
Times that Try the Soul of Humanity
In a sermon given at Detroit's Second Baptist Church (28
February 1954) Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made the following statement,
“The great problem facing modern man is that the means by which we live have
outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. So we find ourselves caught
in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man's soul. We
haven't learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And
that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our
scientific genius we've made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral
and spiritual genius we've failed to make of it a brotherhood.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 28 February 1954
The words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are
timeless. They remain as relevant today as they were back in 1954.
His words present a particular truth that is difficult to deny in the face of a
nation where banks are privileged and untouchable at the expense of its people,
and where Wall Street has more bearing and credibility that the person on the
street or the earth herself. In light of these sobering realities
we should gladly desire to gain spiritual strength, to strengthen the human
soul and thus begin to know and to comprehend the fullness of God in Jesus
Christ. This is a journey within straining towards the inner sanctum of
divine-human interaction. It is a desire of head and heart, to know the
fullness of God and to experience the breadth, width, height and depth of a
love which releases forgiveness for ourselves and others.
Healing, reconciliation and a life affirming perspective
begin with forgiveness. I suspect that the ills of society and even the
Church itself, as an inhabitant of the material world, cannot be solved without
forgiveness within and without. It is clear to me that the material world
which demands an allegiance of desire at the expense of the soul is seemingly
incapable of forgiveness since forgiveness emerges from spiritual strength, and
this from a love unknown by the material world. Love, borne of spiritual
strength, for Jesus and my trust in God, at times affirmed by people who do
uncommon acts of this unknown love, compel me to be hopeful that one day this
would not be the case.
Uncommon Acts of love such as forgiveness remind me
that a Day of Jubilee is approaching. A time of spiritual awakening where
forgiveness will comfort and heal the soul of humanity and the earth.
Each of us should prepare for this day as it will surely arrive.
Let us open our bibles to Ephesians 3:14-21 and read
together.
Prayer for Spiritual Strength
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that
according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with
power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth
and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.
[1] http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/06/23/nra-news-regular-charleston-shooting-victims-re/204109
[2]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/22/black-america-should-stop-forgiving-white-racists/
A very good and informative article. Thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteLydia Supremacy