Campaign meets Identity
November 7, 2004
Psalm 46
Luke 20: 27-38
What a week it’s been! It feels as if this week has been years in length hasn’t it? I heard from many of you this week, upset, worried, hopeless. I heard from many friends via email speaking of moves to Canada or Mexico, equally sad, grieving, perplexed. Lots of questions about our world, our nation, our humanity, our faith. Lots of questions about a nation divided…Insecure about what another four years of President Bush’s leadership will bring…But, today, on our Sabbath day, we are reminded the reason we come here is to be reminded of our connection to God, learn about our God, our faith, our hope. We must remember that President Bush is not God. We must remember that John Kerry is not God. We must remember that God is not a Republican or a Democrat. We must remind ourselves that neither campaign encompassed our identity as progressive people of faith. These earthly institutions of Republican and Democrat we have brought onto ourselves. And, maybe our call as progressive people of faith is to maintain the moral independence to critique both the left and the right, working to bring open dialogue between both sides instead of divisively rooting in.
When Pastors are searching for a church in our denomination we are advised to pay attention to the percentage of accepting and declining votes after the candidating sermon. The leaders in our denomination advise Pastors to decline a call unless you have at least 85% of the vote. This is to ensure you have more people working with you upon your arrival than against. In a nation where we are divided something like 49% TO 51% that’s a heavy burden. It’s a job I would not want. We cannot just say it’s us or them…We are pretty evenly matched. So it is imperative to remember…We were not electing a new messiah in this election. A progressive and prophetic vision of faith and politics was not running in this election. No one strongly championed the poor as a religious issue and moral value. No one made the war in Iraq a clearly religious matter. No one spoke of a progressive faith that drove decisions of justice and peace for all citizens of our globe.
So now is the time…Now is the time to remember our true identity as a people of faith. Now is the time to remember that God is still speaking. That either political outcome would have “crushed” half of the population. Perhaps now, as people of progressive faith we can lead the dialogue of reconciliation and peace trying to bring both ends of the spectrum together. This is the time to begin seeing and hearing one another to find ways to build bridges beyond the limited vision of this past election. We’ve got four years to work towards a new vision of faith and politics in 2008.
One of us said to me this week, “I can’t believe they’re saying Christian Morals determined this election. I am Christian and those aren’t my morals!” First of all you have to always use the “hermeneutics of suspicion” when it comes to percentages and numbers on TV. The exit polls yielded a “majority” of voters voted to prevent gay marriage. Of the people that voted the largest reason for voting was 22%. The next largest voter exit contingent was those voting against the war and it was 21%. The third largest voter exit group was only 15%...That’s one of the tricks that has us all up in arms and feeling as if we can’t trust our neighbors. When in fact, we have good neighbors. You can make statistics say anything. Because a person aligns with a party does not make them more or less evil. We must move beyond that rhetoric and instead proclaim what it is to stand back and begin to use our progressive faith to transform the political dialogue, bringing about new ways of healing our nation and planting a vision that will inspire us to work toward a common goal not just in speech but through initiation.
Luke’s passage today is bizarre to our ears. It’s particularly bizarre to my ears, one who has been told my marriage is not based on Christian principles…So today we have this question of brothers-in-law having to step up and marry this woman, try to bring a boy child into the human community and who gets her in heaven…I have to say, I’m glad this is no longer our “Christian” model because there is no way I’d marry ANY of Cathy’s brothers or sisters and I know she feels the same about mine. So it’s a bizarre story right? Only if we need to take it literally. Jesus was introducing the concept of stepping away from the literal letter of the law and moving into an experience of living through experience and reason. This question comes from a group of literal observers trying to understand this new shift Jesus proposes. And, what we learn is that even these two “groups” have strong feelings towards one another. Even though these two groups are on opposing sides. They approach one another. And, even though one side is trying to bait the other…A civil discourse takes place. Using the language and metaphor of the time Jesus introduces a new concept…First, questions are good and should always be accepted. Second, speak in the language we all understand. Third, think beyond the literal law and understand it and apply the laws through faith identity…for God is larger than any law. Faith is stronger than any test. God is still speaking, growing, calling us to change, grow, begin again.
We just saw the end of the political campaign, a race between candidates for elective office. These political campaigns had a series of actions advancing a principle or to obtain the presidency. And it was also a crusade for George Bush and John Kerry requiring us to be their advocates. While many people said this week how difficult it was to live in our nation, our world, these times, many times this week I heard or witnessed the sanctuary this building and our community offered in its midst. Our community of faith has begun to initiate a new plan or task. We are a progressive community of faith and hope lies within our God, our faith, our connection to one another. Our true advocate is the Holy Spirit. Our true identity is advocating for the God that is still speaking. It is this time of year that the United Church of Christ is beginning the God is Still Speaking Initiative. It’s not a campaign where we’re talking about ideas, it’s the moment we begin to initiate our idea of what it means to be the United Church of Christ. It’s an opening move to a new thing. In these days, in these times people are seeking a community that is not afraid, that is safe, that will speak out and bear witness for justice…We are a community of faith that reminds one another we are not counting on humanity, exit polls, candidates or campaigns…We are counting on a God who is still speaking, a God who lives and breathes and walks with us, a God who is our refuge and our strength, a God who can make the mountains shake and the earth tremble. A God who always speaks for justice and the least of these. We are a community of faith that is committed to implementing, in this world rooted in to two camps, ways to bring us together, healing the nation because of our faith, because of this God, because of our identity with this God. One of the emails I received this week encapsulated these thoughts. I’m going to share it with you. It came on Wednesday morning from the Rev. Dr. Melanie Morrison. Melanie is an incredible woman of faith who bears our identity well as well as the preacher who will be coming to bear witness at installation…I share her words with you…
We are a people holding a moral Christian identity, I’m thanking God that during these days our church is going to begin telling its story in another new way…Surely we must let others know that there is strength to carry on for our God is Still Speaking!